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RALEIGH -- Toward the end of Imagine Dragons' Wednesday night show at downtown Raleigh's Red Hat Amphitheater, lead singer Dan Reynolds paused to tell the crowd about how he'd grown up going to shows like this. It was an escape, he said, and a chance to dream.

Apparently, what Reynolds was dreaming about was someday becoming a drum major. Here he is now at age 25, frontman for one of the biggest rock bands in the world -- and on just about every song Wednesday night, he'd grab a stick or two and bash away on drums arrayed at the front of the stage. Even a broken right hand didn't stop him, although maybe it should have because his drum-work generally was not in the pocket; "Hear Me," in particular, was a real mess on the outro.

Extra percussion isn't inherently unusual nowadays (both of Wednesday night's opening acts also had their frontmen playing some drums), but Imagine Dragons still take it to a whole other level. Their extra front-of-stage drums were oversized, five and six feet across, and they were one of the few bands I've ever seen where the drum solo was a communal group effort. They even had an extra drum up in the rafters, which Reynolds accessed via wires that flew him up to bang away during the hit "Radioactive."

It was actually something of a feat to make Wednesday night's show happen at all. A band of strong storms moving through the area forced a 90-minute weather delay, which necessitated moving back the regular curfew to 11 p.m. But the headliners managed to get in a full set.

"Thank you for braving the elements with us tonight, you guys are awesome," Reynolds told the crowd as the band finally took the stage.

While Imagine Dragons come from Las Vegas, they certainly don't sound at all like the image that city conjures up. Their sonic blueprint roughly falls into arena rock along the lines of Coldplay, with the added element of electronic burble -- plus those drums, lots and lots of drums. Long on dramatic crescendos, textured guitar and anguished vocal mannerisms, it's music made for screaming along with, which the young-ish crowd was only too happy to do.

If there's a flaw to Imagine Dragons, it's that they don't transcend their reference points. "Demons" sounds more like Coldplay than Coldplay does, and the ambient beginning to "Rocks" brought Fleet Foxes to mind.

Still, as the show demonstrated, there's always a place for declarative arena rock that makes you raise your fist and yell. Imagine Dragons fill that bill nicely.

Live from Lincoln Center: Bernstein and Gershwin (8pm, UNC-TV) - A New Year's Eve gala with the New York Philharmonic, music director Alan Gilbert and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet features works by Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.

New Year's Rockin' Eve: 40th Anniversary Party (8pm, ABC) - Jenny McCarthy and Fergie celebrate 40 years of "Rockin' Eve" history.

New Year's Eve with Carson Daly (10pm, NBC) - Carson Daly hosts with scheduled performances from Drake, Jessie J, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green, the Roots, and Tony Bennett. Also, a comedy performance by Jimmy Fallon, a 2011 music recap by Brian Williams, and sideline reports from J.B. Smoove. Those last three names mean this is the one I'm probably watching.

Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve ... (10pm, ABC) - The full title of this show is a paragraph long, but it's just the usual New Year's show with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest (mostly Seacrest). From Times Square in New York with performers Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Pitbull, Florence and the Machine, Nicki Minaj, LMFAO, Beyonce, and many more.

New Year's Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin (11pm, CNN) - Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin host CNN's coverage, which has reporters in New York, Key West, and Nashville.

American Country New Year's Eve Live (11pm, Fox) - New Year's from Las Vegas with performances by Lauren Alaina, Rodney Atkins, and Toby Keith.

Coldplay New Year's Eve: An Austin City Limits Special (11pm, UNC-TV) - Coldplay plays old hits and songs from their 2011 album "Mylo Xyloto."

All American New Year (11pm, Fox News) - All Americans, all the time! Look for Americans Trace Adkins and Big & Rich.

Note: It looks like the NBC and ABC shows take a break at 11 p.m. for local news and then resume at 11:30. WRAL's 11 o'clock newscast will run until 12:05 a.m. to cover the dropping of the acorn in downtown Raleigh.

CHAOS (8pm, CBS) - The agents protect a European political leader who faked her death on the eve of her country's presidential election. In another new episode at 9, the agents enlist the help of a retired spy (Bruce Boxleitner, left) to help them investigate whether moles are being placed in U.S. embassies. If "CHAOS" has any sense of humor, Boxleitner's character will be named Scarecrow (or Lee Stetson). Note: That Boxleitner photo is from "Tron: Legacy," not "CHAOS."

Swamp Shark (9pm, Syfy) - An animal-smuggling deal gone bad puts a man-eating shark into a swampy backwoods river, where it stalks swimmers and boaters and imperils the town's annual Gator Fest. Stars Kristy Swanson and D.B Sweeney.

Carson Nation (10pm, OWN) - In the series opener, style expert Carson Kressley travels the nation giving people "make-betters" (cutesie word for makeovers). In tonight's episode, he's in Eureka, California, where he helps a bride-to-be with lupus, a tattoo artist who needs to reconnect with his wife, and a Coast Guard medic who wants to reconnect with her feminine side.

Coldplay: Live from Glastonbury (10pm, VH1) - Coldplay performs "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall) and other hits at the 2011 Glastonbury Music Festival.

60 Minutes (7pm, CBS) - NFL Today anchor James Brown interviews dog murderer Michael Vick (left), who was recently released from prison and then signed with the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this week. Also, Steve Kroft profiles the British rock group Coldplay and interviews Chris Martin.

Shark Tank (9pm, ABC) - The sharks hear an idea about a life-saving product, a new learning technique, and a gourmet food brand.

Drop Dead Diva (9pm, Lifetime) - Former CSI star Jorja Fox guest stars as a woman with a 20-year-old arrest warrant who goes to Jane for help.

My Antonio (10pm, VH1) - Former Calvin Klein underwear model Antonio Sabato Jr is looking for love on a television show. His mom is helping. Read Antonio's interview with Happiness is a Warm TV.

P. Diddy's Starmaker (10pm, MTV) - Yet another Diddy show with young entertainers hoping to make it big.  

Mad Men (10pm, AMC) - The third season opener has the folks at Sterling Cooper adjusting to the company's merger with a British firm, while Don and Sal travel to Baltimore for a meeting with London Fog.

Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami (10pm, E!) - In this "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" spinoff, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian leave Calabasas, California, to open a new Dash store in Miami. In addition to the new store, Khloe is also working on a new career as a late night radio personality. The first show has everything you might expect from these two: screaming, cursing, name-calling, drinking, tantrums, inappropriate make-out sessions . . .

Reality Hell (10:30pm, E!) - A new reality show in which unwitting reality show contestants compete on fake reality shows. The point of all this seems to be to humiliate the constestants who are in the dark. If you enjoy shows that make fools of people, you will like this.

Coldplay plays at the Time Warner Pavilion at Walnut Creek on Thursday night, Aug. 6, 2009.

Coldplay held forth in Raleigh on Thursday night, and it was a pretty nice old-school Big Rock Event. Click through to see the review, and check out a very fine photo gallery of shots from the show here.

Coldplay comes to the Triangle next week and we scored an interview to preview the show -- but not, of course, with the guy you'd recognize. Click through for further illuminative details.

Today's big outdoor-season concert announcement -- massively popular (and litigiously targeted) British rock band Coldplay, Aug. 6 at the big outdoor joint in Raleigh. Tickets go on sale next Friday, Feb. 13.