Is there anyone on Planet Earth that hasn’t heard of The Killers? Perennial band of the year, best album winners and best single winners at awards ceremonies across the globe, they have now started to dominate the best live act category as well. We’re a picky bunch here at the pink palace and we have argued for weeks about where is best to see them; at a festival or in an arena. The split tends to happen on gender lines. Kate is favouring the arena option whereas Dan and I are sticking up for the rather more raw setting of the festival mosh pits.
Kate and Grace went to see them at the 02 arena in London this week. Here’s what they thought:
It’s brill, but you really want to be in the standing area in front of the stage, the people down there look like they are having so much fun. The set is ace (not quite Take That or Timberlake esque, but still great). They open to Spaceman and go through a really long encore. You defo get your money’s worth because the set itself is around 90 mins long. It’s great singalong fun but you need to do two things. Firstly get in the mood before you go as they start their show earlier than most bands, and secondly resist the urge to leave early. One of the best things of the night is seeing (the divine) Mr Flowers salute the crowd that sing every single word of Mr Brightside back at him. Yes girls, he really is that fit. The encore is 4 songs long and contains the classics so you need to stay. Also don’t try and hold a drink in your hands for the last 30 mins because you will dancing far too hard and will certainly loose all your hand eye coordination. Brilliant night, but really jealous of the peeps who got stand at the front.
Dan and I went to see the Killers at festivals across Europe. Here what we thought:
The first thing that you notice about the Killers at a festival is the size of the crowd. The second thing is the noise. When these guys are headlining it doesn’t matter who is on the other stages, there will be no one there. So bear in mind that if you are at a festival which sells 90’000 tickets, there will 90’000 people in the crowd so don’t wander over with 5 minutes to go and expect the best view. And bring the earplugs, because you are getting a wall of sound and noise coming up at you full pace for 90 minutes. Have a think about your favourite Killers songs and see if you can find a slow song or a ballad. You can’t; they don’t make them. So prepare yourself to jump, sing, be jumped on and sung into for the whole set. This is the festival equivalent of the last 20 minutes at your best mates wedding (but 90 minutes long). Forget taking drinks into the crowd, forget leaving half way through for a toilet break, forget finding your mates in there and forget staying in the same spot the whole gig. These guys are brilliant live, and they know it. Prepare yourself for a really long encore and for aching muscles all of the next day. Are they the best live band in the world (for me that’s the Stereophonics and for Dan it is Glasvegas), but are they the best at a festival – hell yeah. (oh and girls that isn’t lager that is being thrown backwards from the front).
Sean Collins
Sean moved back to the UK after living all over the world for years. He basically writes about booze filled antics, about avoiding tourists and not paying top whack to get in anywhere. He still misses Mark and Lard being on Radio 1 and is possibly the clumsiest person in the Northern Hemisphere. Also he is stupidly scared of dogs and thinks that everyone needs at least 7 cups of coffee a day to keep their heart running (all with biscuits to dunk of course).
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