The Killers Kill Austin

(This picture is not from last night’s show, nor did I take it. It was hijacked from the internet. His face looks funny.)

Last night, I returned to the Frank Erwin Center in beautiful Austin, Texas, to see one of my faves, The Killers, in concert. You’ve heard of them. Tickets were graciously provided by the vivacious Mprint, and I cannot thank her enough.

In short, the glamorous indy rock and roll show was amazing and we were on top of the world. Somebody told me that The Killers were no good live. Well, this show would change your mind. For reasons unknown, we smiled like we meant it. We went to the place where the white boys dance. And we danced like humans and like we used to when we were young. (see what I did there? Mr. Brightside.)

The seats were up in the mezzanine (which is just a fancy arena word for “if this were the Titanic you would die”), but it was still a decent vantage point. While I would have liked to have gotten closer to Brandon Flowers (cause, you know, his jacket is nice? And he finally shaved off that creep-ass mustache?), I certainly ain’t gonna complain. The opening act was M83, which is a band I always pretend to know but really have no idea. Apparently they are French. Anyway, I confess I didn’t pay much attention to them. I have this habit of being completely catatonic during opening acts. And late. But they were pleasant, something I might have to download someday if I can stop my current habit of listening to The Killers 24/7.

So anyway, The Killers! I will say up front that the set list relied a little too heavily on the new CD, Day and Age. Of the ten songs on it, eight were played (and “A Dustland Fairytale” was not one of them… le sigh). While I understand that this was the “Day and Age Tour,” and that the CD is new, come on. You could have gotten rid of “The World That We Live In,” to make room for something else (say… “On Top”? Pretty please?).

But this is a minor complaint, cause the rest of the show was hit after hit and the songs from Day and Age are, you know, good. I’m kinda constructing the set list from memory here, but they opened with “Spaceman” and “Losing Touch.” Good opener. This went into “Somebody Told Me,” which is a song people apparently like. You can probably guess the songs from there. No, they did not forget “Mr. Brightside.”

There were a few surprises, I thought. They played “Shadowplay,” the Joy Division cover, with footage from the Joy Division movie, Control, in the back. Travis provided a nice backing synth line to this. Also, they played “Bling” from Sam’s Town, which is a song I’ve always liked. Sadly, no “On Top.”

On to highlights from the concert! I thought “Human” was really good. Yes, I know, you are sick of the song. But when everyone is singing along (cause it’s the one song everyone knows the words to right now), it’s pretty cool. And they played my favorite, “Read My Mind,” which was beautiful. Then they “closed” with “All These Things That I’ve Done,” the song that made me really like The Killers in the first place (ya know, back in the day).

I say “closed” cause of course there was an encore. (Little side rant real quick: what’s the deal with encores? You know you are going to come back out. We know you are going to come back out. I’ve already blown my voice out singing “Smile Like You Mean It” at the top of my lungs. Please, just get back on stage! Quick! It’s all dark in here! Someone is touching me! Someone’s calling my name from the back of the restaurant! I think encores should not be a given. They should be earned). Anyway. The encore started with “Bones,” which is not my favorite song by them but whatev. However, they did finish it off with “Jenny Was A Friend of Mine.” It’s kinda creepy, everyone in the arena singing about strangling a girl at the top of their lungs. And finally, “When You Were Young.” You might have heard this one too.

So, fantastic show, and this was my first Killers concert. I’ve always liked them cause their songs are over the top, and they certainly sounded that way live. Stage design was good too, with lots of neon lights and pretty colors. This was complimented with occasional bursts of confetti, bubbles, tiger skin backdrops, and fireworks. Yay, fireworks!

No celebrity sitings this time. I guess they don’t buy nosebleed seats. At at the Erwin Center, they’re not really nosebleeds. More like a light sniffle. And how do people get drunk off of $7 beer? I mean, I thought we were in a recession. You probably had to mortgage your children just to afford tickets! How are you getting drunk on beer that’s that expensive? Seriously. Priorities, people!

Now I gotta work on those Bruce Springsteen tickets…

Also too, one of my dream trips: going to Japan with The Killers.