Dan Reynolds Reveals Why Imagine Dragons May ‘Never’ Perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show

If Imagine Dragons were ever to play a Super Bowl halftime show, they’d want to make sure they could bring lightning and thunder their way.

The band’s frontman Dan Reynolds appeared on a new episode of SiriusXM The Jess Cagle Show with Julia Cunningham and talked about how the group “Radioactive” is in negotiations about performing at a sports event. But he admitted that they would be interested only under certain conditions.

The topic was brought up when co-host Julia Cunningham said she had hoped to line up Las Vegas-themed acts for Super Bowl LVIII in Sin City next year before Usher was announced as the upcoming halftime host.

After explaining that she had envisioned several Vegas icons like Wayne Newton and hometown bands like The Killers and Imagine Dragons taking the stage, Cunningham asked Reynolds, 36, if it had ever been discussed.

Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.

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“We had conversations about Super Bowl stuff with Super Bowl people,” the musician admitted.

Reynolds said, however, that the rockers would only be interested in the future if the focus was on their live performance rather than a theatrical performance. “Until I know we can perform the way we want to and our instruments can play live, we’re never going to play the Super Bowl,” Reynolds continued. “And that’s my honest answer to you.”

The singer added: “We have a very specific way of performing and we’ve been really lucky to stick to our guns and perform that way for so many years.”

Imagine dragons.

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Reynolds emphasized that there is “no hate for the Super Bowl,” but reiterated how committed bands like Imagine Dragons are to playing live. “If you’re a band, it’s just another thing,” he added. “You have to have live drums, you have to have, you know, live guitar. And that’s not a starter for us.”

The next halftime show, presented by Apple Music, will be headlined by Usher in February 2024. The R&B superstar — who will wrap up his popular My Way residency in Las Vegas by the end of the year — announced the career-changing news in September.

Super Bowl LVIII will see the hitmaker’s second performance, who previously performed alongside the Black Eyed Peas when the hip-hop group headlined the halftime show in 2011. Along with the performance, it is confirmed that he will announce Coming home, his ninth studio album and first major release since 2016.

Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.

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Imagine Dragons are focused on performing throughout much of 2022 and 2023 — after recently wrapping up their Mercury World Tour in support of their latest albums Mercury – Acts 1 and 2.

Reynolds is now turning his attention to his upcoming touring festival LOVELOUD, which he founded in 2017 and aims to uplift the LGBTQ+ community.

The “Bones” singer — who grew up in a Mormon family in Las Vegas — recently spoke with PEOPLE about why he feels like LOVELOUD is as important as ever.

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Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.

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“There’s been so much legislation in the last few years that’s really scary, it’s setting us back, it’s creating an even more divisive and at-risk place for our LGBTQ youth,” Reynolds explained. “Many of our youth feel fear, fear of going to school, fear of being in the world in so many places in the U.S., especially in heavily Orthodox communities.”

He continued: “If our youth are not celebrated in the same way that our heterosexual youth are celebrated, we are setting them up for a disastrous life. If they feel that dagger in the back: ‘I accept you, but I don’t agree with…’, whatever comes after that, that’s what really hurts our youth.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education