Imagine Dragons Concert

I can now say that I have been to three music concerts in my life (not counting those put on my school). The first two were the rapper B.o.B. and the Fray, at my American school. The B.o.B. concert was really not any fun, partially because rap is not my kin of music. We had to wait over an hour and a half before he came on, and then he only sang for about thirty minutes. He did not sound very good, on top of the fact that he was very rude to the crowd.

The Fray was a much better show as they sound great in concert and engaged the audience to clap and sing along. The problem with that concert was the crowd who were shouting at inappropriate times and many of them were drunk.

My third concert was to see Imagine Dragons, an alternative rock band from Utah. It took place at a club called the O2 Academy in Oxford, so I can also say that I have been to a club, though not for the purpose of clubbing. The club was smaller than I expected with black walls, a bar, and a stage. There was even a smoke machine that emitted clouds of white even before the performance started.

As more people piled into the room the air became sweltering. At the beginning the room smelt strangely like sawdust or wood chips but gradually changed to the smell of sweaty people too close together.

The pre-band that performed was called The Escapists. They were more of a typical rock band with a leader singer playing guitar, two more guitarists and a drummer. I thought that the drummer looked a little like Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother but with black, thick-framed glasses. 

Most of their songs were a few shouted lyrics followed by long guitar and drum rifts. The little bits of the lyrics that I could understand sounded descent, but their music was just too loud and angry for me. They played for about twenty minutes and all of the songs sounded basically the same with little variety.

When Imagine Dragons came on stage and performed, they were amazing. The lead singer was very into his music, dancing around and gesturing. You could tell he loved what he was doing and was having a great time. He engaged the audience, encouraging us to sing along and clap.

Photo by Libby

The lead singer was adorable (despite the fact that his haircut featured a rat tail). He told us about how they had dreamed about coming to the UK to perform but they feared that they were going to show up to the club and there only be five people there. I think he was tearing up a little as he said that and I am sure all of the girls were thinking, "Awww. How sweet."

I ended up recognizing a number of the songs played just from hearing Amy, Caitlin and Libby listen to them on their computers. Some of them included "Radioactive," "On Top of the World," and "Demons." They were a good mix of tempos and song subjects. Some of the songs even sounded a bit more folky mixed with rock which kept the performance from being boring. It was a lot of fun singing, dancing, and watching the singer bounce around the stage.

There was even an encore that ended with probably thirty seconds of flashing strobe lights. I had to close my eyes, but it did not block the lights at all. I was relieved when they stopped because the flashing combined with the heat was starting to make me feel lightheaded.

We stand for a little while after the performance so Amy and Libby could buy posters. They did manage to get the autograph of one of the guitarists but none of the other members came out to sign things.

Everything seemed very quite when we got outside. I am sure I was talking quite loudly as my hearing gradually adjusted to not being overloaded with a constant flow of loud noise. It was a great night and it taught me that concerts can be of lots fun when the performers and the crowd are respectful of each other and work towards having a good time.