Currently on tour, trekking across North America and Europe, Imagine Dragons made a stop at Portland’s Moda Center and completely captivated the nearly sold out venue. In support of their 2021 release Mercury, the quartet from Sin City played a whopping 23 tracks and united a diverse and cultured Portland audience.
Rising up from the end of the stage, lead singer Dan Reynolds, vulnerable and exposed, opened the set with “My Life” off the Mercury album; a powerful song about second chances after the experience of losing control to substance abuse. From the start of the set, right up to the last song, Dan didn’t put on a facade or sugar-coat anything. Every song was delivered with the raw passion and emotion he experienced when he wrote them. Sharing everything from his upbringing in a conservative family to the untimely passing of his sister-in-law Alisha (to whom he dedicated “Wrecked”), we all shared in the openness and embraced this band that much more.
Throughout the show, Dan held hands with fans, kneeling down to make contact with as many people as he could. About mid-way through the set, he stopped to take in the audience, pointing out that covid had taken all of this away from all of us. He went on to address the younger members of the audience talking about the struggles of adolescence and that it’s okay to not be okay. “Your life is always worth living. We need you. You’re gonna do great things” he said before going on to say “Talk to your parents, get a therapist. It’s okay to talk to a therapist. I still talk to a therapist. I have since I was fourteen”
Changing up the set a bit, the entire band crowded onto the little circle at the end of the stage for an intimate acoustic set which included a cover of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”. “The best song ever written”, Dan said.
Confetti cannons, pyrotechnics, and fire pillars were all part of the spectacle. We happened to capture a few pieces of confetti and found that the little scraps of paper contained messages and artwork from the band. If you want to know what’s on that confetti, you’ll have to head to Canada, or overseas to see Imagine Dragons for yourself. You won’t be sorry. After the final note was played, I found myself longing to start the whole set over again. Thank you Imagine Dragons for an incredible night of music, and bringing all the feels.
