Imagine Dragons U.S. Airways Center 2/17/14
Alternative rock hitmakers Imagine Dragons came to US Airways Center in Phoenix last night and were greeted by a lively Arizona crowd. The concert opened with "Fallen" as a faux moon rose above the stage.
Lead singer Dan Reynolds told the near-sellout US Airways Center crowd to forget their school or work responsibilities before launching into "Hear Me" and "It's Time."
During "It's Time," Reynolds let the crowd take hold of the reins and sing the words for him as he soaked it all in and kept the audience fully engaged in the show.
See Also: Imagine Dragons at US Airways Center, 2/17/14 (Complete Slideshow)
Reynolds did a great job keeping everyone involved in the performance and he had a lot of help from his bandmates.
Guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman were right there with Reynolds with guitar solos, drum solos, and drum duos, all of which left the audience in awe and cheering wildly. Needless to say, these guys have a knack for incorporating percussive elements into their show. Everyone in the group can drum and they took advantage of this every chance they had.
After showing off their vocal talent with some solid harmonies and gracing the crowd with a drum duo, Reynolds took the time to thank the fans for being so supportive of their music saying, "We never -- in our entire lives -- thought we'd be playing in arenas like this. This is incredible."
Reynolds then turned the spotlight over to Sermon, who stepped up for a guitar solo, during which a flowerlike image was displayed on the large circular screen and moved in time to his chord strokes before slowly fading into train tracks as the band began to play "Amsterdam."
The band then slowed things way down when they dedicated their song "30 Lives" to Tyler Robinson, a friend who had lost a battle with cancer last year. During this moving performance, they went completely acoustic and brought out the violin. People in the audience sat down and wasted no time showing their support by pulling out their phones and using the handheld devices as glowing lights to wave back and forth.
In getting back to the show, Imagine Dragons took a break from their own music to cover the rock classic "Tom Sawyer" by Rush before playing their hit song "Demons." Following this was, of course, more drums.
Starting out as a solo by Platzman, it grew into a duo with Reynolds, and then things built to a crescendo with all four musicians banging on the drums to start "On Top Of the World." Giant balloons were being dropped into the crowd and began bouncing throughout the audience, and, when popped, dropped confetti all over whoever stood below.
Every strong start deserves a strong end, and "Radioactive" was just the song to blow the roof off of the building. Being an obvious crowd favorite, the moment the song began the audience broke out into the loudest cheering and screaming they had done all night. As they've been known to do during this song, Imagine Dragons made a huge show out of the heavy use of drums in this song. And they sure delivered. "Radioactive" left the crowd pumped and demanding more.
The group was happy to oblige and came out for a quick encore performance of "Nothing Left to Say" with one more massive drum show. Reynolds appeared to be on the verge of tears as he gazed in humble awe at the crowd that was cheering, jumping and shouting for his band as the night came to a close.
Critic's Notebook:
Personal Bias: I'm a fan of Imagine Dragons and have been for about three years now. Although, I grew to like them even more after their album, Night Visions, was released.
The Crowd: Surprisingly diverse. There was a wide range of ages from around 5 years old all the way up to people in the 40- to 50-year-old range.
Overheard in the Crowd: "I am so jealous of those people who get to touch his [Dan Reynolds] hands!"
One More Thing: Imagine Dragons got significantly more awesome the second they started playing "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. They did in my book, at least.
Find any show in the Valley via our online concert calendar.
9 Tips for Using A Fake ID To Get Into A Show Here's How Not to Approach a Journalist on Facebook The 10 Coolest, Scariest, Freakiest Songs About Heroin The 30 Most Disturbing Songs of All Time
Like Up on the Sun on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest local music news and conversation.
