Imagine Dragons Smoke + Mirrors Tour Review!

Imagine Dragons’ Smoke and Mirrors tour is quite the experience, as I found out Wednesday night at the Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

The 20-year-old singer, Halsey, who has created quite the buzz on social media sites like tumblr, started the night. Her blue hair and laidback fashion make her fit right in with the current trends, as does her musical style, which is reminiscent of Lorde and Florence and the Machine. She had some already dedicated fans in attendance – but no doubt she made a few more fans that night from her performance.

Metric was next, and I have to admit they are one of the strangest bands I’ve ever heard. Dubbed “harmonic rock” they sounded like a combination of rock, country and electronic, with a little bit of extra weird (I have no other way to describe it) thrown in. While I wasn’t a huge fan of it personally, there were quite a few people in the crowd getting into it. They all were incredibly talented musicians though, which I have to respect, and their lighting was entrancing.

While I didn’t necessarily enjoy the openers (at least not as much as the rest of the show) I have to shoutout to Imagine Dragons for intentionally bringing two groups led by women as their openers. Not many bands would do the same and I have to give them props for that.

When Imagine Dragons hit the stage, there was no going back. They kicked the show off with a bang: Shots, the most recent single from Smoke + Mirrors. (So punny.) I knew right then we were in for an amazing show. Their stage presence was wonderful and the lighting was beyond anything I had imagined. Trouble was next, which turned out to be incredibly fun live.

I thought the way they arranged the setlist was especially interesting – usually popular bands will save their one or two biggest songs or the songs that launched them into their current level of popularity for the encore. When they played It’s Time three songs into the show I was surprised to say the least: I had expected that to be last. After It’s Time came a surprising, and somewhat haunting, cover of Alphaville’s Forever Young. Smoke + Mirrors and Polaroid followed.

I’m So Sorry was a smash, the crowd went wild, as did the band itself. It was definitely one of my favorite songs of the night. Summer came next, which Reynolds joked about being well-timed (since it is summer). The second single off Smoke + Mirrors, Gold was a blast as well, and the lighting for it was especially perfect.

The group did a short rendition of Bleeding Out from their first full-length before launching into their third single from that album, Demons which was clearly a crowd favorite. Dream dialed it back a notch as they focused more on the song itself, which hit me right in the feels. Hopeless Opus was incredibly fun, followed by another one from Night Visions, Amsterdam and Release, a pretty one that not many in the crowd knew (a song from one of the deluxe versions of Smoke + Mirrors).

On Top of the World and Friction got the crowd going again before the band blew everything else away with their last two songs (pre-encore) I Bet My Life and Radioactive. These were two other favorites of mine from the night, because you could just tell that Reynolds was having as much fun performing them as the crowd was watching the performance. With all their singles out of the way, I had no idea what to expect for the encore but it was pleasantly surprised. They came back out for one last song, the last on Smoke + Mirrors, The Fall and it was incredible – confetti and everything.

To say it was an amazing show is an understatement. Everything about it was amazing. If you’ve never had the chance to see Imagine Dragons before, you are sorely missing out. I’ve been to a lot of shows, and seen a lot of artists and bands that I (and many people) adore, but this one no question falls into my top five favorite shows I have ever been to, maybe even top three. The light show and stage setup were absolutely phenomenal, and lead singer Dan Reynolds and his bandmates were just as talented during the live performance as on any recording I’ve heard of them. The setlist included mostly songs from their new album – understandable considering the tour is in promotion of that album. They didn’t neglect their previous album, Night Visions by any means – they played all the fan favorites, and all the songs I wanted to hear. If you ever have the option to see this group of gentleman play, do yourself a favor and take it. I don’t think there’s any way it would be something you would regret.