Top Ten Albums of 2013 - #10 Imagine Dragons - Night Visions

I’m doing my own music countdown this year . . . my top ten albums of 2013. 

#10
Imagine Dragons
Night Visions

Watching the meteoric rise of Imagine Dragons in 2013, makes the album worthy of mention in this year’s countdown even though it was released in 2012. It's Time ended up on one of my playlists near the end of 2012, and I soon found myself listening to the whole album. Not something I do very often.

I got my fourteen-year-old son, Frank, tickets to see them, at the Ogden or the Gothic, or some other small venue in Denver, for Christmas last year. It ended up that the concert was while we were in Florida for spring break, so I sold the tickets. I think that particular show sold out in minutes. I was crestfallen that we would be missing it, honestly. My dear friend Irene saw them in LA and videoed almost every song for me, which was very sweet. 

Days later, we were thrilled when ID announced new tour dates, including Red Rocks in Denver. I got tickets the minute they went on sale, and minutes later, it was sold out.

Every song on the album is good, and again . . . it isn’t something I say very often. Radioactive, probably their most popular song, Amsterdam, Demons, Bleeding Out . . . I could go on and on. It’s so good, it’ll be one of my favorite albums next year and the year after that too. Unbelievable debut album.

What I’ll remember about seeing them live was their honest, heartfelt appreciation for the fans and their success. Every so often Dan Reynolds would look out at the crowd and shake his head. He’d say thank you, for the umpteenth time, and his voice would crack when he did. He thanked the people who let them sleep on their couches during previous tours . . . to think that in March they were playing a small venue and by the second week of May, of the same year, they were sold out at Red Rocks. Amazing.

Frank and I judge a good concert by whether or not we danced and sang the entire time. And whether either of us still have a voice on the way to the car . . . at the ID concert we danced, we sang and neither of us could talk. It’s in our top ten of best concerts of 2013 too. We aren’t seeing them at Pepsi Center this coming spring. It’s too hard for a band to top a Red Rocks show. We’d rather hang onto that memory. However, when they come back to RR, we’ll be there, as close to the front row as we can get.

It’s easy to like their music, but it’s easier to like them as people. I’ve followed them on Twitter all year, reading about their experiences, seeing photos from the Night Visions tour. Even when they posted about the last shows of the tour, their incredulousness over their success, their humility, and their appreciation came through.