Day 4 of Summerfest: Mother, Mother and Imagine Dragons
Stage: Miller Light Oasis (2/6): I have a love hate relationship with this stage. On the one hand it is the largest of the free stages. On the other, it is often the most crowed and the hardest to hear. Let me explain what I mean by crowed, because it’s not the kind have crowed that most people visualize. About twenty rows of bleachers are followed by two full rows of picnic tables in front of the stage. One would think this meant that the tables were a safe place to sit and watch from a distance.
One would be sorely mistaken.
Because of the popularity of the artists at that stage three is no casual watching vantage point. By the time the 8:00 set is starting the bleachers are packed with people standing on bleachers. The tables are double packed with people standing on the tables and benches By the time the 10pm set tolls around it is pure mayhem- in addtion to standing on tables and bleachers, there are people standing between the rows and packed around the tables. It is luck if you can see one of the three screens from the tables.
If you’re far enough back, you legitimately cannot hear the vocals at all.
But, if you’re up for the crush, it is beyond worth it.
The speaker system is in desperate need of a make over. The sound balance is non-existent relying on the bass predominantly and drowning out the vocals every time.
The shows:
Mother, Mother (4/6): I really got a kick out of the female lead vocalist’s playful sprit and the antidotes peppered throughout their show, however, the want to be punk style of dress and blasé nebulously defiant attitude didn’t have the effect they were going for. For punk attitude to work, you really have to have a balls-to-the-walls devil may care drive, they were too nice for punk and too blasé to be feel good. They talked bout being rebels and throwing a party in the same breath that they threw out hippy rhetoric, which did work. Where they fell flat was the total lack of energy, I could tell their thing was the disinterested but still rebellious attitude of punk, however they were just too placid for punk.
The guitar work was solid and they had an overall good sound reminiscent of the neo-punk movement.
Imagine Dragons (5/6): My vantage point was less than perfect for this show so It was a bit hard to really review their stage show. However, when a band has enough sheer energy to push past even the drunkest, least courteous crowd, that's when you know you have something magical.
And magic it was.
I knew I was in for a rock show unlike any other when I saw the two drum sets and one massive bass drum at the front of the stage. I’d heard enough of their stuff to know it was already drum intensive, but this took the cake.
The music had a pulse; the drums were palpable and gave the music an energetic drive that propelled Imagine Dragon’s already motivational message.
Vocalist, Dan Reynolds is also one of the drummers, which is a rarity. Not only is he a drummer, but also he’s a good drummer. And he doesn't sit behind the drum kit. Over the coerces of the show he ran from drum set to drum set by way of the massive bass drum in the center of the stage. In addition to high-energy drum work there were two other drummers who were equally talented and equally vigorous. Reynolds’ command of the audience was brilliant.
The band overall had a sense of coordination that was quite pleasant.
I had noticed all of this before the encore
And thin they played radioactive, their big radio single. And the energy was physically tangible. The entire au dance in one, eerily articulate voice sang every note down to the breath. It became a force—one mass of power.
That is how a rock show sounds.
I cannot wait to see them again.
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