Imagine Dragons’ career trajectory to date has been nigh on flawless. Ten years and three ruthlessly commercial albums down the line, the Las Vegas rock band have notched up close to 50m record sales, and ascended to the rarefied level where they can fill two nights at the 20,000-capacity O2 arena.
This steep rise is all the more remarkable as they are distinctly short on originality. While intermittently diverting, their sleek arena rock is essentially an opportunistic synthesis of current musical tropes and existing mega-bands, a classic example of success being one-tenth inspiration, nine-tenths perspiration.
Their current world tour takes its theme from their last album, 2017’s Evolve, and after an ambitious opening film that attempts to distil the history of man into two minutes, frontman Dan Reynolds hits the ground running. A muscular, fresh-faced dude whose aerobic dancing suggests a boyband escapee, he kneels on a catwalk to bemoan the state of modern America and call for a global surge of peace and love: “People call it corny and cliched: I don’t give a damn.”
This sets the tone for the clumsy earnestness of his between-song proclamations, but luckily what Imagine Dragons lack in blue-sky thinking, they make up for in crowdpleasing musical bangers. Much of Evolve was crafted with Swedish hit factory Mattman & Robin, who usually sprinkle gold dust over Selena Gomez and Britney Spears, and consequently I Don’t Know Why and Believer boast towering, tidal choruses. Reynolds talks of being diagnosed with severe depression years ago and fulsomely praises his therapist, and yet it is hard to believe that these glistening shells of songs are truly cathartic. Yesterday could be the 1975 after a few sessions down the gym; I Bet My Life is folky, Mumford & Sons-style soft-rock hokum with the depth and soul of a Post-it note.
They’re far better firing into the irresistible, hiccupping electro-pop of Thunder, a tune that could sit equally happily in a set by Pink or Rihanna. It’s the Imagine Dragons paradox: for a band who long to be deep, they are way more fun when they are charmingly shallow.
- At the O2, London, 2 March. Box office: 0844-856 0202. Then touring until 4 March.
