Smoke + Mirrors Tour

Tour Details:
Album: Smoke + Mirrors
Artist: Imagine Dragons
Genre: Alternative



Concert Details:
Date: July 25, 2015
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: US Airways Center in Phoenix, AZ
Opening Acts: Metric and Halsey


Review of the location:

   Compared to some other concert venues in the Phoenix area, US Airways Center was pretty great. You might be more familiar with this as home to the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball teams as well as the arena football team, Arizona Rattlers. The concessions were more varied than other places I have been to, though beware the prices are a little high. The only con in this respect was that at the beginning of the concert the fountain soda machines were not working. I only noticed this because I am crazy addicted to Diet Coke. One major pro, especially because this is Phoenix in the summer, is that this location has AC! This is a huge deal and made the performance far more enjoyable. Bathrooms were clean and lines were never too long. This is practically unheard of for women's restrooms. All of the ushers were extremely friendly and helpful. Overall, it was a very clean and well maintained facility. I would absolutely consider seeing another concert here.

Review of the musical performance:

   Metric was the first on stage. Before the concert I had actually never heard of this band. Some background on them is that they are a Canadian alternative band that formed in 1998. I would recommend listening to a few of their songs before attending a concert. Individuals that knew their songs were very excited to see the performance and were jumping around singing along. Most people around me had never heard their songs before though. The instrumental aspect of the performance was great with a lot of energy. This was probably an issue with the sound system in use, but the singer's voice was very difficult to understand and was almost like humming. I even noticed this when she was speaking to the crowd.
    I believe Halsey was meant to perform next but she was absent from this concert. This was definitely a bummer.
    Finally, Imagine Dragons took the stage. The performance was musically fantastic. There were quite a few epic guitar solos and I liked that there was a lot of movement and energy on the stage from the performers. The coordination of lyrics, music intensity, and lights was absolutely perfect and created an awesome atmosphere. Everyone was dancing, jumping, and singing along. Since I am not huge on ballads, I especially enjoyed the higher energy "I'm So Sorry", "Friction", and "Radioactive". The camaraderie present on stage was great to see as well. Some shows it feels like the various musicians are competing for attention. This was more like a group of friends that respected each other and were willing to share the spotlight. The band did a great job musically as well as creating a visually awesome show. Many families, parents and children aged around 10-14, came to the concert together. There was not much alcohol consumption that I noticed either. This kept the atmosphere family friendly. Be warned though that the lights used in the performance make it nearly impossible to get a great picture and if you're sensitive to flashing or strobe lights this could be a problem.

Review of the show:

   For several reasons this was not the smoothest show I have ever been to. Metric came on after 8:00PM and Imagine Dragons started playing after 9:00 with an intermission of about an hour between acts. Many people became restless and one couple near me even left. This sounds odd but was later explained by the fact that the show was nearly cancelled. It was announced that a virus was affecting several members of the tour and that Imagine Dragon's lead singer, Dan, and one of the opening acts, Halsey, were ill. Halsey did not perform at all. I believe this is the reason for Metric playing for so long and the awkwardly long intermission.

Overall experience:

   This was a great concert, even with the few snafus, and everyone there seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Facebook was full of friends that had attended and everyone agreed that it was amazing. I was beyond ecstatic to have gone to this concert. I've mentioned before that they are my absolute favorite band. For two years I tried seeing Imagine Dragons in concert but I was away at college and every time they came to Phoenix it was one or two days after I had had to return to campus. It was everything I was hoping it would be.