I still recall originally hearing The Killers on their first release, 'Hot Fuss', in the mid 2000s, and being blown away by its quality and the sheer number of obvious singles candidates.
The music really took me back to the 1980s new wave, music which had significantly influenced the Las Vegas band in their formative years.Their name apparently harks back the New Order classic, 'Crystal', and the band was formed on the basis that influences were to include David Bowie, Radiohead, and Oasis. So there was always a clear tie back to UK music influences, and it's most apparent in their first release.
2024 celebrates the 20-year anniversary of the great album, but tonight's show in Brisbane (9 December) promises much more than that, as their musical style and influences have evolved over the years, taking obvious cues from diverse music as Bruce Springsteen, The Cure and The Smiths, and, yes, Meatloaf.
Personally, I think they've bookended their career as one of the massive stadium-scale bands, with 'Hot Fuss' and their most recent single 'Bright Lights' as standouts. From there, I go one album on each side.
The second album, 'Sam's Town', stands out and will be the source of a good amount of tonight's music, but I also think their latest full album, 'Pressure Machine' from 2021 really stands tall. 'Pressure Machine' is not really set up to give us a lot of concert music tonight, but the quality is very high and diverse compared to their other music, with a folky, almost country, feel.
Anyway, there's a lot of great music to choose from, because the remaining albums have all made a huge contribution, each with very different styles, and it's not hard to see how these guys have become one of the truly huge international bands of our time.
The Killers are supported by Radio Free Alice, hailing from Melbourne. It's an unusual name, but their back catalogue consists of very high quality music, taking significant influence from 1980s UK punk and new-wave music, particularly The Smiths. Their latest EP, 'Polyester', contains only four songs but each is great in its own right and well worth a repeat listen.
This set was a nine-song burst of energy including '2010', 'Spain', 'Johnny' and 'Paris Is Gone'. The young rockers ripped through the music, fully dressed in black, and gave a range of punk-influenced poses with legs askance and head titled to one side during the vocals.
The saxophone was introduced on two of the earlier pieces, unusual for this type of music, but it worked well. The set covered their full 2024 EP, plus earlier (that is, 2023) material and wound up with the great 'Waste Of Space'.
I loved their music, and playing with The Killers is obviously a dream for these guys and will push them further towards significant success.
Upon departing, the stage is wrapped entirely in sheer white curtains, the crew preparing us in private for the visual spectacle with which we will shortly be presented.
The Killers take the stage at 9pm, the long-standing members being singer Brandon Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. Also onstage, and touted as constant touring members of the band, are leftie-guitarist Theodore 'Ted' Sablay, and bassist Jake Blanton, along with a number of other touring musicians on backing vocals, keyboards, and rhythm guitar.
Just to get this out of the way early, Flowers presents perfectly, with immaculate hair, and teeth, wearing a stunning fully-sequinned black suit over a black silk shirt and black boots.
He launches straight into the opener, 'Read My Mind', and as usual moves between a couple of notes on his mini-keyboard setup, to atop the risers. Flowers is yelling at the crowd to make some noise as Sablay takes his position up on the riser for his solo, although it is hard to make any more noise than they were already making.
A laser show explodes to kick off the second piece, 'Somebody Told Me', one of the six or seven super-hits off 'Hot Fuss', and the sold-out crowd is in full voice as Flowers croons to them. 'Spaceman' follows, with a huge screen behind the stage showing various space-themed images and videos throughout the song.
Three songs in, it is time for an introduction, and we are told: "Hello my name is Brandon Flowers and I'll be your host for this evening," in true Vegas style. 'Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine' follows, another of the big ones from 'Hot Fuss', followed up with one of the big three (in my mind), 'Smile Like You Mean It'.
The introduction is Sablay on guitar, playing a very gentle riff, that is almost imperceptible on the studio version, then joined by Flowers playing the well-known synthesiser piece on his mini-keyboard.
The vocals "once in a lifetime" introduce the great 'Shot At The Night', with everything on the backing screen turning to black and white, and we see how beautifully presented the whole stage setup is.
It's a stunning stage with a long riser at the front embedded every six feet or so with large diamond-shaped lights; not a piece of equipment or player is out of place, it's absolutely lit to perfection, and really conjures up a beautiful and subtle stage as we might see for a resident act in Vegas, rather than a stage which is constantly touring. At the front of the stage is the famous tilted letter 'K' behind which Flowers' standing keyboard is mounted.
Before the next song, Flowers hums the introduction to AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck', which gets the crowd even more fired up, before playing the slightly lesser-known 'Dying Breed', but he literally does not stop smiling throughout the piece.
Flowers then kicks off my absolute favourite for the night, and probably my pick on the album, 'On Top'. The band launches into the piece with the great guitar intro, then suddenly halts mid-verse. Flowers has spotted a young fan in some difficulty at the front of the standing area, and wants to make sure she is fine.
When she is back on her feet, the band launches straight back in at "...and we don't mean to satisfy, tonight". Nothing is lost with the pause, and indeed something is gained by checking on a fellow human's welfare.
Flowers is again chatting to the crowd of Brisbaaaaane (rhymes with plane), telling us they've crossed the almighty Pacific Ocean to be here with us tonight, and that he wants to testify the coming of the Man. It was very gospel-like, and a huge amount of confetti is dropped over the crowd as they launch into 'The Man', this time with the statue of David displayed behind the stage.
'A Dustland Fairytale' followed, which was taken up a notch with 'Be Still', and a couple of others before the huge 'When We Were Young', which wound up with a shower of sparks cascading down behind the band.
The set wound up brilliantly with a cover of the famous INXS piece 'Don't Change', something Flowers has talked about as being some of his favourite music, and also looping back into that style of '80s music that has so heavily influenced The Killers especially on the first album.
Of course, hearing this Australian piece provided yet another lift in energy for the crowd, and at the end I noted he'd finally taken off the jacket, his black satin shirt covered with sweat. The band briefly left the stage before coming back for their encore, culminating in the penultimate 'Human'.
So the crowd knows there is one song to go, but the band slipped into the song via a different route, leaving the crowd unaware at first that 'Mr. Brightside' had started, as there was no keyboard or guitar for the first verse. Flowers wasn't even singing, as the crowd chanted the lyrics for him once they picked up the song, and of course this was the number one crowd pleaser of the evening.
All up, this was an amazing two-hour-plus set from one of the leading, tier-one global acts, very ably supported by our own local talent. A night of the Rebel Diamonds tour delivered what showman Brandon Flowers literally promised in a recent interview: "A 'Hot Fuss' extravaganza," with so much more.
Expect the band to continue to evolve, more towards guitar-based rock, but also expect them to continue to deliver strong serves of nostalgia, as was the case this evening.
