Imagine Dragons performed a stripped-down rendition of “Radioactive” for striking writers because, sure!
Early audience reviews of the bands impromptu park-bench performance opined that the group was "totally crushing it"
Aux News Radioactive
For writers picketing in New York and Los Angeles as part of the ongoing WGA strike, using the old imagination is no new territory, whether it’s dreaming up a perfect end for Logan Roy or imagining better, fairer, more sustainable working conditions becoming a reality. But one thing Guild members don’t have to imagine anymore? Dragons. Literally: pop rockers Imagine Dragons performed an impromptu acoustic show for a select few chosen picketers at Los Angeles’ Netflix headquarters.
Two members of the band—comprised of pianist and vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Andrew Tolman—took a break from their ongoing Mercury World Tour to stop by the picket line on Tuesday afternoon. From atop a park bench and accompanied by only Sermon on an acoustic guitar, Reynolds stood (and sung) in solidarity with striking writers, performing Imagine Dragons tracks “Whatever It Takes” and “Radioactive.” He even rallied the crowd into a singalong at one point. (Side note: does this officially make “Radioactive” a protest song?)
Despite the somewhat tepid tenor of the aforementioned singalong, early audience reviews were pretty glowing. TV writer and WGA member Gennefer Gross, whose recording of Reynolds’ performance went viral Tuesday, opined in her caption that the duo was “totally crushing it.”
Reynolds and Sermon are only the latest public personalities showing up at picket lines to support writers on the front lines of the strike, now in its second week. At Paramount Studios also on Tuesday, Niecy Nash offered picketers a performance of her own, a rousing karaoke rendition of “I Will Survive.” Last week, Jay Leno stopped by the picket line at Disney in Los Angeles to hand out donuts to striking writers; a few days later, Pete Davidson—whose scheduled Saturday Night Live hosting slot was recently canceled due to the strike—followed suit, slinging pizzas in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Lowe, Bowen Yang, Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer, and Nicholas Braun have all also been spotted at picket lines.
27 Comments
This is the same tactic the Army used against Noriega.
And the Branch Davidians.
Do we hate Imagine Dragons now? Are they the new Nickelback (those guys everyone says they hate but somehow everyone’s buying tickets and every rock group has a story about how much they love Nickelback)?I have no idea what genre this even is… but there’s probably some anecdote about them changing a tire for Lady Gaga or something then helping her write Bad Romance.
We have always hated Imagine Dragons. If you didn’t also hate them, you are not we. You are they.
Those poor people.
This is the first time I’ve seen a photo of Imagine Dragons. Can’t believe Dr. Robotnik is a band member!
Same with Martin Starr.
Fun Fact: Martin Starr is engaged to the bass player from the band Ringo Deathstarr.
They all look like they belong to different bands
Haven’t these poor writers been through enough?
Exactly!Last week, Jay Leno stopped by the picket line at Disney in Los Angeles to hand out donuts to striking writers
I liked the one tweet that said “Turning a fire hose on the strikers would have been more humane”
Fine! We’ll work for free!
Hey, I brought coffee and donuts to the Netflix line last week! Where’s my article?
Take off your shirt and sing.
No? Then BUGGER OFF!
“Two members of the band—comprised of pianist and vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Andrew Tolman—took a break from their ongoing Mercury World Tour to stop by the picket line on Tuesday afternoon. From atop a park bench and accompanied by only Sermon on an acoustic guitar, Reynolds”You guys must definitely be under a minimum word count now, because that is an unnecessarily wordy paragraph. Although the company also clearly has no quality control left.
Do they have a lot of fans on Mercury?
They’re super hot on Mercury!
Imagine Dragons, huh. I can only imagine how hard it is to walk the picket line in the first place, then these tools show up for some blatant self-promotion.
Um, Dan Reynolds is looking FINE after all that Crossfit… Have y’all seen the countless TikToks of him strutting shirtless at every recent concert? Dude’s selling the goods and I’m not talking about his 10 year-old songs!
I get so hot ‘n bothered banging on my piano, I need to unbutton my shirt!
They look like an UFC meathead recruited a bunch of dorks for a band.They should’ve called themselves “Imagine Craigslist Ad”
This is not a band. This is an algorithm-driven song catalogue, the face of which is these guys.
That is some cruel and unusual union busting tactics. I feel bad for the writers. Endure!
Remember when professional baseball went on strike? That took a lot of balls. They were out on the picket lines in some pretty foul weather. Management balked and gave them a deal. They had to cover their bases before driving it home.
Imagine caring.
“Two members of the band—comprised of pianist and vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Andrew Tolman…”The whole *comprises* the parts, or is “composed of” the parts; the parts “compose” the whole, or are “comprised in” the whole.
But you and your editor are professional writers who make money doing this, so I’m sure you both already knew that.