Imagine Dragons at Radio City Music Hall

Vocalist Dan Reynolds formed Imagine Dragons as a pop rock band while attending university in Provo, Utah. The band name was an anagram for a phrase only known to members of the group. After several personnel changes, Reynolds relocated the band to his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. Imagine Dragons got its first big break when Train's vocalist fell sick just prior to the Bite of Las Vegas Festival 2009. The promoters called Imagine Dragons to substitute, and the band performed to more than 26,000 people. The band first gained national exposure with the single "It's Time," followed by "Radioactive" and numerous other Top 40 hits. Imagine Dragons set records as the band with the most weeks at number-one on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, and "Radioactive" holds the record for most weeks charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Imagine Dragons has won three American Music Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, one Grammy Award, one MTV Video Music Award and one World Music Award. The band has sold 12 million albums and 35 million singles worldwide. Imagine Dragons released their fourth and most recent studio album, Origins, on November 9, 2018. Imagine Dragons presently consists of Reynolds, lead guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman.

Northwell Health hosted a Memorial Day event entitled Side By Side: A Celebration of Service, which concluded with a concert by Imagine Dragons at Radio City Music Hall. The sponsor gave hundreds of free tickets to military personnel and their families visiting New York City during Fleet Week 2019. Looking out into the audience, the musicians could see only a sea of starched and pressed military uniforms. Reynolds repeatedly spoke between songs about what an honor it was to perform for this audience and several times reached out to shake hands with uniformed personnel near the stage. The performance included lots of close-up projections, a slideshow of archived images of Reynolds in his youth, and confetti canons. Reynolds' introductions to the songs were compelling, particularly the most personal one, where he spoke about his battle with depression. The songs were performed in the most bombastic and dynamic manner. Every note, every lick, every flurry seemed so precisely calculated and perfectly positioned for maximum effect. Therefore, despite the volume and the energy, the performance for the most part lacked the vitality of a rock concert and at its core was a polished, arena-sized pop show.

Setlist:

1. Believer
2. It's Time
3. Whatever It Takes
4. Natural
5. Shots (acoustic)
6. I Bet My Life (acoustic, shortened)
7. Yesterday
8. Every Breath You Take (The Police cover)
9. I'll Make It Up to You
10. Start Over
11. Mouth of the River
12. Thunder
13. I Don't Know Why
14. Zero
15. Demons
16. On Top of the World
17. Radioactive