Scene and Heard: Imagine Dragons
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: John Shearer
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: Mor Weizman
Photo Credit: John Shearer
Photo Credit: John Shearer
“It feels like this night is the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks,” said front man Dan Reynolds at Citi Presents Imagine Dragons, a benefit for the Grammy Foundation held on Thursday, January 23, at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. The evening, headlined by the Las Vegas-based band, celebrated Imagine Dragons’ chart-topping “Radioactive,” a track from its debut album Night Visions (Kidinakorner/Interscope) that is nominated for both record of the year and best rock performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The ceremony will be held at the Staples Center in downtown L.A. on Sunday, January 26.
The band filled the stage with drums, and drumsticks repeatedly flew about as Reynolds moved from one to another. Stagehands scurried about like ball boys at a tennis match gathering the wooden sticks. Every member of Imagine Dragons—comprised of Reynolds, Wayne Sermon on lead guitar, drummer Daniel Platzman, and bassist Ben McKee—picked up mallets or sticks to create a percussive cacophony for “Radioactive,” the last song in their set before the evening’s encore. Reynolds, dressed in a black polo shirt, seemed to have cleaned up the ripped-T-shirt-and-Mohawk look he sported last year. But his ability to wield a drumstick as a weapon to puncture large balloons filled with confetti lent him a measure of punk rock credibility.
“The first time we came to Los Angeles was a few years ago,” said Reynolds. “And we played a place called The Cat Club. There were like 20 people there and we were very intimidated, but L.A. has always been kind to us. So this feels like coming home.”
“This is the second time we’ve played here,” said Reynolds, from the Wiltern’s stage. “Tonight I walked outside right before the show and a guy was scalping tickets. I asked, ‘How much?’ He said, ‘$100,’ and I said, ‘That’s too much.’ But he kept at it as I walked away. So I’ve got to give it to him, he was a good business man.”
After a crisp rendition of “Demons,” a song written and by L.A.-based record producer Alex da Kid, Reynolds acknowledged the band’s Grammy nominations and plans for the coming months. “We’re back in L.A. at the Forum in about a month, and then we’re going to hunker down and work on a new album. So this feels like the close of one thing and the beginning of another,” he said.
By Elizabeth Varnell
Setlist:
“Amsterdam”
“Tiptoe”
“Hear Me”
“Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Older)”
“Nothing Left to Say/Rocks”
“With or Without You” (by U2)
“It’s Time”
“Demons”
“Underdog”
“On Top of the World”
“Radioactive”
“Monster”
Pictured: Dan Reynolds performs at the Citi Presents Imagine Dragons benefit for the Grammy Foundation held at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.
Photo by Mor Weizman
