Imagine This: Imagine Dragons Once Opened For A Mime

“It was an opportunity,” bassist Ben McKee said in a recent interview. “This was early, early on and … we had the opportunity to play with a mime at a junior varsity cheerleading squad at a shopping mall in Henderson, Nevada. We jumped on it.”

Bandleader Dan Reynolds recalls “literally like five people in the mall that day.”

“They set up tons of seats which makes it even worse,” the 27-year-old singer said. “That was maybe the lowest – that was the lowest low.”

Imagine Dragons have moved far away from opening for other acts on the road as the band launches its North American tour Wednesday in Portland, Oregon. They had a successful run with arenas last year after their debut, Night Visions, continued to reach new heights: It went on to sell more than 2 million units and launched back-to-back hits with “It’s Time,” ‘‘Demons” and the group’s signature smash, the Grammy-winning “Radioactive.”

The young band, which released its debut album in 2012 and its follow-up earlier this year, has quickly risen to arena status. The stops on the Smoke + Mirrors Tour include the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York; Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee; and the Forum in Inglewood, California.