Imagine Dragons takes Chicago by storm
Wayne Sermon, Imagine Dragons
March 18, 2014
The Allstate Arena seemed as small as an office due to the large crowd on Wednesday, Mar. 13 when Nico Vega and The Naked and Famous opened up the concert for the Imagine Dragons.
I showed up for the 7 p.m. concert a whole two hours early. Though, I may add, the arena was only letting people in an hour early. Waiting in line for an hour in 30-degree weather and in shorts was not my best idea, though there were many other people wearing similar attire.
At 6, we ran into the doors to get wristbands. Next was an hour wait for the first opening act to play while squished next to the incoming people.
When Nico Vega first stepped on the stage, I was not expecting much. I had never heard of them before and the lead singer, Aja Volkman, was wearing a onesie, converse, and a bun in her hair. Not exactly today’s standards of a normal woman performer’s appearance.
I should not have let appearances be so deceiving, as Volkman’s voice blew me away. I would recommend Nico Vega, especially their song “I Believe (Get Over Yourself)”, to anyone who is into soft-rock.
When The Naked And Famous came onstage, I did not recognize their music. Maybe it was the hundreds of people pushing against me to get on stage or the blinding strobe light in my eyes, but the first song they played left a sour taste in my mouth.
Luckily I got over my bitterness and moved on to enjoy the rest of their performance as Thom Powers’s good looks had me very interested. Screaming as loud as I could to “Young Blood,” the last of their songs that they played, it was sad to see them walk offstage. However, the anticipation for Imagine Dragons was killing me.
At 9:03, Imagine Dragons strolled onto the stage and I could not hear anything except ringing in my ears everyone (including myself) was screaming so loud. The band put on a great show, singing almost every song from their album “Night Visions.”
When the band went offstage at 10:32, the crowd roared for an encore for five minutes before the band came back out. Before singing their last song of the night, “Bleeding Out,” Dan Reynolds, the lead singer, announced that the band would be getting food after the concert was finally over.
“We’re getting Portillo’s,” Ben McKee, the band’s bassist, said.
