IMAGINE DRAGONS | LIVE REVIEW
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wed 11 Nov
A tall, unassuming young man walks on to a dimly-lit stage. No big entrances, no flashing lights, no pyrotechnics. Lead singer Dan Reynolds speaks meekly into the microphone: “Cardiff, we nearly needed to cancel this gig tonight – I’m suffering with a throat infection.” The crowd’s gasps are replaced by delight as Reynolds declares that they had not yet cancelled a show on their world tour and aren’t about to start now.
When the rest of Las Vegas’ Imagine Dragons join him onstage and kick off the show with Second Chances, you can already hear the tentativeness in Reynolds’ vocals. Performed almost completely acoustic, a chance perhaps for the frontman to warm up his fragile throat, it was nevertheless magical; after one song, you can’t help but fall in love with his voice. It’s a beautiful mix of a gritty country drawl on the lower notes, shifting to an angelic clarity when he rises to a falsetto.
The next song, Trouble, sees a silhouette of the band formed against a black and white backdrop. Once it’s over, the gratitude is obvious in Reynolds’ face. He thanks the crowd and admits that they intend the show to be a medley celebrating seven years as a band and that tonight due to his illness they would be “winging it a bit”. No-one seems too bothered – cheering in admiration, grateful that they hadn’t cancelled the gig.
Reynolds takes a moment to speak of the Syrian refugee crisis before singing their latest release I Was Me, all proceeds of which go to charities supporting the crisis. A cover of Alphaville’s Forever Young feels odd and out of place, chatter beginning to rise in the audience. That slight moment of self-indulgence over with, Imagine Dragons revert to anthems: I’m So Sorry and the powerful Demons. These anthems are the reasons they are where they are, why they are as successful as they are and why they’re selling out arenas.
The four-piece are capable of such a broad range musically and vocally. Because of this, it’s almost impossible to place them in one genre which can mean their live shows are a bit of a rollercoaster. One minute your hands and phones are in the air swaying softly or clapping jovially to folky tunes such as On Top Of The World; the next, you’re fist-pumping the air to their flawless rock anthems, some of which even incorporate a dubstep-like drop.
Nearing the end of the show, the group declare, “Cardiff, this is a night we will never forget!” You know this is something they say every night but the crowd laps it up anyway. I Bet My Life brings the show to an ecstatic end before the Dragons were chanted back on stage for an encore: mammoth hit Radioactive incorporates a spectacular light-and-drum show and brings the night to a nuclear finish.
words DENIECE CUSACK photos CALLUM BAKER