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Imagine Dragons Into the Night Tour
Poster
Imagine Dragons Setlist
Naked and Famous Setlist
Nico Vega Setlist
Naked & Famous Tour Dates
04/12/14 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
Read More
04/14/14 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl 04/16/14 Tempe, AZ The Marquee 04/19/14 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 04/25/14 "Groovin The Moo" (Oakbank) 04/26/14 "Groovin The Moo" (Maitland) 04/27/14 "Groovin The Moo" (Canberra) 05/03/14 "Groovin The Moo" (Bendigo) 05/04/14 "Groovin The Moo" (Townsville) 05/23/14 Sasquatch! Music Festival 05/26/14 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot 05/27/14 Boulder, CO Boulder Theater 05/28/14 Omaha, NE Slowdown 06/03/14 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater 06/04/14 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall 06/05/14 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE 06/08/14 Richmond, VA The National 06/10/14 Orlando, FL The Beacham 06/11/14 Miami, FL Grand Central
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It almost didn’t happen… and Austin, TX would have been to blame.
With over 14,000 inside the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and Los Angeles band, Nico Vega, and New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous warming up the crowd, staff and security were antsy as the main act was nowhere to be seen… or even in the state.
Las Vegas breakout act, Imagine Dragons had just co-headlined the inaugural U.S. version of the iTunes Festival, a fest within a fest, at Austin’s massive South by Southwest. Unforeseen delays and flight schedules delayed the band leaving Texas, and had them touching down less than an hour before their scheduled set time in St. Paul. But, with less than 20 minutes to spare, the band arrived to perform a 100 min. performance of arena-sized bombast and spectacle.
All three bands took advantage of the larger stage setup and catwalk which extended into the middle of the crowd, including quartet Nico Vega, who has toured often with Imagine Dragons, and is prepping release of their upcoming album, Lead To Light (Five Seven Music). Lead singer Aja Volkman (who happens to be married to Dragons singer Dan Reynolds) skipped and bounced back and forth down the extension (not barefoot though), singing with the growl of an Alanis Morissette and the knife edge of The Kills’ Alison Mosshart.
Playing mostly newer songs, including ‘Beast’ from recent EP, Fury Oh Fury (Five Seven Music), the band connected with the audience in a way that few third acts on an arena bill do, and was well received with newest single, ‘I Believe (Get Over Yourself)’, from their upcoming Spring release.
Auckland’s The Naked and Famous then took then the stage for a moody and impactful 40 min. set of songs drawn from their latest effort, In Rolling Waves (Fiction, Republic, Somewhat Damaged) as well as 2010’s Passive Me, Aggressive You, on a grey-tinged set designed like the deconstructed flower on the new album’s cover. Starting slowly with ‘A Stillness’ and co-lead singer Alisa Xayalith cooing, “still, still, be still”, the song built momentum with its electronica soundscapes and pulsing synth beat.
Co-lead Thom Powers took over vocals for ‘Girls Like You’, with Xayalith providing dreamlike harmonies, singing the bridge, then joining Powers for the final verse. The new album’s title track followed, with its yearning lyric, “take a piece or just walk away, like rolling waves”, then the thumping, ‘All of This’ from the band’s debut.
‘Hearts Like Ours’ bright synth riffs and boy/girl vocals belied its dark lyrics while b-side ‘No Way (Quiet)’ lay down a sense of introversion over crashing electronica and drum beats. Final song, ‘Young Blood’ was best received; a high-tempo’d with hopeful lyric, ” Trying to find the in-betweens, Fall back in love eventually”.
As good as the band was on the massive stage, they would be more ideal in connecting further at a club or small theater, so let’s hope a headlining tour is in the cards for later this year.
Forget 2014 being the “Year of the Horse” according to the Chinese calendar, 2013-14 has clearly been the Year of the Dragon. The Las Vegas quartet (Dan Reynolds- vocals/drum; Ben McKee- Bass/keys; "Wing" Sermon- guitar; Daniel Platzman- drums; along with touring member Ryan Walker) has gone from playing small clubs and opening for bands like AWOLNATION, to filling major arenas, in just a couple of years. The band’s only full-length, Night Visions (Interscope) is still riding high in the charts, co-helmed by UK hip-hop producer Alex Da Kid (Nicki Minaj, B.O.B., Rihanna) and with four powerful singles.
The band wasted no time in striking with its anthemic, arena-ready sound, as evidenced on opener, ‘Fallen’, clearly studying the “big sound in a big room” lessons of Muse, U2, and Coldplay. Cryo jets shot steam up vertically and percussion was everywhere on stage, an earmark of the band’s sound, on display prominently in second song, ‘Tiptoe’.
Singer Reynolds reminisced about the band’s beginnings as the intro to hit, ‘It’s Time’; likely the first song most of the crowd heard from the band, and was probably forgiven for constantly mentioning “Minneapolis”, even though they were across the river in St. Paul.
Sound production was its usual impeccable in this hockey arena and the stage was adorned with a Pink Floyd-style circular video screen above metal tree silhouettes with hanging shining lanterns and the stage had two side elevated ramps (with a drum present on each) in addition to the gang-planked catwalk out front. Each member’s solo was built in as an intro to one of their songs, such as guitarist Sermon intro-ing ‘Amsterdam’, as rail train images floated by on the screen.
Singer Reynolds mentioned harkening back to “the songs of our parents” (which made me feel old), as the band struck up an authentic cover of Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’, another calculated arena-size song choice. A heartfelt ’30 Lives’ followed, dedicated to a 17yr. old that lost his cancer battle, then the 1-2-3 knockdown punch of hits, ‘Demons’, ‘On Top of the World’, and ‘Radioactive’, to end the set breathlessly.
After that, the encore of medley ‘Bleeding Out/Monster/Nothing Left to Say’ was somewhat anti-climatic, but the performance, like the show’s sometimes stilted pacing, is from a relatively new band, blindsided by its sudden fame, and still finding its way.
The real question (and no doubt, pressure) is how they will ever top the success level they’ve already reached, with their next album. Will they amp the percussion up further, to include marching bands and Japanese Kodo drummers, try to make every song stadium-sized, or try to crossover by using rappers on song interludes; it’s hard to say, but in this, the “Year of the Dragon”, you can’t help but pay attention.
With over 14,000 inside the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and Los Angeles band, Nico Vega, and New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous warming up the crowd, staff and security were antsy as the main act was nowhere to be seen… or even in the state.
Las Vegas breakout act, Imagine Dragons had just co-headlined the inaugural U.S. version of the iTunes Festival, a fest within a fest, at Austin’s massive South by Southwest. Unforeseen delays and flight schedules delayed the band leaving Texas, and had them touching down less than an hour before their scheduled set time in St. Paul. But, with less than 20 minutes to spare, the band arrived to perform a 100 min. performance of arena-sized bombast and spectacle.
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Aja Volkman
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Nico Vega
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Naked and Famous
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Thom Powers & Alisa Xayalith
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‘Hearts Like Ours’ bright synth riffs and boy/girl vocals belied its dark lyrics while b-side ‘No Way (Quiet)’ lay down a sense of introversion over crashing electronica and drum beats. Final song, ‘Young Blood’ was best received; a high-tempo’d with hopeful lyric, ” Trying to find the in-betweens, Fall back in love eventually”.
As good as the band was on the massive stage, they would be more ideal in connecting further at a club or small theater, so let’s hope a headlining tour is in the cards for later this year.
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Imagine Dragons
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The band wasted no time in striking with its anthemic, arena-ready sound, as evidenced on opener, ‘Fallen’, clearly studying the “big sound in a big room” lessons of Muse, U2, and Coldplay. Cryo jets shot steam up vertically and percussion was everywhere on stage, an earmark of the band’s sound, on display prominently in second song, ‘Tiptoe’.
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Photo of Imagine Dragon Setlist
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Sound production was its usual impeccable in this hockey arena and the stage was adorned with a Pink Floyd-style circular video screen above metal tree silhouettes with hanging shining lanterns and the stage had two side elevated ramps (with a drum present on each) in addition to the gang-planked catwalk out front. Each member’s solo was built in as an intro to one of their songs, such as guitarist Sermon intro-ing ‘Amsterdam’, as rail train images floated by on the screen.
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Dan Reynolds
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After that, the encore of medley ‘Bleeding Out/Monster/Nothing Left to Say’ was somewhat anti-climatic, but the performance, like the show’s sometimes stilted pacing, is from a relatively new band, blindsided by its sudden fame, and still finding its way.
The real question (and no doubt, pressure) is how they will ever top the success level they’ve already reached, with their next album. Will they amp the percussion up further, to include marching bands and Japanese Kodo drummers, try to make every song stadium-sized, or try to crossover by using rappers on song interludes; it’s hard to say, but in this, the “Year of the Dragon”, you can’t help but pay attention.
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Imagine Dragons at Xcel Center, St. Paul (12 March 2014) |
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