Imagine Dragons returning to China

American Express Card Members Exclusive Pre-sale November 30th at 10 am through December 3rd at 10 am

Live Nation is thrilled to announce Imagine Dragons Live in Shanghai at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The Grammy Award-winning band is set to perform live on January 17th.

Tickets to Evolve World Tour Live in Shanghai start from RMB 480, and will go on sale at Damai.cn and via Damai ticket hotline 1010-3721 on December 4th. American Express Card Members, the tour’s exclusive pre-sale partner, can purchase tickets before the general public beginning on November 30th at 10 am local time through December 3rd at 10 am local time. Live Nation members can also pre-purchase tickets on December 3rd at 10 am local time through December 4th at 10 am local time.

On their third album Evolve, the Grammy Award-winning band shift perspective and take on a brighter but more layered emotional outlook. “The last year’s been the healthiest year of my life, and I think that’s very much reflected in the music,” says lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, whose bandmates include guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman. “There’s definitely some moments of sadness on this album, but there’s also moments of real celebration.”

On lead single “Believer,” Imagine Dragons wholly embody the emotional dynamic at the heart of Evolve. With its bold percussive vocals and hip-hop-inspired rhythms, the track offers a testament to gaining strength through adversity. “Over the past eight years we’ve gone through some bad times, but those were almost always the times that helped us evolve,” says Sermon of the Las Vegas-based band. “We didn’t always want to grow, and pain was the gateway to that growth.”

In bringing “Believer” to life, Imagine Dragons joined forces with Swedish production duo Mattman & Robin and carved out a cleaner sound than they’d ever attempted before. “For each song on this album we were very careful about selecting the minimum number of instruments needed to portray the emotions we were searching to capture,” says Reynolds. In a departure from the largely self-produced Night Visions and its 2015 follow-up Smoke + Mirrors, Evolve finds the band working closely with Mattman & Robin and producers like Joel Little (best known for helming the production of Lorde’s Pure Heroine). “We purposely went after producers with a less-is-more philosophy, and they each helped us build that big Imagine Dragons sound but with a much simpler palette,” says Sermon.

Despite the minimalistic approach of Evolve, Imagine Dragons achieve a rich complexity partly informed by their taking time out to recharge. After much soul-searching during a year-long break from touring, the band arrived at a new mindset and ultimately brought a greater sense of openness to their music. “Smoke + Mirrors was a very introspective time for the band, where we were questioning spirituality and its meaning in our lives,” says Reynolds. Sermon continues: “With that album we were struggling to come up with the answers, and with this one we’re satisfied not to have the answers at all.”

Throughout Evolve, Imagine Dragons find unlikely glory in intense self-reflection. On “Whatever It Takes,” the band turns self-doubt into a soaring, shimmering epic driven by heavy beats and Reynolds’s rapid-fire flow. Another moment of reckoning, “Thunder” brings waves of majestic harmonies and warped vocal effects to Reynolds’s recounting of his life’s journey so far. “That song is me looking back on my earlier years, when I felt like such an oddball and making music was my only escape, even though I was too shy to share it with anyone,” he says. “It’s about how that time was the lightning before the thunder, and how now I’m at a place where I get to do the thing I love and travel the world playing music for people.”

In a rare turn for Imagine Dragons, Evolve also offers up a selection of love songs. With its delicate guitar tones and tender vocals, “Walking the Wire” centers on what Reynolds describes as “a tumultuous relationship that feels like it’s going to collapse at any moment—but that’s what makes it exciting.” A more lurid twist on that sentiment, “I Don’t Know Why” brilliantly blends icy synth with throbbing rhythm. “‘I Don’t Know Why’ started with that beat,” notes Reynolds. “It’s got this feeling like you’re going 90 miles an hour, swerving in between cars, and you’re just about to crash. The danger goes along with the romance in the song, where it’s so exhilarating but headed somewhere tragic.” One of Evolve‘s most ballad-like moments, “I’ll Make It Up to You” unfolds with glistening guitar work and warmly delivered lyrics about “that moment of passion that forgives all the things you’ve done wrong,” according to Reynolds.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com