Buffalo Bills latest team to seize The Killers’ ‘Mr. Brightside’
The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” has nothing to do with football. The lyric is not, “Now we’re goin’ for 2, ‘cuz our kicker is sick.”
But the Las Vegas rock band’s signature tune has mushroomed into a stadium anthem.
The Buffalo Bills, playing the Chiefs on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game, are the latest team to embrace “Brightside.”
Bills QB Josh Allen said in a press conference after the Bills’divisional-round victory over the Steelers, “Our goal is to get to the fourth quarter and have ‘Mr. Brightside’ be playing. I know the fans love that. That gives us such a shot of energy.”
As told by the media outlet RochesterFirst.com, the team’s affection for the 2003 staple began during a game against the Cowboys in December 2023.
Josh Allen: "Our goal is to get to the fourth quarter and have Mr. Brightside be playing." @thekillers #billsmafia pic.twitter.com/jcm3svGnxZ
— Nick Veronica (@NickVeronica) January 15, 2025
Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid, who is from Las Vegas and played at the University of Utah, mentioned to fellow tight end Dawson Knox that he wanted to hear the song.
“I remember at Utah games we always played it in the fourth quarter and I was just like ‘I wish they could play ‘Mr. Brightside’ right now,’” Kincaid told the Rochester pub. The request swiftly reached Bills Director of Game Presentation.
“We heard that and were like ‘Okay, we can do that,’” said Haberkorn, who lords over the music played at Highmark Stadium. “So we play ‘Mr. Brightside.’ Great fan reaction and great reaction from the players, too. I thought after the game, if the players are that energized to hear the song, let’s enhance it a little bit.”
The team produced a lyric video, kicking off with Kincaid’s original request (caught in Knox’s mic’d-up video). The video debuted during the Bills’ playoff victory over the Steelers on Jan. 15.
Anyway enjoy this pic.twitter.com/UmEQ7huQCN
— Nick Veronica (@NickVeronica) January 15, 2025
As Haberkorn said, “The crowd went nuts for it, so after that, we thought, ‘Let’s keep this running.’”
Michigan’s football team has also seized “Brightside” as its victory song, adopting the anthem in 2016.
The Killers themselves seem as confounded as anyone that “Brightside” is the enduring hit from “Hot Fuss.” The band returned to the Strip on Wednesday and this weekend to play “Hot Fuss,” end-to-end, at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Brandon Flowers related as he introduced guitarist Dave Keuning on Wednesday night, “There was a time, a long time ago, when we were the only two people who knew ‘Mr. Brightside.’”
As previously recounted, Flowers legendarily wrote the song when he was a budding 20-year-old singer/songwriter/musician and bellman at Gold Coast. The young vocalist found his then-girlfriend cheating on him at Crown & Anchor Pub (which closed in 2023), and furiously crafted the lyrics.
Flowers and Keuning, who had already recorded the universally familiar guitar riff, went to work on the song. That process kicked off, as it were, “Brightside’s” long history as a rock — and sports — classic. The song has not been played at a Super Bowl, but the Bills haven’t won one, either.
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John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.