Imagine Dragons

There is something dizzying about the trajectory of Imagine Dragons. The group began its Parisian life in small venues: the Divan du Monde, the Bataclan, the Trianon, the Olympia. Then the Zénith. Then Bercy. And on August 22 and 23, 2023, in a Paris barely back from summer holidays under punishing heat, they filled Plenitude Arena two nights in a row. 80,000 spectators in total. Two sold-out shows. A quiet demonstration of force from one of the most listened-to groups in the world, with 184 billion streams and 83 million albums sold, as part of their Mercury Tour.

The crowning achievement tour. Two nights, 80,000 fans. The Las Vegas band takes the stage at Europe’s largest venue.

9:30pm, My Life opens the evening

Dan Reynolds walks on stage, charismatic and in fine form, and the multigenerational crowd filling every last row immediately understands it is in for a memorable night. Behind him, the original lineup: Ben McKee on bass, Daniel Platzman on drums, Daniel Wayne Sermon on guitar, a multi-instrumentalist who can switch without blinking from six strings to banjo on It’s Time. Fifteen years after their formation in Las Vegas, all four members are still there, still as one.

The cascade of hits begins

Believer, their most popular track, detonates the arena as early as the second song. Thunder, Whatever It Takes, Follow You, Demons, Sharks, Bad Liar, Natural, Radioactive: every album in their discography is represented, from Night Visions through to Mercury Acts 1 and 2. Five tracks drawn from Evolve, their pivotal album, bridge the gap between fans from the very beginning and those who discovered them more recently.

© Apolline Cornuet

The production matches the scale of the venue

Giant screens dress the entire stage, with two additional screens added between the first and second night, alongside breathtaking light shows, confetti, smoke jets and balloon drops. Together they deploy a visual energy that turns each song into its own tableau. Dan Reynolds, shirtless by the fourth track, moves across the stage with the assurance of someone who knows exactly what he is doing and is taking obvious pleasure in doing

The acoustic mini-set brings time to a standstill

Mid-show, the group sets down the electric instruments and strips back to voices and guitars. The August 23 audience receives one extra track compared to the night before: Symphony, performed in its worldwide acoustic premiere that evening. A moment of quiet warmth at the heart of a concert that is never short of electricity.

There are personal moments too

On August 22, Dan Reynolds dedicates Thunder to his children, present in the crowd. On the 23rd, he acknowledges his parents, who have come to hear him play. Between songs, he speaks openly about depression and the importance of reaching out, a rare and sincere address that says something essential about what this music means to millions of people.

The finale arrives with Radioactive and Walking The Wire. The arena, on its feet since the opening note, gives whatever energy it has left. Plenitude Arena has just lived through two evenings that no one in the crowd expected to be quite this intense, and that will stand as one of the most significant stops on the Mercury Tour across Europe.

From the Divan du Monde to here. It took fifteen years. And two sold-out nights in Europe’s largest arena to take the full measure of how far they have come.