TL;DR Background:
In my natural dick way of doing things..I was a dick about it. Kids have been listening to Imagine Dragons on the local radio for months and love/know all the songs. Their favorite band ever, dad, c'mon! Even the wife likes their stuff. For me, it's ok, but it's overplayed. Then we found out they were going to play locally at Hershey Stadium, and some of their friends (moms are friends with my wife as well) were wanting to go also. We got tickets for our family of 4 + 2 friends, but didn't tell our kids (<< Engage Dick Dad Mode). We worked with the friends to keep it a secret and built up to the week of the concert by telling our kids that we were busy the day of the concert but had to look after the friends for the weekend.
Day of the concert, we informed our kids that one of the friends needed to be dropped off at a barn party (she rides horses) in Hershey, so we're all loaded in the van driving through heavy traffic, playing dumb. We get into the lanes for parking for the stadium and the wife and I are like "all these people can't be going to a barn party, what the heck". My son figures out TODAY is the day of the concert and that's why all these people are here. We explain we thought it was during the day when we were busy, and my daughter looks it up and says "No, it starts at 7PM" (currently 6PM). They both are getting pissed off, so my wife can't resist provoking them further (usually, she isn't in on these surprises and I'm pulling them on her). We explain "They've been sold out for weeks. Only way to get tix was to win some on the radio." We then point out to my daughter that she just got a new iPhone, if it was so important why didn't she try to win any? Wife asks son on a scale of 1-10 how important is this show to him? He answers "100!!". We park, and say we'll walk the friend to the pick-up area for the barn party so she doesn't get lost.
The kids are getting nasty about the wife's insistent dumbassery on no concert tickets. So, I ask my son "What would you trade for tickets if it is so important to you? Your basketball hoop or your pokemon cards or something?" His reply, "My mom." (He is SUCH a mama's boy, so this was notable). We even walk all the way to the stadium gates and I hand out the printed e-tickets to each person and ask my kids to read what it says, at which point my son is so upset he can't read anything. He's livid we'd not only drive to the stadium where the concert is, but make him walk through the crowds of concert goers and NOT let him go...So I start asking him "what does it say on the paper? Look, what row and seat are you in?" "What, we don't have to leave? We're going in?" He starts crying. Not tears of happiness, but because a) he has been tortured to this point, and b) because he HATES surprises. Yay! Lead balloon for mom & dad.
The Concert:
Opening act was some 13yr old who was on America's Got Talent. She's got a great voice for her half hour set, but honestly, other than a 70's cover song I didn't know any of her stuff. Tbh, she was so small, that even on the big screens on either side of the stage we still couldn't see her behind a lot of her stage props. She seemed really appreciative of Im Dr for bringing her on tour, and got the crowd warmed up nicely.
With her opening at 7PM, and the stadium being outdoors (we were on the west side by luck, out of the last few hours of sun) it was a nice few hours of sunset skies to go with the music. Breezy mid-80's, seats around the 50yd line and maybe row 45 out of 70 up the stadium. LOTS of families present, we saw many grade school age kids we either knew or at least recognized. Show was done by around 10:30-11:00PM, so not too late.
Imagine Dragons came out, opened with Radio Active as that was the first real hit that got them known awhile back. Set was maybe 20-22 songs in length with a stretch of about 8 in the middle that must have been off earlier albums because we didn't know them. Band hit the major hits on the current album, of course, and everyone had a great time throughout the stadium. There were two points where the lead singer paused to talk to the audience, one to thank them and show great appreciation for the support and to express how much the band doesn't take this for granted and still are amazed at the love they get and want to share back to everyone. The second pause was during the intro to 'Demons' where he expressed his own bouts with depression and time with a therapist, that it doesn't make one weak but makes you human - you aren't alone, talk to family-friends-anyone and get stronger, you aren't broken and you aren't alone. Overall a very positive message encouraging love and support for one another. The last 8-10 songs were all very strong, and they band came down off the stage to perform on a mini-centerstage in the middle of the fans for 3 songs. Really classy, making it intimate and personal. Very well done. They returned to the main stage for the final 2 songs of 'Believer' and closing with 'Thunder'. The entire stadium was rocking and singing along, with fireworks going off for the finale.
Overall very recommended, even for a casual fan. Not preachy in any way, but very, very family safe environment. People of all ages had a great time. It was the first concert for both our kids, and the one friend 'going to a barn party'. The friend, in fact, is now arranging travel to Virginia to see them again. 8.5/10 for the concert, and no, no boobs seen or harmed (until I got the wife home later).