Late last month Imagine Dragons loaded into the Boston House of Blues for yet another sold out show on their Night Visions tour. Touring with Australian indie-rock band Atlas Genius and LA’s three piece rock band Nico Vega, pharm this was not a show I was looking to miss.
Imagine Dragons’ current members formed their increasingly popular upbeat indie-rock sound in Las Vegas, illness mid 2008. Lead singer Dan Reynolds, nurse guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and their drummer Daniel Platzman have since seen their songs gain mass appeal – with tracks such as “Radioactive” going platinum in the US, and gold in Canada, Denmark, and beyond.
I eagerly walked into the House of Blues this past Monday with my camera on one shoulder, and a lovely date on the other. I’ve grown used to shooting this venue, but was surprised when I stepped onto the floor to see an already filling up house, just after doors. I was clearly in for a good show.
The house lights dimmed at 7:30, and Nico Vega took the stage. At the time, I had not been told I was doing a write up on the show, and consequently couldn’t start a list of Vega’s songs throughout their set. From the get-go, though, the three piece alternative rock group new how to amp up the crowd. For their opener, lead singer Aja Volkman and her bandmate Rick Koehler began to drum on metal barrels, creating the perfect base beat for their drummer Dan Epand to pull it all together with impressive fills and rolls. Before the crowd knew it, we were jamming out to Nico Vega’s unique electric and gritty sound. For their second track, Aja began to beat box – layering tracks of her own voice on top of themselves to create yet another rhythm for Dan, their drummer, to complement. Aja’s raw, and unique vocals kept the whole set together throughout. Vega had the surprisingly filled and responsive crowd moving around quite a bit while playing some of their newer tracks – like “Burn Burn,” and “Fury oh Fury.” As the house continued to fill to the brim, Nico Vega thanked us and welcomed Australia’s very own Atlas Genius to the stage.
After taking a moment to visit the restroom and grab a drink, I had the pleasure of seeing Atlas Genius perform. These guys have been a real favorite of mine for a while, and I was looking forward to how they would handle the stage. Quick answer? Very well. Atlas Genius lead singer Keith Jeffery was incredible modest and humble about the crowd’s reception of him and his band – consisting of his brothers Michael and Steven, and their keyboardist Darren Sell. Pumping songs like “If So,” and “Centered on You,” into our ears, Atlas Genius reminds me of a mix of Two Door Cinema Club and Tokyo Police Club, with just a touch of vocal influence from their headliner, Imagine Dragons. Throughout their impressively tight set, you could tell what a great time the Jeffery brothers and their friend Darren were having: If they weren’t making small talk with the audience or each other, they were tuning their guitars with a smile. They kept us all on our feet any moving up until their last song, and my personal favorite, “Trojans.” If you haven’t seen these folks live, I highly recommend it.
As the stage hands began to set up Imagine Dragon’s set pieces and lights, you could feel the excitement in the house. A glance back from the photo pit now showed that every level of the House of Blues was packed to the brim. Kids were leaning over the railing and getting yelled at by security just to get a glimpse of the stage. After the lights quickly shut off, and the crowd began to roar, an atmospheric and ambient track started to play through the speakers. As it picked up in pace and volume, the lights flashed bright with a crack of thunder – both from the speakers, and the applause and cheers which followed it. As the stage lit up and members Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, and Daniel Platzman took their places, the stage was littered with tall lights, and even taller tribe-looking bass drums.
Donning a black hoodie and shirt to blend into the dark stage, lead singer Dan Reynolds picked up a mallet and began to strike the largest drum with all his might as guitarist Wayne Sermon played electronic vamps. The crowd was already going wild when Daniel Platzman brought in the drums, and the whole band kicked it off with their track “Round and Round.” The song’s fast pace and grand vocals was transitioned seamlessly into one of my favorites – “Amsterdam.” This entire time too, Dan never failed to deliver with his vocal abilities – hitting every note, and even adding newer more impressive ones. The band extended and diluted the intros of each song just long enough to keep the crowd guessing what track it would be, which made it all-the-more exciting when crowd favorites like “Radioactive” came on. After the explosive vocals and instrumentals of “Radioactive,” the stage was cleared of everyone but Dan and his guitarist Wayne. With dimmed, moody lights, the two performed a gorgeous rendition of “Thirty Lives.” Playing such a tight set, the next few tracks seemed to fly by. Their second to last song, “I’m on Top of The World,” was truly electrifying. It got the whole house jumping, and left lead singer Dan hysterically laughing afterwards. He quieted us down to explain – letting us know that mid-song, he had honestly been electrocuted by loose wires. After the explosions of cheers from the crowd, he assured us that this is a show he will remember for more reasons than one. For their final track, Imagine Dragons played one of their favorites – “It’s Time.” We all knew the words, and were belting them as loud as we could. Whenever Dan would take his mic away and point it to the audience, he looked absolutely joyed with the crowd’s undaunting energy.
Of course, we were simply insatiable after such an amazing set – and so we yelled and cheered for just one more song. Dan and the band delivered, with the fitting “Nothing Left to Say.” It seemed that less of the crowd knew this one, but we were no less thrilled to hear it. The unbelievably heavy outro on the track with fantastic guitar, keyboard, and drum solos kept my ears ringing all of the way home.
Photo Credit: Christopher Coe