Nick Scalera | For NJ.com

By Bobby Olivier | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

"We have a stigmatization in our society today that is killing our youth," said Dan Reynolds, the impassioned Imagine Dragons frontman to a New Jersey crowd Saturday night in Holmdel. "Three things: depression, anxiety and a therapist; I have a therapist, I was diagnosed with depression many years ago — it does not make me broken, it does not make me weak, it does not make me less than.

"We must talk about this openly," Reynolds continued, addressing the immense PNC Bank Arts Center audience following a week that saw fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain both found dead of apparent suicides. "There are people out there tonight who have depression and anxiety that are holding it in. Don't hold it in, talk to your family, talk to a loved one … You are not broken, you're unique, your mind is unique, we need you, don't ever take your life from us."

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There’s no planned segue for this. It just seemed like the most pertinent information to share from what was a serviceable and at times soaring performance, from a band that works hard to portray itself as a bounding manifestation of life itself.

In a word, Imagine Dragons is earnest. Exceedingly earnest. Reynolds and his buoyant, Grammy-winning Las Vegas four-piece perform with such conviction and unadulterated joy that it feels almost vicious to fault them — like demonizing Santa Claus — or more simply, to look away and send a text message while Reynolds is posed at centerstage, wailing with shivering vibrato the band’s latest arena anthem.

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Nick Scalera | For NJ.com

I balk at labeling it "arena rock," for fear of marginalizing the group's deft merger of hip-hop and electronic elements into its sound. Across three albums and six years, Imagine Dragons has all but redefined how guitar music fits in the mainstream — or at least they've been shrewdest in adapting to the decade's trends. The band's most recent album, last summer's "Evolve," saw a return to the radio despite mixed reviews, where singles "Believer," "Thunder," and current airwave darling "Whatever It Takes" have each cracked the Billboard Hot 100's Top 12.

“Evolve” is an album of titanic choruses, destined for a summer roadshows like this one: the second U.S. leg of a lengthy world tour that kicked off in fall 2017.

Though Saturday night in Central Jersey never felt like installment No. 78 of 129 of the trek; Reynolds was attentive and charismatic, performing all night with no shirt, boasting a muscular physique that left me self-conscious of my pizza belly. But the 30-year-old singer is likely required to be in top shape for such a tour, where multiple times he leapt off the stage and galloped around the large amphitheater to sing with fans and high-five kids.

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And there were a whole lot of kids here — not just teens but children with their families, many of whom I’m willing to bet were taking in their first concert, plugging their fingers in their little ears. It makes sense, considering Imagine Dragons’ general good-guy aesthetic: it’s a group mom and dad can’t say no to, a band that’s about as edgy as a pair of safety scissors.

But hey, if this was someone’s introduction to live music en masse, that’s okay. The Evolve Tour is an exciting night out, loaded with a half-dozen confetti blasts, full-band drum sessions — which bordered on indulgence by night’s end — and a storm of smart car-sized balloons that rained down from the rafters during “On Top Of The World."

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Nick Scalera | For NJ.com

The band ran through its list of hits, nailing the older biggies early with "Radioactive" — amazingly, the longest-charting single in history — and "It's Time," before blasting through the legitimately anthemic new tracks "Walking The Wire" and "Next To Me." For all its studio production and electro-tricks, the recent Top 10 hit "Thunder" didn't quite measure up in intensity or polish on stage.

Otherwise the band — Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, drummer Daniel Platzman and touring keyboardist Elliot Schwartzman — was cohesive and versatile, taking to an acoustic stage built the in the amphitheater’s 400-section for three acoustic songs, the best of which was the deeper cut “Bleeding Out,” complete with cello and an appealing lounge treatment.

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The show ran nearly two hours and the crowd of more than 15,000 roared mightily until the very end, for one of very few universally tolerated rock-leaning bands to excel in 2018 — what often feels like a universally divisive time.

Whenever Imagine Dragons’ big, ambitious tour comes around next, give it a try — they just might make you a believer.

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Imagine Dragons' set list

June 9, 2018 — PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, N.J.

"Radioactive"

"It's Time"

"Whatever It Takes"

"Shots"

"Yesterday"

"Walking the Wire"

"Next to Me"

"I'll Make It Up to You"

"Start Over"

"Thief"

"Gold"

"I Don't Know Why"

"Mouth of the River"

"Amsterdam" (acoustic)

"Bleeding Out" (acoustic)

"I Bet My Life" (acoustic)

"Demons"

"The River"

"Thunder"

"On Top of the World"

"Believer"

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Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.