Bright streams of goldish light shine down from the ceiling, steamy fog hugs the air and the sound of piano fills the room. Out from the floor rises a silhouette that prompts the thousands around me to erupt in applause.
No, we were not cheering for Kaboom! – although Kaboom! deserves it – but rather Dan Reynolds, the lead singer of Imagine Dragons.
On Feb. 25, I made the trip to Milwaukee to check something off my bucket list. In September of last year, I acquired tickets to see Imagine Dragons at the Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks. Usually, I do not plan things long in advance, but this was the exception.
Sure – at the time, the pandemic was still doing its thing, and I had no guarantee if I’d have courses weighing me down, but I was okay with the risks. Nothing was going to prevent me from singing and dancing awkwardly at a concert, especially when it was a band that I had grown up with.
Yes, Imagine Dragons is now relatively mainstream. After all, when it’s storming outside, what do you think of? “Thunder.” However, I’ve been listening and connecting with their music for almost a decade.
In 2012, I was going through the awkward middle school phase and found solace in “Demons.” While trying to figure out what to do after high school, I resonated with their message in “Mouth of the River” about not configuring your life to fit inside a box, especially when we all were imprisoned in a virtual environment.
The point is that with the music of Imagine Dragons, I felt seen and heard, which I believe is the purpose of good music. I’ve long tied my own emotions and experiences to the band’s artistry, and I was looking forward to feeling that connection in person.
After Dan Reynolds made the grand entrance, he and the band behind him launched into a musical exploration of what ties us together with the first half of “My Life,” a song that takes an introspective look at someone questioning where their life is heading.
The journey of self-discovery was a theme present throughout their setlist with somber and upbeat songs alike. The more emotionally heavy songs, such as “Birds” and “Lonely,” were balanced with more opportunistic messages in “It’s Okay” and a cover of “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley & the Wailers.
Indeed, the concert encompassed the spectrum of lows and highs life gives us. Life is an emotional rollercoaster, but as Imagine Dragons assert in many of their songs, you wield an inner badass. It’s hard not to feel “On Top of the World” with confidence when they perform “Natural” and “Whatever It Takes.” Like the flames flying during their performance of “Enemy,” you too have a fiery spirit that can get you through the “Shots” life throws at you.
The night of reflective, empowering and simply, infectious music concluded with them returning to “My Life.” They sang the song’s conclusion, returning full-circle to how they started the show. However, the song’s words weren’t as distressing to me as the intro.
When Reynolds belted out, “Is this my life?”, I received it as a call to action on my own potential. After all, as he echoed in the final moments of the concert, you got one life – one shot. “It’s Time” to be a “Believer” in your strength, and when you do begin to experience pressure like “Dull Knives” or feel emotionally “Wrecked,” you now know plenty of songs to help you “Rise Up.”
