The Killers (review)

...at the Vector Arena, Wednesday 8th April, 2009 - supported by The Checks.

A family event!
A delight to attend this with Lois and Alexander, and for us all to enjoy the experience.

The Checks were on at 8pm (doors opened at 7pm).
I really like The Checks - a gutsy, dare I say "ballsy", rhythm'n'blues based band - this is the second time I've seen them play live (first time Big Day Out 2008) - they have attitude.

In fact, their lead singer, Edward Knowles, came across as a younger (doh!) Mick Jagger, prancing around the stage in an electrified-puppet manner (though I think some moves were probably influenced by Tim Finn).

His voice, once warmed up, oozed a laddish, throaty warmth that constitutes the main musical feature of the band.

The guitarists (2 of them) played their part also, and it was a joy to witness the "tribal" moments of the performance, with all 3 guitarists (including bassist now) and the vocalist congregating in the centre of the stage, guitars pumping up and down and hair appropriately flailing in synch.

They played 2 songs from the debut album "Hunting For Whales" - and of course "Take Me There" made new converts to the Checks account, while the new songs hint at a slightly darker, possibly more sophisticated sound (a bit Franz Ferdinand?) - the album is out on June 8, and I'll be looking for it.

Regrets? I had a few - the vocals mixed a bit low and the noise of the guitars a bit high, creating a bit of mud.

Also, overall I wonder whether perhaps Elemeno P might have been a happier choice for support act - they are generically closer to The Killers, and would have whipped the crowd up into singalong readiness with greater ease.

Not that The Killers needed that kind of support, as it happened!

Their songs seemed to do that easily from the word "go".

Living up to their name, they took the stage with both barrels blazing, launching into their fabulous, joyous hit "Human" with high energy and filling the Vector Arena with a spacious, epic sound that wouldn't be out of place in a stadium.

The audience went with them from start to finish - one hour and forty minutes of anthemic, catchy and (once more) joyous music.

What shall we label The Killers' style?
The closest I could think of would be a kind of amalgam of U2 and - wait for it - Abba!
Abba? Am I serious??
Well - yes, in the sense that their tunes are so darn catchy - even songs whose names I couldn't remember (and I have to confess to selling my copy of Hot Fuss, their first album, about a year ago) stick in the brain.

So, yes, on one level, Abba if they had got rid of the girls and Bjorn had rocked out on his guitar a bit more.

The songs do follow a compositional formula, and it works extremely well for all concerned (band, audience) - it is not stale.

Brandon Flowers, the vocalist, is the pixie-like frontman of the band - his performance was hi-energy and his vocal quality sits somewhere between Freddy Mercury (tenderness, emotion) and Bono (holler power).

Perhaps a major feature that differentiates The Killers from U2 is that with Flowers there is no trace of irony in his vocal delivery (contrast that with Bono's The Fly - stunning performance, but dripping with irony).

There was also, last night, no "darkness" in the performance, no brooding twilit songs of insurmountable sorrow, strife or turmoil - and The Killers last night did not appear to have the word "slow" in their vocabulary (slowest tempo was the piano-accompanied start of "Sam's Town", which lasted maybe 1 or 2 minutes before the band cranked it up again!).

Flowers was enjoying himself thoroughly from start to finish, as was everybody else in the house.

A few extra notes - the Killers' lineup expanded on the night, with a saxophone player (sounding good on the new songs, but mixed a little too low) and a keyboard/percussion/violin player, neither of which were introduced to us (watch your manners, guys!).

The lighting was effective - silhouetted tree shapes (like the Enchanted Forest in Disney's Snow White), direct colour changes effected by 10 panels suspended at the back, neon strips around the rostra, a letter "K" with about 30 lamps in it, and on the very last song of the 4-song encore (When You Were Young - with its "killer" catch phrase "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus"), flames that shot up and flames that streamed down - gorgeous.

Needless to say, there was quite a bit of smoke drifting around after the concert, as the audience itself drifted out to the tune of "Moon River".

Standout moments? The last song, but also the spine-tingling opener, and seeing the audience constantly jumping and singing and moving as one.

Downsides? Perhaps a little more talk from Brandon would have helped - perhaps not!

Many thanks once again to Marc Fountain and Roger Harper and their friends without whose support this sickness beneficiary would not have been able to attend!

A great night out for the family - for sure!