Early into his performance at on Monday, ‘ vocalist Dan Reynolds stopped the show to share a serious story. Earlier that day he met a fan who offered him a coin. He holds up the coin. The fan received the coin after being shot while serving his country overseas. Reynolds then loses traction in his voice and his eyes visibly well up. He turns his back on the microphone but he is unable to regain his composure. In an incredible moment, all of his band mates meet him at the center of the stage, placing their hands on his shoulders as he cries. They offer him words of support amongst encouraging applause from the audience.
Reynolds thanks the fan for serving his country, wipes the tears from his eyes, and sings the opening lines of “It’s Time”. His voice quivers, but holds steady and the slight fragility in his voice makes the melody all the more profound.
That seemed to set the tone of the rest of the evening. It was a chance for the audience to connect with the bands. After Reynolds’ voice and the rest of the band warms up throughout the next few songs, the music explodes.
The band rolls into “Polaroid” and Reynolds sings powerfully from the chest while guitarist Wayne Sermon “shreds” during a full solo as they transition into “No Time”. By this point of the set, both grown adults and pre-teens alike are jumping, arm waving, and head banging their arms into a frenzy. The audience sings loud and long with Reynolds during songs like “Demons”, “On Top Of The World” and “I Bet My Life”.
The only departure from the rest of their set is “Friction” or what one fan called the “red laser cell” song. They mirror their light show with an unrelenting wall of sound. The guitars match bassist Ben McKee by playing a droning melody in unison as the drums amp up the intensity, along with the collective heart rate of the arena. If other alternative rock bands rely on a drummer as their driving force, Imagine Dragons stands out by featuring percussion as their connective tissue.
Using percussion as the central focus of their show both visually and musically creates a thematic heartbeat throughout the concert. At any given moment, the stage is filled with an expanded drum kit for drummer Daniel Platzman, a huge standing bass drum, floor toms, extra snares and spare cymbals. As a result, they collectively sound earthy and grounded instead of metallic.
No song featured the connective rhythms of Imagine Dragons quite like “Radioactive”. After they play the original song, they break into an instrumental finale. Adding a distorted synth to match the red lasers and flashing strobe lights leads to delicious sensory overload. Layer on drumming that shakes your chest and pushes your body to the back of your seat and the audience is in a rock revival.
Their music is anthemic and uplifting. By the end of the night it became apparent that Imagine Dragons achieves this desired effect because the message of their songs is authentic. Reynolds shared that he deals with depression and proved that sometimes you have to know darkness in order to relish the light. They closed their encore appropriately, bowing together with gold confetti shaped like falling aspen leaves blanketing the band and the audience after their journey together.
