Back in the days when I spent my Friday nights trying to get into my local nightclub, and Saturday mornings recovering from my antics as I did a shift at my local WHSmiths, The Killers were always my CD of choice to help me through the day; so last night was what it had all been building up to.
The Killers
Okay, so it was five years ago now, that I found myself addicted to the joys of Hot Fuss and Brandon Flowers’ deliciously hot face, and in the time between Hot Fuss and Day & Age, I didn’t really pay much attention to the guys as I went through my ‘goth’ phase at university, but since I heard Human before Christmas, I knew The Killers were back in my CD collection. For good.
Last night was the first time I’d seen them live, and Oh.My.God. It was the most epic gig I’ve ever been to in my entire life; I think it will take something rather special to top that.
Bursting onto the safari-themed stage and going straight into Human, I have to admit that a tear did in fact escape from my eye as the whole room came together as one and threw their hands above their heads in response to every note Brandon Flowers hit.
The set was littered with all their great hits to date, from Hot Fuss’ Smile Like You Mean It and Somebody Told Me to Sam’s Town’ title track and Bones, the more recent hits from Day & Age, including a mind-blowing rendition of their current hit, Spaceman.
What’s more, I couldn’t take my eyes off Ronnie Vannucci Jr. as he pulled all manner of faces as he thrashed about on the drums; if anyone worked hard last night, it had to be him, but that said, there was a little mystery man to the right of the stage who seemed to be controlling everything as he swung instrument after instrument around his neck; it’s a shame he didn’t get the recognition he so clearly deserved.
Despite that though, there are no words to describe how amazing last night was, and judging by the reaction from the crowd as each and every song came to a close, they were in pretty much the same mindset as me... You only had to ask Jim Royale behind me who obviously got lost on his way to the Shameless set as he flung his beer all over my head. Nice.
Regardless of the Liam Gallagher wannabe a row behind, the highlight of the night came when the foursome blasted out crowd-pleasers All These Things That I've Done and Mr Brightside; two songs that never seem to get old, and when you hear them sung back by thousands of fans, who might in fact only know these two hits; you really feel the magnitude of a gig like this, and for those three minutes or so, the whole room in unified in admiration of what these four men have done here.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison