Consistently Among the Best
A chilly December evening would be my fourth time seeing the Killers, including my second time seeing them this year and my second time seeing at George Mason's Patriot Center, a modest size arena capable of holding about 10,000 people. Unlike my previous time at the Patriot Center and other times further back on the lawn at festivals, I arrived earlier enough to be fairly close and have a dead center view of the stage. Even though I wasn't particularly close for all of my other Killers' shows, they have been one of the most consistent live acts that I've ever seen. Every Killer's show that I've seen has been amongst my favorite of the year. I love their whole catalogue, they always have spectacular visuals, and their music is very danceable. Every time that I've seen them has just been a blast.
So I had set the bar very high and despite a few issues making it far less than a perfect show, it was more or less a great show. One of these issues was the sound. For starters, the Killers had cancelled their past few days on tour because lead singer Brandon Flowers was getting over some laryngitis. While he sounded pretty good, his voice wasn't all there and I could hear the difference. This was exacerbated by poor speaker placement. Despite being reasonably close to the stage and dead center, there weren't any speakers pointed directly towards us, so the overall clarity and detail wasn't up to snuff.
My other complaints related to the setlist and the visuals. The Killers put on an amazing visual performance - a large LCD, lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. However, none of it kicked in till after they had finished their first song. I'm not sure if they were just delayed in getting it set up or if it was purposeful, but when they took the stage and kicked off the evening with “Mr. Brightside,” a high energy anthem and one of my favorite of their songs, it all just fell a little flat. While I never like waiting longer than necessary for an act to hit the stage, this time I would have gladly waited a few extra minutes for everything to be ready. I would have preferred to hear “Mr. Brightside” later in the set no matter what the conditions but the lack of aesthetics made it particularly noticeable. I'm not sure if it was because of any of these issues or not, but the crowd was not nearly as lively as I would have preferred. They gradually warmed up a bit toward the end though. Flowers also introduced the band at the very end of the show, after they had already finished the bulk of their final song; I thought it a bit strange, but it wasn't a big deal.
Otherwise, the show and the setlist were great; lots of jumping and wiggling. They played nearly all of the same songs as they did the last time I saw them, at the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware, though a little longer (which I liked) and a few less old songs in favor of a few newer songs (which I didn't like as much). All and all, they played seven songs from their new album Battle Born (2012), three from Day & Age (2008), four from Sam's Town (2006), and five from Hot Fuss (2004). I hadn’t been as crazy about their new album as I had some of their others, but hearing some of the newest album live made me appreciate a few of the songs much more, including great versions of "The Way It Was, "From Here On Out," "Miss Atomic Bomb," and even the title track "Battle Born," even though I wish they wouldn't have ended the show on it. So despite a few issues, the Killers remain one of the consistently best bands I’ve ever seen.
Setlist:
Mr. Brightside
The Way It Was
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
Heart of a Girl
Bling (Confession of a King)
Miss Atomic Bomb
Human
Somebody Told Me
Here With Me
For Reasons Unknown
From Here On Out
A Dustland Fairytale
Read My Mind
Runaways
When You Were Young
Encore:
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
All These Things That I've Done
Battle Born
So I had set the bar very high and despite a few issues making it far less than a perfect show, it was more or less a great show. One of these issues was the sound. For starters, the Killers had cancelled their past few days on tour because lead singer Brandon Flowers was getting over some laryngitis. While he sounded pretty good, his voice wasn't all there and I could hear the difference. This was exacerbated by poor speaker placement. Despite being reasonably close to the stage and dead center, there weren't any speakers pointed directly towards us, so the overall clarity and detail wasn't up to snuff. 
My other complaints related to the setlist and the visuals. The Killers put on an amazing visual performance - a large LCD, lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics. However, none of it kicked in till after they had finished their first song. I'm not sure if they were just delayed in getting it set up or if it was purposeful, but when they took the stage and kicked off the evening with “Mr. Brightside,” a high energy anthem and one of my favorite of their songs, it all just fell a little flat. While I never like waiting longer than necessary for an act to hit the stage, this time I would have gladly waited a few extra minutes for everything to be ready. I would have preferred to hear “Mr. Brightside” later in the set no matter what the conditions but the lack of aesthetics made it particularly noticeable. I'm not sure if it was because of any of these issues or not, but the crowd was not nearly as lively as I would have preferred. They gradually warmed up a bit toward the end though. Flowers also introduced the band at the very end of the show, after they had already finished the bulk of their final song; I thought it a bit strange, but it wasn't a big deal.
Setlist:Mr. Brightside
The Way It Was
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
Heart of a Girl
Bling (Confession of a King)
Miss Atomic Bomb
Human
Somebody Told Me
Here With Me
For Reasons Unknown
From Here On Out
A Dustland Fairytale
Read My Mind
Runaways
When You Were Young
Encore:
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
All These Things That I've Done
Battle Born
No comments:
Post a Comment