INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 10: (L-R) Musicians Dan Reynolds, Daniel Platzman, Wayne Sermon and Ben McKee of Imagine Dragons attend Audacy's "KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas" at The Kia Forum on December 10, 2022 in Inglewood, California. Photo: Getty Images
American rock band Imagine Dragons is in South Africa for their Mercury World Tour. During their first performance, at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday night, the set included some of the band’s older songs — Follow You, Younger and Hear Me — as well as newer ones. The band takes to the stage in Johannesburg on Saturday, 4 February.
The tour comes after Imagine Dragons’ sixth and latest studio album Mercury Acts 1 & 2, released in July 2022.
Lead singer Dan Reynolds spoke to Consequence about the inspiration behind the 32-track double album and the song They Don’t Know You Like I Do, which reflects on loss and life. In the song, Reynolds expresses his regret that he hadn’t done more for his childhood friend who committed suicide.
“I wrote this record during a time period when I lost my best friend since middle school, who took his own life,” he said.
“My sister-in-law passed away from cancer really abruptly within a year, leaving behind her six kids. My ex-girlfriend passed away from leukaemia. It was just horrible. Have you ever had a friend who suddenly, within two years, they lose so many people? It’s one of those things where sometimes it rains and when it rains, it pours,” Reynolds shared.
The band — Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman — shot to fame in 2012 with the release of the single It’s Time from their successful debut album Night Visions. The album, which features hit songs Radioactive and Demons, took home the Billboard Music Award for Top Rock Album in 2014.
Radioactive, which was released as the second single from the debut album, scored a Grammy award for Best Rock Performance in 2013 and the album a nomination for Record of The Year.
Speaking to Billboard about the song, Reynolds said he had “no idea” that it would achieve the popularity and success it did after it was released in October 2012.
“When we were making the song, it felt really strange, in a cool way. Like, I was excited listening to it, I was excited to show it to my friends, because it was weird. I mean, at that point, we were nothing. My band wasn’t signed at that point, when I wrote that song. And so I had no idea that it would be anything close to what it was. But I did feel that it was special and interesting,” he said.
“It’s Time was the first single, and we already had Radioactive at that point. Nobody thought that that song would play on the radio. In fact, I remember our radio department specifically being like, ‘This song won’t play on the radio.’ But the song just started to go on its own, and then it just went to radio because it kind of had a life of its own, and it kind of dictated its own way,” Reynolds explained.
The Mercury tour, which started on 6 February 2022 in Miami, in the United States, and is set to conclude on 9 September 2023 in France, is the group’s biggest show to date and includes a 24-track setlist.
If you missed the first performance in Cape Town, you can still bag tickets to see them in Johannesburg on Saturday 4 February at the FNB Stadium in Nasrec.
Ticket prices range from R575 to R 3 790. To purchase click here.