Very few bands today have a "Mr. Bright Side". Even fewer can make it within the first five minutes of the show and continue to entertain the arena for another 90 minutes. And even fewer survived a three-song duet with Bruce Springsteen, when he clapped happily as he announced their names to the crowd: "The Killers!"
"Everyone knows that God created Saturday nights for rock 'n' roll," frontman Brandon Flowers said at the start of the band's back-to-back nights at Madison Square Garden. That's exactly what The Killers did as they took New York on a tour of their greatest hits, from "Hot Fuss" to "Pressure Machine."
The crowd shouted "Somebody Told Me" and "When You Were Young," swayed back and forth to "Shot at the Night" and "Human," and raised their fists to Springsteen's "Runaways." and "The Way It Was", which sounds like something out of the "Born to Run" era.
While it's clear most listeners aren't familiar with the band's Las Vegas 2020 show, the vastly underrated Imploding the Mirage, the Killers explained why they should, opening the show with the explosive " My Own Soul's Warning" and very expensive. "Fire in the Bone", "Dying Breed" and "Beware" deserved a spot.
Midway through the set, the band went acoustic for "Runaway Horses," and Flowers said the Killers had become a country band during the pandemic. Before playing "Pressure Machine", Flowers solemnly told the town's 20,000 residents "to go have a beer if you don't want to hear it".
© Courtesy Variety Photo (c) 2022 Chris Phelps http://www.chrisphelps.com Imploding the Mirage Tour 2022 01/22/10 Madison Square Garden - New York, NYIt's hard not to admire Bung's unbridled optimism and enthusiasm. He sings each song with a smile, stretches out the final chorus of "Runaways" and then playfully inserts Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" into "Read My Mind." At one point on the show, he cites Helen Keller as "unbreakable".
Somehow you have to buy Killer because, at least now, it's hard to find anthemic music without a hint of irony. Even the band's craziest and most unlikely lyrics ("We burned the highway skyline / Beyond the storm that started rolling when you were young"; "If you could see through the flag of the sun / In the eyes of eternity, like a vision, you"). accompanied by a desert-sounding guitar riff, it rolls out of Bungo's tongue like a rock 'n' roll manifesto.
Before the set was over, attentive audiences might be surprised, as it's not entirely clear how the band managed to close "All These Things I've Done" and "When You Was Young" for the encore. . Of course, he only brings Springsteen for "Badlands", "Dustland" and "Born to Run".
© Courtesy Variety Photo (c) 2022 Chris Phelps http://www.chrisphelps.com Imploding the Mirage Tour 2022 01/22/10 Madison Square Garden - New York, NY“My friends and I are sweating here all night because the Boss is here,” Bunga announced as he returned to the stage, barely able to contain his excitement.
Before dropping his collaboration with Springsteen, "Dustland," a reimagining of the band's 2008 single "A Dustland Fairytale," Flowers said, "I usually leave that part of the night for people to shut up. And I told us to think where your light comes from.'
Then, turning to Springsteen, Flowers said, “It's a very unusual situation for me tonight because you're enlightening me a lot.
The Killers and The Boss close the show on a high note with "Born to Run", with Flowers insisting that Springsteen deliver the euphoric closing line: "The highway is lined with heroes arrested at the last opportunity!" Then, sharing the mic, the two, along with the Madison Square Garden ensemble, sing the final chorus.
How do we solve it? Wisely, they didn't try.
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