Credit: Eliot Lee HazelImagine Dragons will begin their massive North American tour in support of their sophomore album Smoke + Mirrors tonight, June 3, in Portland, Oregon. As the band tells it, you shouldn't expect a mere recreation of the album from their live show on this tour. Instead, Imagine Dragons are planning a unique, interactive live experience.
"We are trying to push the boundaries of what a live show is, both for us and for our audience experiencing it," drummer Daniel Platzman tells ABC Radio. "We really want to take the action of the stage into the crowd as much as possible and try and blur that boundary between audience and people on stage."
The live experience is very important to the band, as they felt they didn't have the chance to properly map out production ideas when touring in support of their breakout debut album, Night Visions.
"Above all, we've actually had time to really sit back and plan the production for this upcoming tour," says frontman Dan Reynolds. "Whereas with the first record everything blew up so fast, it was just flying to Russia, flying to...you can't really plan out what a show's going to look like, you kind of just do it."
Having had that time to plan for the Smoke + Mirrors tour, Reynolds feels like the production will not only surpass that of their past live shows, but also the production of other rock bands as well.
"This one we've actually been able to really put our heads down and come up with some creative ways to make the show different than your typical 'Hey, here's some lights and they flash, and here's a strobe light and then here's the music,'" Reynolds tells ABC Radio. "There's actually like an environment that represents Smoke + Mirrors that will be there at the show."
In keeping with the magical realism theme of Smoke + Mirrors, Imagine Dragons feel that they have a "couple tricks up our sleeve" for their live show.
"We're just gonna try to blow the lid off," Platzman says.
Imagine Dragons' North American Smoke + Mirrors tour, featuring support from Metric, will conclude August 1 in Boise, Idaho.
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