Alternative rock band Imagine Dragons (ID) slithered their way to Xcel Energy Center on Mar. 12 for the final leg of their first headlining tour: “Into the Night”.

Year: 2008. Location: Las Vegas, Nev. Frontman Dan Reynolds convinced band members Ben McKee and Wayne “Wing” Sermon, both Berklee graduates, to move cross country in order to pursue the vision that turned into the Imagine Dragons phenomenon. Current member Daniel Platzman joined the band in 2011.

After the success of their first record, Night Visions, the band headlined their first tour. Night Visions, debuted a little over a year ago, and multiple radio hits followed the release of the album. One of the last three shows was in Minn.

ID was accompanied by bands Nico Vega and The Naked and Famous, a band from  New Zealand.

Nico Vega opened the show with a short set which consisted of five or so songs. The Californian band failed to impress the crowd of 14,000. An awkward performance left most of the arena seated, aside from the general admission floor seats.

Following Nico Vega, The Naked and Famous took the stage. The audience immediately perked up due to their New Zealand accents, something not often heard in Minn.

This band was more impressive than Nico Vega due to better stage presence. The crowd got into the first few songs performed by The Naked and Famous, but towards the end of their longer set, the band began to lose the connection with the audience due to their songs all sounding the same. Nonetheless, when the band finished their set, they received screams and applause from the crowd. This could have been because the crowd knew that ID was finally up next after two painful warmup bands, or the fact that the arena was just “Minnesota nice”.

As ID took the stage, the received a warm welcome. During their performance, all of the vocals by the band were stellar, and the lighting and background on the stage were both dynamic and refreshing.

Although the crowd was into the performance, only the die-hard ID fans were the only ones who knew every lyric to every song. For the rest of the crowd, only familiar to the band by their radio hits, songs “It’s Time”, “Demons” and “Radioactive” were the only tracks which they could sing along to.

Even with a smaller crowd of 14,000, the mysteriousness of ID lead to a weak performance. The band tried to spread their three radio hits throughout their setlist. This only left the audience bored throughout the concert.

While onstage, the band announced that they are taking some time off to write a sophomore album, hopefully including some more hits.

Overall, the band tried to connect to the audience and sounded fine on stage, but lacked in power. Their fan base is still small, even though they are one of the biggest alternative rock bands on the scene right now. Xcel Energy Center was too big of a venue for ID. With only three hit songs, ID did not have enough of a show to captivate the audience. The concert would have been better off at a smaller, more intimate venue such as the Varsity or State Theaters.

The entire concert dragged on and felt like an eternity instead of keeping the audience engaged and on their feet.

Although their concert was not the best, ID has so much potential. With the release of their second album in the next couple years, and the production of more radio hits, the band will be able to make better use of a headlining tour and a larger venue such as an arena.