Twenty One Pilots have a lot of time on their hands. Like the rest of us just starting to emerge from the nearly two month COVID-19 lockdown, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have been cooped up waiting for the stay-at-home stretch to end. But, unlike most of us, they’ve been using their time to make not one, but two versions of their quarantanthem, “Level of Concern.”
They busted out the funked-up “Live From Outside” remix of the tune on The Tonight Show on Friday, unwrapping a revamp that features some sweet falsetto runs from Joseph, gang vocals as well as slapping bass and horns from their pals in Mutemath (singer/keyboardist Paul Meany) and MisterWives (multi-instrumentalist Jesse Blum), and Simon Jefferis.
According to a release, the remotely shot Tonight Show performance of the song — available now on all streaming services — was the impetus for releasing the second version. “Level of Concern” is currently No. 1 on Billboard‘s Alternative Song and Rock Airplay charts, with Dun and Joseph donating a portion of proceeds from the track to the COVID-19 charity supporting out-of-work live music workers, Crew Nation.
The first live performance of the song included a welcome cameo from their best creature pal, Ned, who sat in on bass in his TV debut, after first rearing his giant head in the “Chlorine” video. Joseph recently hinted that a new 21P album could be in the offing sooner than anyone anticipated. “I’m writing a record right now. I’m not sure when it’ll be released, but it’s definitely going to be really sooner than we were planning on releasing a record. I don’t know if it’s this in-between record or if it’s a continuation of the narrative and where we left off,” he said in an interview with Zane Lowe.
Listen to the song and watch the open-air Tonight Show performance below.
