THE KILLERS
Qudos Bank Arena, December 19
★★★★
It’s kind of a douche move, announcing an intimate club show mid-tour. Especially when that gig is to take place straight after this one (at midnight in Moore Park), suggesting not only have you, the punter, chosen the potentially less special gig in the first place, but that the band might not be giving it everything they’ve got at this first arena show. After all, they’ve got to do it all again in a couple of hours.
Rock’n’roll preacher man: Brandon Flowers leading The Killers at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on December 13.Credit: Chris Phelps
Then again, this is the Killers, a band born in Las Vegas whose irrepressible showman frontman, Brandon Flowers, was almost certainly practising his rock’n’roll preacher-man moves in his bedroom before he’d bought his first keyboard.
A hard-to-fathom 18 years on from their debut album, Flowers is still having the time of his life fronting a band dedicated to writing anthemic bangers and performing them like the fate of the world depends on them.
He and drummer Ronnie Vannucci jnr are the only original members still in the expanded, nine-strong touring line-up, but everyone plays their role to the fullest, if not quite with Flowers’ infectious joy and charisma, certainly sharing his relentless energy.
Given this show’s unrealistically huge opening (When You Were Young and Jenny Was a Friend of Mine both feature early and still finish up as show highlights) and twin finales – euphoric set closer All These Things That I’ve Done and final encore Mr Brightside – something has to give in the middle. But here’s where a smattering of Vegas illusion comes in.
Confetti and streamers on the last night of The Killers’ tour, at Qudos Bank Arena.Credit: Maclay Heriot
Losing interest in a new song you don’t know well enough yet? Here’s an explosion of confetti and streamers, spectacular lasers or gorgeous visuals on the big screen to distract you. Waiting for the obligatory, usually excellent Killers cover? Gerry Beckley from ’70s rockers America is in town, so here he is to lead his new friends through an exuberant take on Sister Golden Hair.
The Killers even trick us with a worryingly disappointing remix of Mr Brightside, before that glorious riff restarts the song and everyone breathes easily before going entirely bananas.
They’re masters of their arena-rock craft and, in the year when everything finally began to feel normal again, proved the perfect band to cap it off with a glittering exclamation mark.
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