After a brief (but not forgotten) stint at the Festival d’été de Québec in 2019, group Imagine Dragons are ready to celebrate their return to the Capitale-Nationale by burning down the boards of the Plains of Abraham on Friday night.
• Also read: Imagine Dragons: 4 things you should know about the group trying to perform in the Plains for the third time
• Also read: Weezer at the summer festival: Perpetual teenagers on the prairie
While you wait for the big return to Quebec, here are some things you might not know about the Las Vegas lineup.
Dan Reynolds, a Mormon ally of the LGBTQ+ community
Getty Images via AFP
In a 2021 interview, lead singer Dan Reynolds claimed that the lyrics to “Radioactive,” the band’s first big hit, referred to his relationship with his Mormon faith.
The latter actually grew up in a conservative Mormon family in Las Vegas. In several interviews, Reynolds said his faith was shaken when he saw the church’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people.
“Orthodox beliefs contribute to rising rates of suicide, depression and anxiety among young people in the LGBTQ+ community,” he wrote in an open letter published by Rolling Stone magazine in 2018. We can’t go on like this. The.”
Over the years, Reynolds has learned to engage with his faith by nurturing hope to inspire winds of change.
“Would it help these young people if I decided to give up religion? NO. Mormons tend to close their doors to avoid listening to criticism. The only way to change things, even if the doctrine doesn’t change, is to create a safer culture,” he told Time Magazine in 2018.
The latter therefore created the LoveLoud festival in the state of Utah, the cradle of the Mormon religion, to offer young LGBTQ+ people and their families a space. The funds generated are then donated to organizations helping young people across the country.
In 2021, the artist donated his childhood home in Las Vegas to Encircle, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth.
The name “Imagine Dragons” would be an anagram
Getty Images via AFP
Rumor has it that the letters that make up the group’s name actually hide a secret message that only the members of the group know.
“We didn’t even tell our families!” They have already confided in an interview.
There are several theories circulating on the internet as to the meaning of the name. For some admirers, the band might have hidden a religious message. Others believe Dan Reynolds would have referenced his insomnia.
Some netizens even believe that the group is playing their admirers’ game and that the discussions surrounding the name “Imagine Dragons” are actually a big joke.
Big hit on the music scene
Getty Images via AFP
Imagine Dragons impressed with the song Radioactive, which was released on the group’s first album, Night Visions, in 2012.
The latter was adopted by all American radio stations and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Radioactive stayed on the chart for 87 weeks, beating the record set by Jason Mraz since 2008 with his song I’m Yours. The Weeknd finally broke that record in 2019 with Blinding Lights, which stayed on the chart for 90 weeks.
Additionally, Radioactive is the best-selling rock song in the United States since the dawn of the digital age, selling nearly 8,234,360 copies. The song won the band’s Best Rock Performance award at the Grammys.
Since then, Imagine Dragons has had a number of successes.