Imagine Dragons & Cannons Concert: Riding the Wave of Inspiration

Get inspired by other artists!

This weekend I went to an Imagine Dragons concert. Even though I’m not a true fan it was an awesome show!

The reason I went is because my daughter loves Imagine Dragons and explicitly told me earlier this year that if they ever had a concert, she wanted to go. I told her sure, but never actually checked their tour dates.

Saturday morning she has a soccer game and I’m talking to one of the parents, who tells me he’s taking his daughter to see Imagine Dragons at the Hollywood Bowl – that night!

I go home, look up tickets, and find an amazing deal for two tickets with great seats. I couldn’t have gotten a better deal if I tried and planned months in advance.

I surprise my daughter with the news – she’s ecstatic! – and hours later we’re headed to the show.

How to Manifest a 5 Star Experience

Now, LA on a weekend night – especially THIS Saturday night, with a Dodgers World Series game and multiple other major sporting events happening – expect traffic and parking to be terrible.

But I recently heard a story on this podcast where a guy decides he’s going to make his trip to the DMV a 5-star experience. (I repeat: he wants to make going to the DMV – a notoriously frustrating place – a 5-star experience.)

How does he do it? He decides he’s going to be a 5-star customer! Having set the expectation, he hits the DMV giving off the vibe of a 5-star customer.

What happens? He gets the best DMV experience ever! An employee likes his vibe, picks him out of the line, waives his fee and sets him off on his merry way faster than anyone ever gets in and out of the DMV. Bravo! Excellent story.

So I took this to heart when going to the Hollywood Bowl because, having just bought tickets a few hours ago, I had zero chance of buying parking ahead of time. In fact when I checked, all parking was completely sold out. No problem! I told myself. I’m a 5-star customer! The type who’s gonna get a 5-star experience.

And that’s what happened. I roll up to the Hollywood Bowl parking area and it’s chaos. I drive up to the nearest parking attendant and with a smile and optimistic attitude I say, “I don’t have prepaid parking – what are my options?” He lets me know I can park at the Fonda just a little ways off, and it’s a 10 minute walk to the Bowl. Easy! And the parking cost less than if I’d purchased the Hollywood Bowl prepaid parking. Wow.

What’s the lesson here?

You can create your own great experience.

In manifestation terms, this would be maintaining a high frequency to attract high frequency outcomes. But this isn’t some mysterious process – it’s as simple as behaving a certain way to get outcomes that meet your expectations. If you’re nice to people, people will generally be nice back to you. That’s the idea.

A Happy Surprise

So we get to the show and it’s about as smooth as concert entry can go. Quick check in, a short line to the bathroom, a fast-moving line for food. All good so far!

As we’re waiting for our food, I hear the opening band start to play a song I like. Interesting choice to start with a cover, I think to myself. Because I’d looked up the openers and didn’t recognize any of them.

But as the song ended I heard the singer introduce themselves: “Hello, we’re Cannons!” What?? I love that band! And had absolutely no idea they’d be opening! Somehow I missed that they were going to be the opener for our particular show.

(Who are Cannons? They make really cool groovy, dance-y, nostalgic sounding music that’s mellow but upbeat. Ever since I discovered them in 2020 they’ve been in my regular music rotation. I even included their song Shadows in my August 2024 playlist.)

I always wanted to see Cannons live, and now I was seeing them as an absolute surprise – and it was their last performance of the year!

I’m super inspired by their story too. Their singer Michelle Joy moved to LA from Florida to pursue music and was about to give up and return to Florida right before meeting up with eventual bandmates Paul and Ryan to form Cannons. (What’s the lesson in that story? Don’t give up on your dreams! They have a tendency to come true if you keep working toward them earnestly for long enough.)

“When we started writing music, one of the first songs that we wrote was…” Evening Star! I love this song!

I find a lot of inspiration in Cannons as a band. They have a clear artistic presentation in their sound, aesthetic, and vibe. A little nostalgic, glam, and reminiscent of disco, dance, and classic female-led rock.

And what a great lesson for any creative! Having unique qualities helps you reach your people, delivering a feeling and an experience that they know to expect from you – for Cannons, music to groove and dance to!

Anyway, Cannons is dope. What a great way to start the show.

Dodgers Break

But before Imagine Dragons came on the crew had to set up the stage; and while the crew set up the stage, the Hollywood Bowl put on the live Dodgers vs. Yankees World Series baseball game! This lit up the crowd because to be honest, most of the people were checking the game on their phones anyway lol. The crowd was hype and we even got a “Let’s go Dodgers!” chant going. Better yet, we got to see the end of the game – and it was a Dodgers win!! (3 of 3!)

Imagine Dragons

Finally the main band came on. And like I said, I’m not actually a true fan – but it was an awesome show! Imagine Dragons has awesome visuals: confetti cannons, pyrotechnics, fireworks, and fun visuals!

They even had these giant beach balls that they threw into the crowd for Take Me to the Beach. That was a big hit with the whole crowd. I thought it was a really cool way to bring audience participation to a new level. My daughter especially loved this part.

Apart from all that, the musical performance itself was great. Everyone was on point and delivering exactly what you’d want from a concert experience. The vocals were absolutely great and Dan the singer threw in great banter and storytelling. Everything about the sounds and visuals delivered – the crowd felt the vibe exactly as they wanted us to.

Which takes me to a bigger point about artists and how we get inspired by them.

Get Inspired by Other Creatives

Artists and musicians are some of my favorite kinds of people who help me expand my scope of vision for what I want and what’s even possible for me. I call these people “expanders,” a term I got from the Manifestation Babe podcast.

Artists and musicians are some of my favorite expanders because they’re the ultimate when it comes to sharing yourself. You are your art, and you are the vehicle of your art. What is most personal to you is what resonates most deeply with others.

I love seeing how artists choose to share their message; their inner world. Even if it’s totally different from how I would share my own message, it’s inspiring to see where others take their creativity and the choices they make. It gives me permission to do whatever I want.

The 80-20 Consumption Creation Rule

While finding inspiration in other people’s work, I try to remind myself to not get stuck in consumption mode. Instead, I try to strike a balance between consumption and creation.

Try to create 80% and consume 20%. (I think Marie Forleo said something like this. Right now I’m probably practicing the inverse – 80% consumption, 20% creation – so I can definitely work on this!)

Journal prompts

Who are your expanders? In what ways do they inspire you?
What’s your ratio of consumption to creation?
What is a dream you’ve been working toward? Has your enthusiasm for it been waning? If you keep working toward it, what could be waiting for you on the other side?
Where can you evoke a 5-star experience in your life?
If you put on a show, concert, production, (fill in the blank), what would it be like? Have fun with this one, let your creativity run wild, and imagine what the most “you” version of it would be like!