The front man and only remaining member of American pop-rock band Panic! At The Disco announced via the band’s social media that the Panic! journey is to come to an end after 20 years, so he can focus his energy on his family and becoming a new father.
The announcement come’s after recent speculation that Brendon and his wife, Sarah, were expecting their first child after eagle-eyed fans spotted the Urie family’s pregnancy announcement card in the background of a picture posted by Fall Out Boy bassist, Pete Wentz.
Urie assured fans that the planned EU and UK tour dates would still go ahead, with his performance at the AO Arena, Manchester on March 10 set to be his last performance as Panic! At The Disco.
It is understood that his music career will still continue, but Urie allegedly felt that the band’s name was no longer representative of him and that it is time to move on from it. This comes as a relief to many Panic! fans, who felt that Urie should have ceased all use of the band’s name and branding after the unofficial departure of fellow band mate Dallon Weekes in 2015.
The band, co-founded in 2004 by Brendon Urie and former members Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith and Brent Wilson, shot to stardom following the release of I Write Sins Not Tragedies from their first album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out which quickly earned triple platinum certification. Wilson left the group in 2006 for uncited reasons, and was replaced by Jon Walker.
The release of their sophomore album Pretty. Odd. in 2008 debuted a new musical direction for the group, largely accredited to Ryan Ross due to him being a credited writer on twelve of the eighteen tracks on the album – six of these being solo credits. This album is highly regarded by fans, and many argue it made Panic! one of the standout groups at the time as they weren’t afraid to experiment with their sound so drastically. However, all good things come to an end as Ross and Walker left the band the following year due to creative differences between themselves and Urie.
The group managed to release their third and fourth albums Vices & Virtues and Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! in 2011 and 2013, respectively, without any members jumping ship. However in 2015 Panic! whittled down to just Urie alone as Smith, the only other remaining founding member, announced he was leaving the band to deal with his substance abuse issues. Following this, Dallon Weekes unofficially left the band after announcing he was no longer creatively involved in Panic! with his official departure announcement coming in 2017.
At the time Weekes claimed his departure from the band was amicable, however fans have recently discovered that changes made to captions of Weekes’ Instagram posts suggest that there were more severe issues between the pair.
Urie then went on to realise his first Panic! album as a solo act, Death of a Bachelor, which was received well by fans and the general public. Fans assumed that this would be Urie’s final project under the Panic! moniker, and felt it would be a fitting end to the band’s 12 year journey.
However, whether through greed; delusion; or hubris, Urie did. Not. Stop.
In 2018 he released Pray for the Wicked, the ‘shopping centre musiccore’, pop sellout that had fans begging Urie to leave the Panic! name behind to preserve the great legacy that came before. Urie obviously didn’t get the memo, as he went on to release Panic!’s final album Viva Las Vengeance in 2022. The project was horribly received amongst fans and the general public alike, with Urie and his… questionable vocals on the namesake tour reducing him from a powerhouse icon, to nothing more than a meme on social media.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js@helenlovespanera he was def drunk by victorious #brendonurieslander #panicatthedisco ♬ original sound – helen!!
https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js@heyrachelle why did he keep doing this 😭 #panicatthedisco #brendanurie #concert ♬ original sound – rachelle
As a former fan, I’m delighted that the scourge that is post-2016 Brendon Urie has finally lifted from Panic!
Ryan Ross is somewhere celebrating that his legacy can no longer be tainted by Urie’s antics.
Featured Image Credit: GQ
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