Las Vegas' favorite Mormon glam rockers took the stage to a sold out New York City audience Sunday night and did what they did best, brought the decadence of their home town across the US to island of Manhattan. This was the second time I have seen The Killers in concert, I was extremely sceptical seeing the quartet since the last time I saw them back in 2006, the week their poorly received Sam's Town was released, they were disappointing. In 2006 I witnessed them at the Theater at MSG, a small venue that holds about 2,000, playing for only 55 minutes, charging an arm and a leg for tickets and no opener, not only did I not get my monies worth, they really were sub par at best. Sunday night proved otherwise, in fact what it did prove is that this band was made to be in big arena's and stadiums and playing to tens of thousands of people. Opening with "Spaceman," off the band's latest Day and Age, the crowd was energized and dazzled with a light show that would rival Killers idols U2 and a mosaic of lights and images flashing on the screen behind them. Brandon Flowers and Co., backed by a few stage musicians really knew how to rock and roll the crowd. Playing of course a majority of songs from Day and Age, they squeezed in the hits from Sam's Town, which after a few years of touring those songs they finally hit the nail on the head with those jams. The biggest applause would come from the songs off Hot Fuss, the bands best received debut. The highlight of the evening came from the bands cover of Joy Division's "Shadow play," off the Control soundtrack. With images of the film and Ian Curtis behind them, the band has no problem paying respects to the bands that laid the foundation for them. After 90 minutes, they closed with just one of those songs that every human being needs to hear live, at least once in their lifetime, "When We Were Young." With pyro, strobes and good ol' fashion glam rock and roll, the Killers slaughtered New York and are laying a path of destruction from city to city.
Opening for The Killers were French band M83. A band that has been getting much attention, I had to arrived early to catch, I am pleased I did. The band's debut Saturdays = Youth, has been a critical success and with the hype surrounding the band, I was curious to see how it would all project to such a large place like Madison Square Garden. The Franco electro rockers are a cross between Portishead and Depeche Mode. Very ambient, yet danceable electronica, and pulling out all the stops on a crazy light show that would confuse those who would mistaken them for headliners.