Remember that
Imagine Dragons review
I posted six months ago about the magic of Youtube random videos and Imagine
Dragons being one of the most refreshing musical discoveries I’ve had in a long
time?
Well… to make a
long story short, let’s say that as soon as I found out they were touring
Europe and performing one night in my country, I rushed to Le Botanique website
to buy a pair of tickets. Without even watching the date. Without even checking
if I hadn’t any other plans on that day. The things you’d do for the love of
music, eh? Don’t we say that (musical?) “love is blind”?
Leaving the office,
running to the station to catch the first train heading to the capital, finding
my concert-partner-in-crime and we go straight to the Botanique. Buy a pair of
tickets for Jake Bugg’s show in March 2013, just to see if he’ll be as great on
his own as he was as Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ opening act and… I’m
starving, let’s go eat! Just in case you didn’t know, Le Botanique has its own
little restaurant with delicious Italian plates: that’s where Audrey and I are
eating while exchanging the latest gossip in our respective lives before other
friends join us.
While listening to
my friend, my eye caught a blonde guy walking in the hallway which I
immediately identified thanks to his tall height. The fact that he was followed
by a shorter guy with long brown curled hair was definitely another clue that
the guys from Imagine Dragons were already in the place. They came to eat,
totally unaware that the whole table on the other side of the restaurant were
actually people who’d be in front them an hour later…
We leave our table to
go into La Rotonde. Le Botanique has got more than one stage but I never had a
chance to see a show in La Rotonde. Once I’m in, I’m like “waw!”. The venue is
a small rounded place with a maximum capacity of 250. It feels like you could
touch the stage from any place you stand. The light technician is a true
magician: for a moment, you may actually think you’re watching stars in the
sky… Waw (again!). And the show hadn’t even started… Truth is that this light
technician deserves a five-stars because I did notice his work during the show
as well. Beautiful lighting!
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| ♫♪ Stars in the venue ♫♪ (and not only on stage) |
The opening act is
a Belgian band named Vegas. A band I do know about as I’ve written both an album and a live show reviews (in French
though, sorry…). I saw them live a year ago and their booking agent had told me
they had massively improved since our first meeting so I was curious to see
them again.
And… she wasn’t
wrong at all. The guys from Vegas have actually improved since last year. It
seems to me some of the songs have been slightly improved as the guys added a
few additional but discreet notes that gave these songs a different dimension
while still being very recognizable. There’s a small difference though as the
band found themselves a new bassist: he seems very comfortable on stage and the
guys gave all their best this night… Al’s voice is still as strong as it has
always been, Seb’s way of dealing with guitar strings is still awesome and
David’s drumming skills are still an effective part of the band’s sound. Only
better than a year ago.
I had a funny moment
on my own though when I realized that the opening act’s name is Vegas and that
the main act comes from Las… Vegas. Maybe it was a sign after all…
Once the Vegas set
is over and all their instruments gone from the stage, it’s time for the
Imagine Dragons’ crew to place the boys’ gear. Wait a minute! Is it… ? Oh my,
yes it it! I’m so used to see mains acts having a crew setting things up for
them that I (very stupidly!) never imagined that the Imagine Dragons crew could
be… the boys themselves. So here we have Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee and Dan Platzman
walking on stage to set guitar, bass and drums respectively. They’ll also take
their gear out of the stage once the show is over except it’d only take them a
longer time with people now recognizing them and seeking for a word, an
autograph…
So… let’s set
things up. The few times I mentioned them around me, I just got the answer
“Never heard of them...”. Which is always a frustrating moment where you feel
like some Robinson Crusoe on his deserted musical island. In Belgium, the boys
got some radio airplay but not so much... yet. Maybe tonight may change things
and help people know more about them.
Orrrr… maybe not? In
fact, it takes only a few seconds to realize that most of the place is filled
with people who already know Imagine Dragons… It didn’t take much time too to
get the audience clapping their hands and singing along to “Rocks”.
Wayne Sermon plays
with his guitar chords, Ben McKee set his bass in tune while singer Dan
Reynolds stands in front of the keyboards… What’s coming up next? The
distinctive keyboards melody opening helps me identifying “Amsterdam” quite
easily… This one is one of my favourites of the “Night Visions” album thanks to
its great musical vibe: truth is the song is as great played live than heard on
my MP3 player. To be honest and sum things up straight away, that’s a fact for
all songs of the set list. I’ve listened to “Night Visions” and the “Continued
Silence” EP God knows how many times but Imagine Dragons’ live performance is
even better. Especially when you’ve got good musicians and a competent singer
on stage. Add the responding crowd that was there that night and you have an
amazing moment! At a certain time, I smiled thinking back of Slash’s show of
last month and his “Slash army”… I was smiling because if the tonight’s venue
was smaller, if tonight’s audience was smaller, the “love” sent back to the
guys on stage wasn’t definitely smaller! And that’s always a fine moment to
witness…
It looks like Dan
Reynolds was thinking the same as he told us about the beauty of the place and
the energy of the people before letting Wayne play us a nice guitar
introduction… Reynolds grabs two drumsticks and spreads his arms wide open
before giving us the distinctive “Ooooh” opening of “Radioactive”. On this one,
it’s almost impossible not to notice how much of a percussion band Imagine Dragons
is: Dan Platzman plays his drums, Reynolds hits the massive drum bass while
Sermon does the same on a smaller drum bass. The crowd is happy to help on the
shouting “radioactive” word of the song while the four other guys act as
background vocalists. No need to get background vocalists when you can both
play your instrument and sing, right? “Four” background vocalists? Yep people… Imagine
Dragons is a four-piece band but when it comes to touring, they transform into
a five-piece with the help of Ryan Walker. He may hide in half-shadow, almost
in the background of the stage; I spotted the guy, alternating keyboards and
guitar playing.
Near the end of the
song, the band starts to jam… Reynolds picks up the drum sticks on the floor,
hits his drummer’s cymbals before heading to the small drum bass and hitting it
with energy. Talking about “energy” is a way too small word to describe the
singer : all through the show, I’ve seen him running the stage from left to
right, from right to left, hitting both drums bass, playing keyboards, jumping…
Some may find it exhausting to watch, I say I was impressed by such… well…
let’s say… “radioactive energy”? ;)
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Another haunting guitar
introduction by Mister Semon before the band starts playing “Tiptoe”, another
song with great energy to which the crowd gladly responds.
Dan Reynolds takes
a moment to tell us he never thought he’d be singing these songs in Belgium and
how beautiful the crowd is. He also let us understand that there are more
people than he probably expected and thanks us for being there tonight. On the
right side of the stage, Ben McKee smiles and nods, silently confirming the
singer’s words. The singer grabs the microphone stand, turns around and gives
Dan the drummer a head sign. The signal to start… “Demons”. I wrote in my April
review how touched I was by this song’s lyrics: some songs never really go
away, you know. This one is part of those songs that sticks to you like the
most aggressive glue… Is it bad? Don’t think so… I was smiling all through the
song. THAT can’t be bad…
Imagine Dragons
singer then mentions how much of a family this band has become but also cares
to mention that tonight, the whole room is filled with many members family. He
tells us to forget about work and the worst times of the day to enjoy our time
here and… dance. Damn right! “On Top Of The World” is the perfect song to forget about your worries and… I just can’t picture
much people standing still to that melody. Well in fact… nobody stood still, mostly
during the chorus and the front stage crowd in particular delivered a nice
“dance moment”!
During “Cha-Ching”,
one of the songs you can’t find either on any of their EPs or “Night Visions”,
the singer shows us that high-pitched notes are no big deal to him… It also
seems as Drummer Dan don’t mind having people around his drum kit as Wayne
enjoys a “hitting-the-cymbals” moment with him.
Of all instruments,
drums remains my favourite (shortly followed by electric guitar and… violin)…
Trouble is that tonight, I have a massive drum bass in front of me and is
therefore unable to fully enjoy the vision of Mister Platzman hitting his
drums. Guess I’ll have to enjoy it only through my ears then… and “Hear Me” is
the perfect occasion. Oh well... don’t get me wrong, I have noticed and heard
the guitar melody and great solo by Wayne, Ben’s bass notes and… yes, Dan, I
heard you asking us.. erm… “Can you hear me?”. I definitely heard all of them
on this one and I’m not so much surprised that “Hear Me” is apparently the
band’s next single as the track has got
huuuge potential.
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| Damn drum bass!! :p |
Before starting
the next song, Dan explains they spent the afternoon visiting Brussels and
mentions he didn’t know much about Belgium except for… wafels and fries. He
then says “Frites?” with a questioning tone. The crowd claps and shout, showing
him his French translation of fries was per-fect.
All members leave
the stage, with the exception of Dan and Wayne who perform another song totally
unknown to me, “Lay Me Down”… I’ve mentioned earlier Reynolds’ incredible
positive energy but the tall blonde guy can also put himself at rest to deliver
emotional musical moments. “Lay Me Down” is proof that it sometimes doesn’t
take much to create a magical moment. A guitar and a voice seemed to be enough
in this case…
My friend tapped on
my shoulder and asked me “Is he gonna try to make us cry?” to which I answered
“I think he’ll try”. Did it work? Everyone was watching what was going on the
stage so nobody noticed my eyes, probably better that way, I guess…
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| What it takes to make an emotional beautiful song... |
As the guys return
from backstage, Dan explains how much it has been rewarding to come in Europe
and how much of “Living The Dream” this experience is. He also explains the
band started to play small venues and that they now miss that when they play in
USA. He likes the fact that he can see all the faces in the crowd and that it
makes him feel like not too far away from home before thanking us once again. Mr
Reynolds seems to genuinely care about the fans and never let an opportunity go
by when it came to grab hands, kiss heads… of the front stage people.
“Round And Round” is
one of the songs that didn’t make it from the EP to the “Night Visions” album.
Considering I compared that one to a Coldplay sound-like song on my review, I
guess it’s not a big loss. “Tiptoe” is for instance a song that fits better to
the unique sound of Imagine Dragons and will give journalists less
opportunities to compare Imagine Dragons to other bands or artists. I must
admit though that the live performance of the song was still enjoyable to
watch…
So… jumping around
everywhere on a stage with a bottle of water is NOT recommended. Why? Because
that’s how you may end up sitting on that same stage, making people laugh
because you slipped on a wet floor. Not something enjoyable, right? Seems like
Dan Reynolds’ shoes don’t keep him on safe ground and he asks us if we would
mind having him shoe-less to avoid some accident. Wayne found a better solution
and starts cleaning the floor with a towel while Dan introduces him as his best
friend. Considering his best friend shouldn’t do this, he kneels and starts
cleaning the mess himself… leading the audience to a great moment of laughter.
With Dan now up on
his feet again and floor all cleaned-up, the boys can swap cleaning duties for
a more enjoyable thing: music!
On “Night Visions”,
the opening of “Underdog” immediately made me think of some Caribbean-ish
music. The melody evolves into something a bit different but keeps a very laid-back
style. “Underdog” is a nice song to be played live as the audience seems to
instinctively know when to shout out the “hey” of the song. To be honest, it’s
really hard not to sway on that one…
The singer explains
that after the show is over, they’ll take the road, all stinky and wet and ask
the crowd if it wants to come with them. Can’t recall hearing a “no” coming
from that crowd…
While Dan Reynolds
puts his shoes back on, Dan Platzman hits the drums, Ben and Ryan starts
clapping, soon being joined by the singer. At this point, people in the crowd
had already showed they had recognized “It’s Time” by screaming out loud… This
song, the most well-known song of the band, whose video has been nominated for
a MTV Video music award, is a powerful song. The audience sing along all the
way and Dan let the fans sing most of the chorus themselves, leading to one of
these wonderful moments you can only experience by going to see artists on
stage. Those moments might be great for the ones standing on the stage but
trust me, they’re great moments for those who witness them as well. And man!
That song is sooooo great I can’t help myself smiling every time I listen to
it…
The band leaves the
stage but… it takes them less than a minute to come back. Dan picks up the
microphone to tell us that most of the time, they really take time to think
about encores but that tonight, they all agreed that they had to come back on
stage pretty quickly. He adds that he’d definitely remember that night and that
he can’t wait to come back in Belgium. While the boys starts playing the final
song, a person in the front row gives something to the singer that he shows us
all before kissing it and carefully putting it near the drums. I’ll later found
out that it was a lighter with “I ♥ Belgium” printed on it.
The Encore song is “Nothing Left To Say”, a song
with powerful background vocals to support Dan’s strong voice. In the middle of
the song, Ben claps his hands and the crowd quickly follows him…The song rhythm
slows down: Ryan plays acoustic guitar and Dan gives us a few drums beats while
the boys sing vocal harmonies with support of the audience’s clapping.
Suddenly, Dan leaves the middle of the stage to grab the small drum bass and moves
it in front of Dan Platzman. Ryan moves closer to the drums as well… The song’s
rhythm quickens while Reynolds heads for the drum sticks. All of a sudden, he
starts hitting the drum bass. Wayne and Ben shows us what they’ve got as well…
At this time, they know, we know, everyone in this room knows the end is near
but these five guys on stage certainly don’t intend to end up their set
quietly. They want YOU to remember them and they want YOU to keep in mind the
very last moments of this show. Guys who gave so much that night, guys who are
there not as a team, not as as band but… a family sticking to each other until
the very last second of their last song.
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“There’s nothing left to say now. Give it up.”, they
say? I say I’m not sure people in the room are ready to give up on you guys…
And as for the “there’s
nothing left to say”, I wouldn’t say that either ‘cos I still have a few things
to say about the Las Vegas band.
Someone asked me one
day “what kind of music do they play” and… I couldn’t answer very precisely.
Partly because I definitely wanted to say “some kind you should try to listen
to” (which is the common catch phrase for some artist I like), partly because I
REALLY can’t precisely define their musical style. I’d be tempted to put a pop/rock
label on them depending on the song but somehow, the electronic sound they
sometimes put in their songs makes it even more difficult to describe their
sound. At the end of the day, who cares about the description of their sound?
With the exception of “Round And Round”, I can’t compare them to any other
bands.
I listened to their
EPs and album very carefully and was a bit worried some songs wouldn’t sound as
well once played on a stage. Like I wrote earlier, I couldn’t have been more
wrong. That night, I felt the magic expressed in EPs and album. For real. So
much better. Imagine Dragons have a few stage hours behind them and that’s
something you quickly sense: all members are very comfortable on stage and know
exactly what they have to do. For our pleasure. And probably their own as these
guys quite never imagined doing anything else than music. Three of them being
former students of the famous Berklee College of Music is another clue of that
musical passion.
Most of the time,
you only get what you see and most people only have live performances and/or
interviews to appreciate their favourite band or artist. If you’re lucky, you
might end up meeting them and have a glimpse of their attitude towards fans. What
most people don’t know is that the Botanique has this particular aspect of
being a venue… without back doors. Therefore, the artist of the day necessarily
has to pass the front door to leave the place. Guess what happened? Yep… the
guys came out of stage and… ended up in the hall where most fans were buying
souvenir shirts. No need to say that they didn’t leave immediately…
When I’m “musically
in love” and write about it, I like the artist to know about it because I
assume it can’t hurt to know some people care about your music. Most of the time,
I post a link to my article through some facebook page or send it by email. In
this case, I had the opportunity to give the article in person to the band. I may
have studied communications, that’s a different world from public relations or
advertising so I still have massive issues when it comes to “promote myself”: best
proof being most of my friends and colleagues have no idea I have a musical
blog. So I literally had to kick myself on the a** to give the article to one
of the guys… which happened to be Dan Platzman. I told him how I found out
about them; he was surprised when he found out about the article and warmly
thanked me when I gave him a copy of it. No problem. I just hope they’ll like
the words, they were written with the heart. As always when it comes to music.
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I was far to know
that my lost scarf would bring most stories to the Imagine Dragons adventure.
To make it short, we had to go back to the place to retrieve that damn scarf of
mine and… ended up in front of the band and their small crew trying to put all
their instruments in the mini-van (very impressive storage by the way). All
members in front of me = unique moment and if I let it go, I’m the most stupid woman
on Earth!
I – still shyly –
ask them if they’d accept to take a picture with me and they nicely agree… So
here we are standing on Le Botanique stairs for a photo souvenir. During our
short talk all together, I tell Dan how awesome his voice was tonight and the
tall guy gave me the most unexpected answer I’ve ever had coming from a
musician. No. Coming from someone I only met two minutes before. Somehow, his behavior
is probably at the image of this band. They may have had their “It’s Time” song
recently covered in the Glee series, they may have “On Top Of World” used as
the opening theme of CBS’s new sitcom “Partners” and they may have broken the
2006 record for the highest charting for a debut rock album on the Billboard
200 chart but… they remain humble, down-to-Earth guys that took time to have a
chat, to give autographs and have pictures taken with people who came to see
them that night…
“I get a little bit
bigger but then I’ll admit, I’m just the same as I was. Now don’t you
understand I’m never changing who I am”. Maybe in the end, that’s what I have
always liked about “It’s Time”…
Guys… if you read
this, stay as you are! I’m one of those who firmly believe the attitude of an
artist is as important as the music. From what I’ve witnessed from afar that
night, from what I’ve read on the Internet after the show, from comments I’ve
received, you have given many people great happiness in Belgium… and some of
them even took a plane from Italy to receive a little bit of that “love” from
you.
The worst thing I
wish you is the whole world knowing about your music and for you to make it SO
big around the globe. So… maybe someday, you’ll come back to play in a bigger
venue in Belgium and maybe we will never be able to chat or have our pic taken
together because it’ll be too much crowded. But I’ll always remember the
dancing on “On Top Of The World”, I’ll always remember the emotion on “Lay Me
Down”, I’ll always remember the energy of the live version of “It’s Time”. Yep,
trust me… I’ll always remember these nice guys and how good their music makes
me feel.
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| Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, Dan Platzman, the one NOT in the band, Dan Reynolds... Where on Earth was Ryan Walker, eh? |
Setlist :
-
Rocks
-
Amsterdam
-
Radioactive
-
Tiptoe
-
Demons
-
On Top Of the World
-
Cha-Ching (Til We Grow Older)
-
Hear Me
-
Lay Me Down
-
Round and round
-
Underdog
-
It’s Time
Encore
-
Nothing Left To Say
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