At a usual concert nowadays, instead of seeing people listening to music, we most often see people with their phones up in the air taking photos or videos. Imagine Dragons changed all that. They changed Manila.
As we stepped into the Mall of Asia Arena, I saw the stage was quite simple: drums, guitar, microphone. The usual. But as the lights went down and the music started, the stage suddenly beamed with amazing lights.
It’s the band’s first time in Manila, but they said they’ll keep coming back. Dan Reynolds, the band’s front man, even told a funny story. That morning, he said, he turned to his band mate and just casually asked: “Bobo ka ba?” Sending the audience into laughter. Of all the things he could have learned to say in Tagalog, that just had to be the one he remembers. Reynolds also said that his best friend back when he was 12 years old was a Filipino.
“Mahal ko kayo!” Reynolds would shout and the crowd would go wild.
When Imagine Dragons performed their hit Demons, everyone started putting their hands up in the air, letting the music take control. The Arena was filled with twinkling lights moving side to side, as the audience used their phones as flashlights. And then they sang I’m on Top of the World and the crowd just started dancing.
The Arena turned pitch black. Loud drum beats matched the heightened feelings of the audience as the band performed another crowd favorite—Radioactive.
The most common reaction I heard about the concert was, they sound exactly like how they do on record. I must agree. They are one of the best bands I have ever seen in a show, and I’m sure the Philippines won’t mind welcoming them back again and again.
