Saturday, January 17, 2015

Imagine Dragons @ The Borgata Event Center - Atlantic City, NJ 8/30/13

I held up my promise to my son to see AWOLNATION.  Next was my promise to take him to see Imagine Dragons.  In March they had played The Electric Factory in Philadelphia and I couldn't get tickets.  When they announced their show at The Borgata Event Center I knew I had to get them this time.  They went on sale, I got two tickets, they sold out.  This time I got lucky.




By the time August came around Imagine Dragons were no longer just being played on mainstream alternative stations.  Radioactive had hit and they were being played all over.


To prepare for the show we had started streaming their album Night Visions.




It is one of those albums that is hard not to love (unless you buy it on vinyl because the mix is horrible).  The tribal drum beats and the flowing melodies are impossible to resist.  They rule the adult mainstream and the young girls seem to love them too.

We left early that night to catch dinner.  We were originally planning on eating at the Borgata.  That is until we passed a Primo Hoagie.  You have to be from Philadelphia to understand.  Best Hoagie Around.




When we got to the Borgata we thought we had arrived early.  And we had.  But everyone else had arrived earlier.  The doors were not open and the lines were long.  Long with pre-teen girls and their mothers.  We bought our shirts and got in line.




Once the doors opened we had seen that they had removed the chairs from the even center.  It was one big open room.




We were not as close as we wanted to be but it still was not bad.  At this point we realized we had no idea who the opening act was or if there was even an opening act.  The Neighborhood had opened for them prior to this and that was exciting.  But we did not get The Neighborhood.  When the opening act came on early we were given Chappo, which is a Brooklyn based psych-rock band.  To be nice, they probably fare much better in a small club and not opening for the Imagine Dragons.  I will leave it at that.




After that torture was over we were left wondering if there was a second opening act because it was still early.  But we noticed they were rolling the drums into place.  we were going to get Imagine Dragons.




I was curious how they would fill their set with one album.  It seems as they gave each streaming service a different bonus track.  Put them all together and you have a strong set.  There isn't one song on their album that isn't likable.




With their years of playing in Vegas they learned to work the stage and play a great show.  I am sure that touring extensively for one album will do that too.  At one point they were each switching instruments.  There were drums set up across the stage in different stations.  It was downright entertaining.




The Highlight was Radioactive but there were many great moments.




One of those highlights was a cover medley of the Cold War Kids 'Hang Me Up To Dry' and Sam Cooke's 'Stand By Me'




After the encore of 'Nothing Left To Say' the show was over.  It was barely after 10.  




I guess they were catering to a younger audience.  We made our way back to the car.  The car rid home was about an hour and a half.  We spent the ride uploading our videos to YouTube and talking about what our favorite songs were.  It was a really good night.  I must admit...when I saw how much the tickets were going for on Stubhub I contemplated selling them.  But I had a promise to keep and I was not going to break it.  

See you at the next show!

Fran


No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts