Brandon Flowers is a professional frontman. On stage tonight he looked filled with utter glee, gaping with incredulity at both the adoring fans and The Palace Theatre’s intricate architecture. His performance demeanour made the audience feel as if something about this particular show impressed the band, rather than it just being another night at the office. The Killers inspire devotion and there weren’t many people in the packed multi-level theatre who didn’t add passionate vocal accompaniment through each song in the hit-squelched setlist. They traipsed through their entire back catalogue, not surprisingly leaning heavily on 2004’s Hot Fuss and 2006’s Sam’s Town.
Even though The Killers invoke heartland-rock references they’re not exactly dirty rock’n’rollers. They’re a pop band who work predominantly in broad strokes. It’s done in a secure ‘fun for all the family’ manner; the nuances are slim but seemingly they really believe in it.
Flowers is a committed entertainer, who wore a beaming smile and reached an enthusiastic hand towards the audience. It could’ve been an affectation, but maybe he was genuinely on a high. After all receiving this sort of rousing appraisal night after night is indeed a rare blessing. The rest of the band had more of a peripheral presence. Bassist Mark Stoermer was in total affinity with his meticulously figured basslines. Ronnie Vannucci was an animal on the drums and increasingly looks like he’s been dragged off the set of Almost Famous. Guitarist Dave Keuning is an enigmatic character. His quiet behaviour hardly verged towards the flamboyance of his glam rock appearance and the regulated guitar solos were efficiently carried out to ensure they didn’t dent the tightly packaged pop goods. Backed by a second guitarist and a keys player (who handled the majority of backing vocals) the constituent members were allowed to wholly occupy their token roles.
Flowers’ Vegas showman aspect could have rendered it a schmaltzy occassion but thankfully The Killers have written several undeniable sing-along pop songs. The unity sparked by opener Mr Brightside and carried through to the night’s final tune When You Were Young made you compulsively submit to the spectacle.
When sat side by side there was a noticeable difference in sound between the songs from the first album and the later material. The British influence that flung its head forth in Somebody Told Me and Smile Like You Mean It was like a remnant of youthful folly. However, even though their rootedness in a trend was evident, the songs themselves have a smoother consistency. The attempted entries into the American storytelling songbook, such as Dustland Fairytale, actually felt more forced. Some cuts from latest record, Battle Born, fell a little flat as the formula began to repeat itself too obviously. The Killers work within pretty strict confines and the calculated nature of the performance was underlined in duller songs. However, all it took was another dip into mid-2000s nostalgia, courtesy of All These Things That I’ve Done or Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, and everyone was waving arms in star-gazing unison.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
LOVED: Dave Keuning is doing good things for the institution of palm-muting.
HATED: I refused to raise the line “Are we human/ Or are we dancer,” to a moment of anthemic profundity.
DRANK: Aluminum.
