By Christina Croucher

Date / Venue: Tuesday September 8th, 2015 - Vector Arena, Auckland

There is nothing I love more than music with a message. Imagine Dragons lead by dynamistic front man Dan Reynolds delivered a hearty performance last night at Vector Arena.

I was full of high hopes for the bands performance; aside from hearing numerous praise about them live, their steady flow of radio hits have been a stand out on the airwaves. It was reviving to see this band who have been actively touring seven years now still play the most sought out hits as substantially as their newer songs, proof that their music is an honest and direct extension of the band.

Their high octane instrumental opening backed by the streams of cobalt lights set them up for the show. Dan came out on stage pumped, warmed up on the bass drum into their song Shots. They are without a doubt a band you must see live, incomparable to hearing the recorded music. Never Changing got Auckland's pipes warmed up and ended with a generous account of Dan talking about what they have been up to in Auckland. Inspired by the people and the home-like feel of the place they have just wound up doing the videography for new single Roots, here on our local ground. Seems appropriate for NZ so watch out for the video.

The most stripped down song of the night was Dan's haunting cover of Forever Young, his lyrical delivery is so intentional and potent. The band then graduated it into Smoke And Mirrors, demonstrating their knack for awesome musical drops. Gold was a standout performance of the night, Dan and the rest of the band are completely uninhibited performers and really carry out the music through their bodies as well as having a tight technical repertoire.

They played the anthemic Demons Hide and Top Of The World, the audience had a lot of fun hearing these loved songs come to life. I Bet My Life was a pretty roof-blowing performance, the song that Dan wrote based on the relationship with his parents. Radioactive was performed as their last track.

Auckland was on form with their tactics for an encore and, after what seemed like a long wait, they came back on and played The Fall. I could tell it was a pretty emotional goodbye for the band with Auckland fans showing them a lot of love, you could tell they really appreciated the welcome they got to the NZ stage but also the city itself. I would go watch them again in a heartbeat!

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