I first saw the Killers in 2004 at the Metro in Chicago. I was 19 and the average age was like 45 with probably less than 1000 people at the show. At the time, the band was only four people with minimal stage production (a far cry from the production today) but they were absolutely amazing and blew my mind. Safe to say, they got much bigger from that point and have had plenty of staying power.
One of my favorite parts of their story is that they started in Las Vegas in the early 2000s after responding to “wanted ads” in a local music publication where Brandon Flowers (singer) and Dave Keuning (orginal guitarist) both listed Oasis (my personal favorite band) as their main influences. Interestingly, the band never sound anything like Oasis, but that’s where it all started.
THEN the origins of the band’s name is another favorite tale of mine. In 2001, British music legends New Order released the song “Crystal” and I loved it immediately. Just so good. Check out the video and take a look at the kick drum:
And that’s where The Killers got their name. So much of that song can be heard throughout the Killers’ first album, Hot Fuss, to the point you could have almost considered them a New Order tribute band back in the day.
The Killers broke in England well before America and are still more popular there to this day. So much so that you will regularly find The Killers headlining any/all of the major UK music festivals to major fanfare. Generally speaking, the band is much more well received, and that says something considering how big they are here.
So let’s get started. The first single in the US, and where it all started for me, was this synth-pop/rock banger:
Such babies in that video. Then of course, there’s the global phenomenon, “Mr. Brightside”. I chose the original UK-version of the video to share here because I’m obviously such a deep-music guy:
And from there, the hits just kept coming over the next 20-ish years. That said, the journey of the band has certainly taken turns and the “sound has evolved” as they say. They went from a New Order revival band straight out of 1985 to something closer to a contemporary Bruce Springsteen-inspired rock outfit. (At the time of publishing this post, I read of a confirmed upcoming Bruce/Killers collaboration here.)
A favorite Killers story of mine comes from Lollapalooza Chile in 2018. Liam Gallagher, formerly of Oasis, was due to perform as a solo artist but ended up having to cancel due to a throat issue. Being the Oasis fan that he is, Brandon Flowers knew any fans there hoping to see Liam that day were expecting the hear “Wonderwall” performed and were likely disappointed to miss out. (I don’t care what your thoughts are about Wonderwall, it’s still one of the biggest songs in history, and definitely of the past 30-40 years. I didn’t say best, I said biggest. Don’t @ me.) While nowhere near the same, The Killers threw the Oasis classic into their set for the fans.
On the bill together again at Lollapalooza Brasil, things went a little different. As a gesture of appreciation for the support at the Chile stop, Liam popped on stage with the band during “All These Things That I’ve Done”. Though Liam didn’t provide any vocals to the track, it was nice to see the curmudgeon having a little fun and creating a buzz…and Brandon was obviously pumped about it.
Listen, there are so many great Killers songs and videos, you can go down a rabbit hole forever. That said, I would be remiss to not share this performance of “When You Were Young” from the Royal Albert Hall in 2009. This is easily one of the most “powerful” performances of a song I’ve ever seen, so here you go:
One last quick note: Jon Heise hates The Killers, so this post is for him. I’ll let it slide, however, as Jon is also a big Oasis fan and that’s more important to me.
Bonus Video
I felt like I needed to share this one too. If you’re already into The Killers, you know “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” from Hot Fuss is an absolute banger. Well, when Brandon Flowers started on his solo stuff, he would perform this version of the synth-rock album opener and I always thought this was a super cool western-interpretation of the song.
