LAS VEGAS — Imagine Dragons’ new tour is more than dry ice and fancy lights. Smoke + Mirrors 2015 plays with and subverts preconceived notions of what a rock show can or should be. It translates the band’s sophomore album into the language of live performance and writes the story large on the stages of the world. For the audience, the result is a deliberately-paced emotional journey, a full circle transformation full of inversions, delays and surprises.
More details from Moment Factory (www.momentfactory.com):
To create the Smoke + Mirrors 2015 experience, the band teamed up with Moment Factory. We’d worked together before, handling creative direction for the “Gold” video, a live performance at the AMAs, the Smoke + Mirrors album launch and listening party, and a live TV spot for a Target ad featuring the single “Shot,” recorded outdoors in downtown Las Vegas during the 2015 Grammys.
The tour is the next step in a relationship of developing ease and opening communication. All along, we’ve worked with the band from the basis of a conscious decision to create connections in perspective and perception — hints we’ve been dropping along the way. The show is the culmination of that process.
Making Smoke + Mirrors 2015 was an eminently collaborative effort. It was forged in a collective creative spirit and a shared desire to take the audience on a transformative trip through a world that starts flat and colorless, moves through full-color 3D realism, and past that into surrealistic distortion, psychedelia and ethereal beauty.
The stage concept builds on the idea of using massive constructions as multimedia platforms. Eight convex columns act as screens for video projection. Visual tricks were written into the design. For example, from various positions the columns appear concave. Reflective surfaces allowed us to create groundbreaking subtle effects by blending colors in the air.
Other innovations include the use of the Phenom system, programmable eye-safe audience-scanning lasers developed by Lightwave International. We also use 150 refracting mini mirrors to create a huge laser sculpture, a sweeping curtain of light. Additionally, the automated stage transforms over the course of the show, allowing for multiple configurations and perspective tricks. And surprise physical elements bridge the gap between the 3D realm and the audience.
Led by Moment Factory creative director Jesse Lee Stout and content director Adam Hummel, who worked alongside talented collaborators Sooner Routhier (lighting design) and James Richardson (technical direction), the project team was massive. Resources were shared between L.A. and Montreal. An intricate collaboration between many departments had to be managed — technical, content, research, R&D, interactive. Data management had a monumental task. They were the glue holding the whole thing together, controlling the chaos from ocean to ocean. They made the assets and tools necessary for every job readily available and made this level of collaboration possible.
There was unwavering respect between departments, recognition of how each was integral to the project. Everybody believed they were creating something unique. They felt like they were part of something bigger and took pride in their work.
Working with Imagine Dragons was a pleasure for us at Moment Factory, a collaborative journey in the truest sense. Despite the challenges inherent in mounting a touring production on such a grand scale, the conversation was consistently easy, casual and friendly. There was no butting of heads over creative issues, no lack of respect.
The band and their people appreciated the energy, esthetic and vibe MF brought to the table. And we appreciated their flexibility and creative spirit, their willingness to let someone else take up the reins and drive. All this allowed magic to happen.
Tour Lighting Designer: Sooner Routhier
Technical Director: James Richardson
Moment Factory Team
Producer: Daniel Jean
Creative Director: Jesse Lee Stout
Content Director: Adam Hummel
Canadian Tour
June 5 – Calgary
June 6 – Edmonton
June 8 — Winnipeg
July 3 — Montreal
July 4 – Toronto
