[singlepic id=2041 w=475 h=240 float=left]
Friday night, Oct. 26, the festivities for the 101st annual Mizzou Homecoming kicked off with a bang. National touring group Imagine Dragons came to Mizzou and rocked the campus for a few hours with up-beat, energetic jams that made them famous.
Only finding about the concert earlier that day, I quickly rearranged my evening’s plans to incorporate this rare event. I met up with some friends of mine and we drove downtown to find a place to park. All around us we could see the University of Missouri-Columbia’s campus alive with sights and sounds familiar to a college homecoming weekend. Even though the weather was brutally cold, and it was late, hoards of people came to the concert.
My friends and I were determined to get a good place to watch, so we pushed and shoved our way to about the middle of the crowd, slightly on the right side of the stage. We would’ve gotten closer – my friend had mentioned he wanted to “kiss the shoes” of Dan Reynolds – but we were so tightly packed we could hardly turn around to see each other, let alone move closer to the stage. Of course we got to our spot early, the only way to get the spot, but then the waiting ensued.
After what must have been 35 minutes of just standing there, some MU Homecoming staff come on stage and speak about all the work that has gone into making homecoming happen. They thanked many people and kept talking. I could feel, and I know everyone around could as well, we just wanted these guys to get off stage.
We were all here to see Imagine Dragons.
Alas, after a while longer, they came on the stage. I was in a crowd of what I could only guess must have been several thousand people (but honestly I’m not a very good judge numbers like that, especially if I’m in the middle of it. Regardless, it was a ton of people). Probably only 30 ft. away from the stage, and It’s Time (see what I did there?).
Imagine Dragons started their set, and the best way for me to tell you about that is with pictures. So look through the photos and if you were there, I hope I reminded you of an awesome memory. And if you weren’t, then I hope you can just imagine how awesome it was, for in my humble opinion, this was a fantastic show.
[singlepic id=2042 w=500 h=400 float=left] And the name of the game is Crowd Surfing.
This photo needs some explanation. This concert started out like any normal concert, everyone moving to the music for the first few songs. People are having a good time, but everyone is cold. Dan Reynolds then makes some statement about crowd surfing, and to not let anyone who is up touch the ground. From that point on, this relatively normal concert turned into a crazy, loud, cold, awesome war-zone where you try your best to just stand and enjoy the music, but then you are suddenly ambushed from behind with the shoe of an airborne colleague, and you have to use all your strength to suspend said airborne colleague to prevent yourself from getting trampled.
[singlepic id=2053 w=500 h=400 float=left] There was no problem when Dan Reynolds dropped out vocally, because everyone in the crowd was already singing along.
[singlepic id=2044 w=400 h=600 float=center] Who needs a mic stand anyway?
[singlepic id=2045 w=950 h=400 float=left] Eyes to the sky, Reynolds takes it all in.
[singlepic id=2046 w=600 h=400 float=left] Wayne Sermon on the guitar
[singlepic id=2051 w=900 h=600 float=center] Ben McKee
[singlepic id=2049 w=900 h=600 float=center] Dan Reynolds’ arms come up, so do the cell phones of half of the people around
*Note: if some of the photos aren’t displaying properly, i.e. there is an error message, try refreshing the page. The site seems to be sort of finicky with a few of the pictures.
Photos by Patrick Smith
To read a review of the concert, click here.
Only finding about the concert earlier that day, I quickly rearranged my evening’s plans to incorporate this rare event. I met up with some friends of mine and we drove downtown to find a place to park. All around us we could see the University of Missouri-Columbia’s campus alive with sights and sounds familiar to a college homecoming weekend. Even though the weather was brutally cold, and it was late, hoards of people came to the concert.
My friends and I were determined to get a good place to watch, so we pushed and shoved our way to about the middle of the crowd, slightly on the right side of the stage. We would’ve gotten closer – my friend had mentioned he wanted to “kiss the shoes” of Dan Reynolds – but we were so tightly packed we could hardly turn around to see each other, let alone move closer to the stage. Of course we got to our spot early, the only way to get the spot, but then the waiting ensued.
After what must have been 35 minutes of just standing there, some MU Homecoming staff come on stage and speak about all the work that has gone into making homecoming happen. They thanked many people and kept talking. I could feel, and I know everyone around could as well, we just wanted these guys to get off stage.
We were all here to see Imagine Dragons.
Alas, after a while longer, they came on the stage. I was in a crowd of what I could only guess must have been several thousand people (but honestly I’m not a very good judge numbers like that, especially if I’m in the middle of it. Regardless, it was a ton of people). Probably only 30 ft. away from the stage, and It’s Time (see what I did there?).
Imagine Dragons started their set, and the best way for me to tell you about that is with pictures. So look through the photos and if you were there, I hope I reminded you of an awesome memory. And if you weren’t, then I hope you can just imagine how awesome it was, for in my humble opinion, this was a fantastic show.
[singlepic id=2042 w=500 h=400 float=left] And the name of the game is Crowd Surfing.
This photo needs some explanation. This concert started out like any normal concert, everyone moving to the music for the first few songs. People are having a good time, but everyone is cold. Dan Reynolds then makes some statement about crowd surfing, and to not let anyone who is up touch the ground. From that point on, this relatively normal concert turned into a crazy, loud, cold, awesome war-zone where you try your best to just stand and enjoy the music, but then you are suddenly ambushed from behind with the shoe of an airborne colleague, and you have to use all your strength to suspend said airborne colleague to prevent yourself from getting trampled.
[singlepic id=2053 w=500 h=400 float=left] There was no problem when Dan Reynolds dropped out vocally, because everyone in the crowd was already singing along.
[singlepic id=2044 w=400 h=600 float=center] Who needs a mic stand anyway?
[singlepic id=2045 w=950 h=400 float=left] Eyes to the sky, Reynolds takes it all in.
[singlepic id=2046 w=600 h=400 float=left] Wayne Sermon on the guitar
[singlepic id=2051 w=900 h=600 float=center] Ben McKee
[singlepic id=2049 w=900 h=600 float=center] Dan Reynolds’ arms come up, so do the cell phones of half of the people around
*Note: if some of the photos aren’t displaying properly, i.e. there is an error message, try refreshing the page. The site seems to be sort of finicky with a few of the pictures.
Photos by Patrick Smith
To read a review of the concert, click here.
