Panic! at the Disco is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Brendon Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith and Brent Wilson. Since 2015, vocalist Urie has been the only official member of the band, with drummer Dan Pawlovich, bassist Nicole Row, and guitarist Mike Naran accompanying him on tour. In 2006, founding bassist Brent Wilson was fired from the band during an extensive world tour and subsequently replaced by Jon Walker. Ross and Walker, who favored the band's new direction, departed because Urie and Smith wanted to make further changes to the band's style. The duo subsequently formed a new band, the Young Veins, leaving Urie and Smith as the sole remaining members of Panic! at the Disco.
As a three-piece, Urie, Smith, and Weekes recorded and released the band's fourth studio album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, in 2013. In 2015, Smith officially left the band after not performing live with the band since his departure in 2013.
Panic! at the Disco was formed in 2004 in the suburban area of Summerlin, Las Vegas, by childhood friends Ryan Ross, who sang and played guitar, and Spencer Smith, who played drums. They both attended Bishop Gorman High School, and they began playing music together in ninth grade. They invited friend Brent Wilson from nearby Palo Verde High School to join on bass, and Wilson invited classmate Brendon Urie to try out on guitar. The quartet soon began rehearsing in Smith's grandmother's living room. Urie grew up in a Mormon family in Las Vegas and early on missed some rehearsals to go to church. Ross initially was the lead vocalist for the group, but after hearing Urie sing back-up during rehearsals, the group decided to make him the lead.
The band's debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, was released September 27, 2005. Sales began relatively slow. It debuted at No. 112 on the Billboard 200 album chart, No. 6 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, and No. 1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, with nearly 10,000 albums sold in the first week of release. Within a span of four months, Panic! would see the video for its first single, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", rocket up the Billboard Hot 100 as sales of Fever passed the 500,000 mark. At the end of March 2006, the band announced a headlining tour. "Some aspects of the fame are annoying, but at the end of the day it's something we're most grateful for. It's certainly opened the door to a whole new batch of opportunities," Ross said of the band's newfound fame and instant success.
After recording the new tracks and performing them live over the summer, the band returned to its native Las Vegas as well as the group's old rehearsal studio, where the band members wrote their debut record. "We wanted to approach these songs in the most basic form," Ross said. "We wrote them all on one acoustic guitar and with someone singing. I think that we kind of skipped that part of songwriting on the first record, and this time we're sort of paying attention to that. We've written a bunch of songs since we've been home. I think it's the most fun and the happiest we've been since we started." Released on March 21, 2008, Pretty. Odd. was described by the band as "more organic and mellower" than A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, as well as unintentionally and coincidentally similar to music of the Beatles, in both songwriting and scope. The record debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-day sales of 54,000, and first-week sales of 139,000 copies in the United States.
In spring 2009, the band began recording material for its third studio album. However, on July 6, 2009, Ryan Ross and Jon Walker announced via the band's official website that the two were leaving the band. The band re-entered the studio during early 2010 and spent much of the year recording the group's third studio album. During this time, touring bassist Dallon Weekes joined the band's official lineup along with Urie and Smith, making the band a three-piece. Although Weekes did not perform on the upcoming album, he was responsible for the conceptualization of the cover art of the album and was also featured on the album cover, masked and standing in the background behind Smith and Urie. Vices & Virtues was officially released March 22, 2011, to relatively positive critical reviews. The record's first single, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", was released digitally on February 1, 2011, with the music video being released February 8, 2011.
After the Vices & Virtues tour cycle, Urie, Smith, and Weekes began writing and preparing for a fourth album. During the recording of the album, touring guitarist Ian Crawford, who joined the band in 2009 after the departure of Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, left the band. On July 15, 2013, the album was announced as Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, with a scheduled release date of October 8, 2013. The first single, "Miss Jackson," was released on July 15, 2013.
On October 22, 2015, through the band's official Facebook page, Urie announced the new album as Death of a Bachelor with a scheduled release date of January 15, 2016. It is the first album written and composed by Urie with a team of writers, as the status of Weekes changed from an official member to that of a touring member once again. The third single "Emperor's New Clothes" was released on the same day, along with the official music video. "LA Devotee" was released November 26 as a promotional single. On December 31, 2015, the band released "Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time."
On December 27, bassist Dallon Weekes officially announced his departure from Panic! at the Disco after over eight years of performing in the band, subsequently shifting his focus as the frontman of the band I Don't Know How But They Found Me. On March 19, 2018, the band played a surprise show in Cleveland, Ohio with new touring bassist, Nicole Row. On March 21, 2018, the band released two new songs "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" and "(Fuck A) Silver Lining." At the same time, the band also announced the Pray for the Wicked Tour and a new album called Pray for the Wicked.
On June 7, 2018, the band performed at the fountains at the Bellagio prior to game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The performance is said to have had sentimental value to the band as they took to the stage in their hometown. The band also performed as a headliner at the Reading and Leeds Festival 2018 which lasted over the weekend from August 24 to 26, 2018. On August 27, 2018, the band dropped the music video for the single "High Hopes".