Imagine Dragons at Maradona: lights, fires and global messages, but the heart remains half-hearted

by Alessandra Del Prete

Watching them on stage, everything seems perfect: colossal visuals, a setlist built like a greatest hits, an adoring audience, an impeccable band. But something – despite the visual impact and the volume – doesn't really explode. Imagine Dragons , protagonists on Saturday night at the Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, staged a powerful and technically impeccable show. And yet, on an emotional level, the promised fire remains more smoke than flames .

The Las Vegas band takes their arsenal of hits on tour – from “Thunder” to “Radioactive”, passing through “Bones” and “Demons” – packaged with the precision of a well-oiled algorithm. Dan Reynolds , voice and face of the project, moves between a generational anthem and a social reflection, raising the pace when necessary and letting go of some more introspective moments. But, despite the sweat and the stage involvement, the concert struggles to find the moment in which the tension truly melts into pure magic.

“Believer” and the Politics of Pop

The emotional peak comes during “Believer,” with Reynolds raising a Ukrainian flag : a powerful gesture, greeted by a sincere roar. It’s a moment that works, because it breaks the surface and calls for a real urgency, a look at the world that goes beyond the setlist. The video is available here .

But a symbol is not enough to support an entire narrative structure. And the Imagine Dragons live, however well-crafted, cannot completely dismantle that feeling of a pre-packaged event , almost replicable in every city in the world.

A show that sounds good, but vibrates little

The band's solidity cannot be denied: the sound is compact, the stage direction works, the audience participates. But that authentic spark is missing, that risk, that lively smudge that often makes a concert a unique experience. Imagine Dragons play well, but they don't surprise . It's a concert that pleases, but rarely shakes.

Naples responds, even if more is expected

The Neapolitan public, warm and involved, does its part to the end. The Maradona setting, with its emotional and symbolic load, gives suggestion. But it is not enough. In the end it remains a great show, lucid and well packaged, which however slips away without leaving a deep mark .

For a band that has made amplified emotion its hallmark, perhaps this is the wrong note: perfection, when the unexpected is missing, is not enough to make our hearts beat .