Those of you that know me will know that I only have one real obsession, one thing which I get over excited about without fail. One thing that I could gladly talk about for hours and not run out of things to say. One thing that I can fit around any mood or emotion I'm feeling. I am, of course, referring to The Killers. And when I first saw them last year, that was the happiest day of my life, a day that I didn't think could necessarily get any better. I was wrong.
I initially got into The Killers in 2008, back when I was in High School. I liked a young man back then called Jonny, who had recommended them to me in an attempt to expand my musical interest. I can still remember the night that he sent me their entire discography over MSN, to which I immediately listened and found that many of the songs I already half knew or were at least familiar. From then on I didn't listen to much else, at least until the songs were imprinted in my head. It was this time that really set my interest in music going and for this, I will always thank my lovely friend Jonny (whom I love very much).
Last year then, my excitement reached unfamiliar levels when I managed to get us tickets to Hard Rock Calling in London's Hyde Parke, which The Killers were headlining. You can read my ramblings about that day, on my old blog. This year the countdown once again began as I secured myself and Jonny tickets to see them on the UK leg of their Battle Born tour, on which they would be playing songs from their new album of the same name.
We got tickets for the Sheffield show, 8th November 2012. (I had originally tried to get tickets to see them in Manchester, however now, I'm sort of glad I didn't as they've had to re-schedule both Manchester dates due to Brandon being unwell).
I met Jonny in Sheffield at lunch time, with the intention to head straight to the arena and wait it out. Jonny convinced me that it, being November, might be better to kill sometime indoors before freezing outside for hours. I reluctantly agreed but knew he was right! We headed to the arena around 4.30pm and to our surprise there was noone really about. We had a bit of a wait, during which I made some terrible puns involving our current situation and Killers lyrics, much to Jonny's disgust delight.
Finally the doors opened and the people poured in. We had tickets for standing so we didn't even look at the merch stand, we just headed straight for the stage. Much to my pleasure, we managed to get very near the stage, about three rows from the barrier on the right hand side (having pre-discussed Mark's reluctance to interact with the crowd and Brandon's favouring of the right side of the stage, we chose Dave's side). Right now, I could whine about how achey we were after standing and waiting for several hours, but after a show like that, you quickly forget the pain.
The support act was Tegan & Sara, who weren't unbearable however I do believe they forgot the name of the city. At this stage anyway, I was growing impatient to see the main attraction.
The crowd roared at the appearance of the lightning bolt synth stand that has replaced the "K" that has been with the band throughout previous years of touring. And as the stage began to take to a more familiar shape, the crowd began stirring with excitement, impatience and anticipation. At this point, the lights should have dropped and the walk on music should have started, the crowd should have screamed and whistled and the band should have appeared to this electric atmosphere. But.. that's not exactly what happened.
With the full stadium lights still on and with the crowd still a whirr of chatter, Ronnie wandered onto the stage. The whole crowd seemed to do a double-take and as the rest of the band followed, we all errupted into abrubt applause and cheering. On stage, they all looked at eachother, bewildered and amused, which to me signals that they may have been given a false stage call and come on a bit early. They laughed amongst themselves before bursting into Mr. Brightside.
The full lights stayed on the whole way through the song, which was quite strange. It meant that we got to see Brandon and his leather jacket in full light though, which I am not complaining about.
After that they played The Way It Was, my favourite of their new songs. I squealed like a child. As expected, mine and Jonny's planning payed off, as Brandon seemed to spend the majority of his time on our side of the stage. As you can imagine, this pleased me very much as, in my opinion, Mr. Flowers is in his prime right now, and the whole leather jacket look he's got going on just kills me. The night was full of surprises and new experiences, from new setlist changes to an awesome bass solo from Mark. My favourite surprise though was something that I'd mentioned to Jonny earlier in the day as something "they never do". As Brandon assessed the crowd I wondered what he had planned. It was only as I watched him carefully remove his wedding ring and put it safely in his pocket that I realised what was going on. He was going to jump down and offer himself to the grabbing hands of the front rows of the crowd. My eyes widened and I screeched the situation to Jonny. With the crowd quickly cottoning on to what was happening, there was a huge surge forward and as Brandon jumped down, I'm not ashamed to say I pushed forward with every bit of energy I had in my body. My hand was about 5 inches from Brandon's, at our closest point, but I had eye contact with him!
Another great moment was when they played Here With Me, encouraging the crowd to hold up lights/ cameras/ phones. It looked amazing, really beautiful. None of my pictures do it justice though, and I can't find a HD video. Trust me, it was ace.A song that I particularly enjoyed live despite it not really being a favourite of mine, was From Here On Out, I think because Brandon really got the crowd to interact, repeating "from here on out!" several times and having the crowd echo it back in different ways. And of course, there were bits of the show that will never change and are expected at a Killers concert. One example of this is right before the drop in Human, which is one of my favourite live tracks. In the first verse you feel the tension building right up to the last "and I'm on my knees, looking for the answer, are we human? or are we dancer?" before Brandon roars "COME ON!" and the crowd goes insane. That's one of the bits I look forward to most in a Killers show!
A bit of a shock for me was their choice of encore song. I guess I'm so used to them playing All These Things That I've Done, going off, coming back, playing a few songs and then finishing with When You Were Young. But not this time! Oh no! They played WYWY right before the encore, about which I expressed my shock to a bemused Jonny. It was during the massive guitar bit towards the end of the song that the confetti cannons exploded and millions of shiny "K" and "ϟ" symbols scattered across the ocean of people. (I have a massive handful of them at home). This is what I like to call the euphoria moment.
They disappeared for a few minutes before returning to the entirity of the crowd chanting "I got soul". They re-started with A Matter Of Time, which we'd previously heard them rehearsing (a lot) when we were waiting outside. This was followed by Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, All These Things That I've Done, finishing with Battle Born. After playing the last song, the music continued whilst Brandon introduced each other member one by one. "You may have felt things in places you care not to mention, it's okay, I felt it too, don't be ashamed, it's just the bass from Mark Stoermer!" and "This is not an illusion, this is the real David Brent Keuning, in the flesh!". I can't remember exactly what he said about Ronnie, I can only remember how nuts he went on the drums after. He finally announced "We are The Killers, brought to you by way of fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada" before they all grouped together on stage and bowing- another first for me as I've never seen them do that before. They bowed and waved before filtering off stage, Brandon first. Ronnie last, after launching his drum sticks into the crowd who roared one last time. And that was it, they were gone.
The lights came on and it was over. The floor, now carpeted with shiny confetti and the lightning bolt that once glowed, now dark and lifeless. It was over but I wasn't sad, I was still shaking with excitement. I was still ecstatic.
The train journey home gave me chance to evaluate the day. It was the best day of my life, I think.
♥
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