The Killers A Day On The Green Review
Going to the Killers’ Adelaide 500 post-race concert? Here’s what you can expect. SPOILER ALERT: You’re in for an absolute treat! The Las Vegas rockers played A Day On The Green in Tanunda last night. Read the review here.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
There is a sense of anticipation in the air on Saturday night. In just a few short hours one of the world’s greatest touring acts are set to hit the stage.
They’re a band built for stages as iconic a Wembley or Madison Square Gardens, but on Saturday the Las Vegas rockers entertained an enthusiastic crowd in a natural vineyard-surrounded amphitheatre in Tanunda, in South Australia’s picturesque Barossa Valley.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to A Day On The Green at Peter Lehmann winery, where the guest of honour is none other than the multi-Grammy-winning outfit The Killers, currently on the Australian leg of their Imploding The Mirage tour.
With nine top 10 albums in Australia – two of which were released in just the past few years – the band has an arsenal of hits ready to unload on us.
But before we get to them, to get us in the mood we have two support acts, Melbourne band Floodlights and Australian singer-songwriter Jack Ladder.
With their laid-back Oz-rock flavour, this Melbourne foursome delivered a set of guitar-driven earnestness, served up with a healthy side of early Midnight Oil vibes dotted with a hint of Tunnel of Love-era Springsteen.
Kind of Chris Isaak-y, kind of Nick Cave-y, it’s not a bad soundtrack for standing around in a paddock.
Then it’s time for Jack Ladder.
The laid-back baritone storyteller brought some serious Bob Dylan energy to the first half of his set, bringing acoustic versions of his songs Hurtsville, I Can’t Drink The Water and Dumb Love, before switching it up to a more electronic second half with Billy downing the guitar and turning his attention to a laptop on stage.
To be honest, it didn’t connect brilliantly with the audience and had this reviewer wishing we’d not been denied the Alex Cameron support shows other legs of this tour are getting.
But now, with the sun having set, the time has come for The Killers to take the stage.
And they don’t just take it, they seize it, kicking the show off with Imploding The Mirage opener My Own Soul’s Warning and an explosion of confetti.
“Finally, The Killers!” frontman Brandon Flowers shouts. It’s a triumphant start and a great taste of what is to come.
After the Enterlude from Sam’s Town, it’s straight into that album’s monster hit and often show-closer When You Were Young. Playing it that high in the setlist, there’s a sense in the air that we’re in for one hell of a show.
“It has been four long years!” Flowers tells a grateful, and vocal, crowd.
“We’re not here to f*ck spiders!”
“Tonight something stronger than Covid has bought us together. Everybody knows God made Saturday nights for rock and roll!”
With that the band barrelled into the Hot Fuss monsters Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine and Smile Like You Mean It, before changing pace with 2013 single Shot At The Night.
These aren’t easy songs to pull off, but Flowers is fearless and flawless. Once dogged by vocal restrictions, his voice is faultless, with the enigmatic ‘hardest working frontman in rock’ not putting a note wrong for the entire show. To sound better now, after countless sold-out stadium tours, than he did almost 20 years ago when they took the world by storm is nothing short of remarkable.
“Give me a heart that I may stand for what I believe in” he sings in Running Towards A Place.
Up there on that stage, it’s clear this man knows his purpose and is doing it with aplomb.
And the audience responds accordingly – exploding with energy as they unleash crowd favourites Human and Somebody Told Me. If there were any birds still in the gumtrees lining the general admission area at this point, they are now surely gone.
Runaway Horses, one of the standout tracks from last year’s Pressure Machine, gives Flowers’ gorgeous vocals the chance to shine – backed by acoustic guitars, on-point backing vocals and some sweet violin, it’s stunning.
Then it’s time for a Gear change as the group take it up a notch for For Reasons Unknown – the section of the show where they call an audience member up on stage to play drums.
On Saturday, it’s Andrew from Adelaide, who showed he could more than hold his own with the world’s best.
“Andrew how’s your right foot, strong? Give it to ‘em.”
And that he did.
Brandon then pours everything he has into the heart-wrenching A Dustland Fairytale, before taking it down a notch with a stunning acoustic version of Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I saw Your Face.
Bathed in warm lighting and accompanied only by guitarist Ted Sablay, Flowers doesn’t put a foot wrong here.
“I turn the engine over and my body just comes alive!” Flowers bellows in the classic anthem Runaways, maintaining that energy for monsters Read My Mind, Dying Breed and Caution, with the backing screens earning their keep here in a dazzling display of supporting visuals and Sablay stunningly recreating Fleetwood Mac legend Lindsey Buckingham’s searing guitar solo to a waterfall of sparks.
The main set is rounded out with “All these things I’ve done” and another explosion – this time of streamers – as a by now fairly rabid crowd chant “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier!” – a refrain they keep singing until the band return to the stage for their encore.
Fans fearing the band had forgotten to play banger Spaceman had their worries put at rest, with the group bringing to that the same furious energy they always have, and then it’s a rare double treat for the audience, with the band transitioning into the synth heavy Jacques Lu Cont’s Thin White Duke remix of worldwide hit Mr Brightside, before closing the show with the radio edit of the song which still to this day tops singles charts around the world.
“Thank you for coming! We love you!” Flowers says, as he leaves the stage.
Mr Flowers, it’s safe to say the feeling is mutual.
So, how did this rock act, “Brought to you by way of fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” do?
It’s safe to say they killed.
* The Killers will headline the returning VALO Adelaide 500 post-race concerts on Sunday night.
Trio arrested, victim identified as probe into fatal shooting continues
The identity of a man who died after being allegedly shot with his own gun in Adelaide’s north has been revealed – as police arrest three people for an incident believed to be related to the shooting.
Building big on the SA brand
Look out for the things you know and love. That’s the simple philosophy behind the Buy SA. For SA. campaign – and a message local retailers are keen to champion