The Killers @ Hull Ice Arena 21.11.06

Combining good music with theatrical style, flamboyancy and flare is never an easy task. However, thetask seemed a walk in the park to Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stermer and Ronni vanucci Jr, better known as ‘The Killers’.The band bought a little slice of their home town of Las Vegas down the M62, and arrived in Hull with a bang. The band have only grown in popularity since the their debut album ‘Hot fuss’ was released in 2004, and have just released their second album ‘Sams Town’ The album has had mixed reviews so there was a sense that the band needed to really bring this gig home to reassure their fans that they were still as hot as ever.

The stage was set for them, and the support act ‘The Brakes’ did a good job in setting the mood for the 2000 stong crow, playing a unusual set of indie, soft rock and country western. When time finally came, there was no ignoring frontman Brandon Flowers as he worked the crowd into a frenzy with poses, flounces and bows. They wasted no time in ripping into their second album, playing a roll of 3 tracks, including the first track to be released from the album, ‘When You Were Young’. The set then dipped into the first album classics, with the unmistakable riffs and synth sounds that have made them so popular.

‘Somebody Told Me’, ‘Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll’, and ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’ belted across the arena with amazing quality. They also performed their latest single from the new album, ‘Bones’.The highlight of the night however was easily the build up to guitarist Dave Keuning playing the opening riff of ‘Mr Brightside’. You could tell that a lot of the crowd had been waiting for this song all night, and the atomsphere was electric as the lyrics sang out.

The show ended with the band doing an encore set, playing another favourite, ‘ All These Things That I’ve Done’, only to return for a second encore and finally bow out with the exitlude, which fans will know from ‘Sams Town’.

All in all, the show was amazing. Brandon Flowers had enough charisma for all the band members, which as the others seemed content to focus on the music rather than play up to the crowd was probably a very good thing, This however, didn’t affect the general consensus that the Killers have not been struck down with second album syndrome and are in fact musically as great as ever. Their passion for their music and passion for performing was evident and showed that itll take something massive to knock these guys down.

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