[...] “Deranged” is one of many standouts on Batman Arkham City — The Album, the soundtrack to one of the most anticipated video games of 2011. In groundbreaking fashion, the album features songs all inspired by the Batman universe. This collection drops on October 4th, while the game hits shelves October 18th. Panic! at the Disco’s “Mercenary” is an eerie exercise in alt rock theatrics complete a guitar swing and massive refrain about “collateral damage”. It would’ve fit Tim Burton’s original Batman or Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. [...]

Source: artistdirect.com

Big Sean may have said it best: “I heard the festival isn’t all that.” He was referring to this weekend’s Playground Festival, a problem-plagued event that got off to a rocky start Saturday in the Hidden Valley park area in Irvine, next door to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

Unfortunately, Sunday was hardly any better. Where were all the people? A successful festival has hordes of attendees crammed side to side as far as the eye can see. That was far from the case here. No one seemed to know what was going on.

[...] The upside, however, were performances put on by artists who did show up. From lesser-known acts to the day’s headliners, including Panic! at the Disco and the Bravery, they get major thumbs up for giving it their all, even if there wasn’t a massive crowd on hand to witness it.

Panic! at the Disco had fun in front of the few stragglers that remained. Vocalist Brendon Urie dedicated the hit “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” to his mom for being “outdated” (she’s kept that tune as a ringtone for six years). But a few minutes after 11 p.m., the cops said no more and the show ended abruptly. “We’ll have the prison experience together some other time,” Urie joked, not wanting to get in trouble with police as the band swiftly left the stage.

Source: ocregister.com

Despite the last-minute cancellation of headliner Panic! at the Disco, X-Fest brought strong crowds and high spirits to downtown Modesto for the 12th annual music extravaganza Saturday night.

The pop-rock act canceled its appearance hours before the event was due to a family emergency. X-Fest promoter Chris Ricci said the father of drummer Spencer Smith was gravely ill.

“I’m totally devastated, but family comes first and we support Panic! at the Disco’s decision,” Ricci said. “They said they’ll reschedule so we’ll still have them come here.”

Local favorites Flying Blind, who played many of the early X-Fests, stepped in to fill Panic! at the Disco’s spot.

The crowd of more than 15,000 still had more than 70 bands, performers and DJs to enjoy throughout the evening. As always, the event featured a mix of music from rock and pop to heavy metal and hip hop and even rockabilly and jam bands. [...]

Source: modbee.com

Sunday night in Boston, as Las Vegas emo-pop heartthrobs Panic! at the Disco kicked off their latest U.S. tour behind their third album Vices & Virtues, frontman Brendon Urie gazed out into the sold-out crowd and uttered a line that entirely defied his nice-guy, squeaky clean image.

“If I see you after the show,” said Urie, 24. “I’m going to fuck you. I don’t even care if you want it.” Judging by all of the ecstatic screams from fans of all genders, the rabid fans at the House of Blues wanted it, despite the mildly offensive come on. They wanted it badly.

But Panic! didn’t always know what their audience wanted. They went through an identity crisis with their second album Pretty. Odd in 2008 when they took a detour into Beatles-esque melodies and abandoned the theatrical pop that earned them double-platinum sales for their debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. A year later, the band’s two members pushing for ’60s psych-pop — guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker — left to pursue their sound as the Young Veins, leaving Panic! as a duo who then recruited a pair of musician friends to fill the vacancies. Watching the crowd’s reaction Sunday night, however, it’s safe to say that the remaining half — Urie and drummer Spencer Smith — is what their audience wanted all along. Read the full article »

Panic! At the Disco have invented a new genre: emo retropop. Vices & Virtues is the band’s first album since becoming a duo (singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith), and it’s the closest emo has come to the sound of old-school pop and rock, with Beach Boys harmonies and even gypsy-style swing flavoring the usual hopped-up confessions. The group’s old lyricist, Ryan Ross, is gone; these songs are missing some of the hyper mall-rat poetry that made Panic’s first two albums such daffy fun. But the arrangements are tight, even when the songs get baroque: Check “Nearly Witches,” which mixes funk, Fifties horror-movie kitsch and a children’s choir to ridiculous — and sublime — effect.

Rating: 3/5

Source: RollingStone.com

Panic! fans had excellent reason to do just that when Disco’s lead lyricist Ryan Ross left the band in between albums two and three (taking with him bassist Jon Walker) since Ryan had not only established their sound by solely writing/composing the band’s debut disc, but reinforced it with 2008′s “Pretty.Odd.”

But any foundling fears are absolutely unwarranted as their their third studio CD “Vices & Virtues” (out tomorrow) is far and away the most intelligent and engaging Panic! record yet. It seems that going from a quartet to a duo has unlocked a previously untapped — or squashed — vein of creativity in Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith as the bass lines hit harder, the lyrics land smooth and the harmonies feel, well, more harmonious than before. Read the full article »

Panic! At The Disco – Vices & Virtues
* Total Rating: 44
* KYS Rating: 78
* User Rating: 10

REVIEW.

Serious questions were asked about the future of Panic! At The Disco following the departure of Ryan Ross and Jon Walker. Being that Ross had been the vanguard of the band’s previous song writing efforts, it seemed that the remaining members Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith would need to ascend quite a summit to recover the loss. Nevertheless, they pressed on. Vices & Virtues is the third studio record from Panic! At The Disco, though it is the first from the modest duo that remains from the founding line-up.

Approaching Vices & Virtues expecting a carbon copy of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out would be a sad mistake to make. It’s a spirited, light-hearted record, and is unmistakably Panic! At The Disco – though it is hard to determine at times which version of the band they’re trying to be. There is evidence of both the frenzied Fever, and more baroque-pop inspired Pretty Odd days. Read the full article »

Panic at the Disco
‘Vices & Virtues’

The competition is tough for Emo’s Most-Avowed Dramatist — Gerard Way? Jared Leto?! — but Panic! at the Disco singer Brendon Urie might take the golden compact.

To wit: In 2009, Urie’s devotion to theatrical pomp forced the Las Vegas quartet to split over creative differences. Drummer Spencer Smith sided with Urie, while guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left to explore the ’60s British Invasion sounds that defined 2009′s Pretty. Odd. Urie’s first move post-split? Restore the band’s original punctuation (Pretty. Odd. lacked the trademark exclamation point). That’s the equivalent of raising the emo-for-life flag, and Panic!’s new album is a pledge of allegiance — Vices & Virtues‘ opening track and first single, “The Ballad of Mona Lisa,” deals in black fingernails, empty gin bottles, and desperate teen melodrama. The video is a hyper-stylized steampunk funeral scene. Read the full article »

When Ryan Ross and Jon Walker jettisoned Panic! At The Disco in July 2009, a question mark would have been an appropriate addition to the band’s punctuation-accented moniker. After all, Ross had been the group’s driving creative force and primary songwriter since their inception, placing the pressure squarely on the shoulders of Panic’s remaining members—frontman Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith—to fill some positively massive shoes to fill. As it turns out, the pair have handled the challenge better than anyone could have expected.

Outside of the obvious personnel changes, Vices & Virtues is a new start for Panic! At The Disco. Perhaps Smith and Urie’s biggest success on Vices is their disinterest in simply recreating either of their previous albums, instead choosing to meld the youthful exuberance of their debut, 2005’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,with the restraint and maturity of 2008’s Pretty. Odd. Where Fever faltered because of an often-schizophrenic mess of instrumentation, the band have tightened the reins while not abandoning the dramatic, theatrical tendencies that made them stars in the first place. Panic have never shied away from opulence and grandeur, and they’ve dressed up tracks such as “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…),” “Hurricane” and first single “The Ballad Of Mona Lisa” with Elfman-esque string arrangements, creepy undertones and twinkling pianos. Read the full article »