Making a ‘Fuss’: The Killers celebrate their smash debut in new Vegas residency
Gleaming on his chest, close to his heart, dangled a silver pendant shaped like his home state.
Some wear their emotions on their sleeves; Brandon Flowers chose to do so around his neck.
“A lot of people come here to gamble, and I am no exception,” The Killers frontman confessed to the sold-out crowd before him, reflecting on how he moved to the big city from the small town of Nephi, Utah as a boy.
“I bet my life on three men,” he said, gesturing towards the trio of bandmates who flanked him on a stage awash in glitter, from Ronnie Vannucci Jr.’s sparkly pink drum kit to guitarist Dave Keuning’s similarly shiny silver sport jacket.
Flowers hit the jackpot — they all did — and two decades later, he was here to celebrate.
“Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas!” he beamed. “And 20 years of ‘Hot Fuss.’”
Flowers was referencing The Killers’ smash debut, an album of new wave-inspired anthems and dirges born of the desert, the dancefloor and the closet in Keuning’s old apartment, where he came up with the guitar line for “Mr. Brightside,” the first song he and Flowers ever wrote together.
“Brightside” has since become the most ubiquitous rock tune 0f the 21st century and the first song of the 2000s from a band to tally over 1 billion streams on Spotify. It remains emblematic of The Killers’ rise to superstardom: from inauspicious origins came one of the biggest bands in the land.
“Brightside,” normally a show-closer at Killers gigs, came second in the set on Friday at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, where the band performed “Hot Fuss” front-to-back as part of a new Vegas residency culminating on Sept 1.
This was the second gig of said run, a night where memory lane became a bustling freeway of emotion.
Early in the show, Flowers saluted bassist Mark Stoermer, who went on hiatus from touring with the group in 2016 and has only played with The Killers live sporadically ever since. The singer recollected how Stoermer had to make the tough decision to leave a band comprised of his childhood friends to join The Killers.
“I can remember Vanucci giving him the hard sell on The Killers in his front yard,” Flowers recalled, noting how Stoermer took his time weighing his decision. “He didn’t just jump on the shiny object. Bands need people like that.”
Later, Flowers explained how the spare, spectral ballad “Everything Will Be Alright,” the last song on “Hot Fuss,” was the first song he wrote for his wife, intended as a counterweight to her rough-and-tumble upbringing. It was only the second time the band had performed the tune live since 2005.
Before the next number, Flowers noted how changing times can have a similar effect on a song’s meaning.
“Believe it or not, in the early years here in Vegas, we were outsiders,” he said by way of introducing “Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll,” a “Hot Fuss” bonus cut.
The tune was written as a snide, sarcastic send-up of the indie rock circles that The Killers were once excluded from locally, but many fans have since interpreted it as a celebration of those circles.
“It has taken me 20 years to realize that they were right,” Flowers confessed. “Let’s not argue over semantics.”
He needn’t have worried, as there was nothing contentious about this evening, the crowd ecstatic as The Killers bear-hugged their debut and Las Vegas simultaneously, their elaborate set design festooned with one nod to their hometown after the next, from neon flamingos and showgirls to vintage footage of Circus Circus and the Riviera forming a by-turns glamorous and gritty backdrop.
They tipped their hats to a pair of Vegas greats of yesteryear, ending “All These Things I’ve Done” with a taste of Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love” — Flowers shaking and quaking in his boots as if approximating The King’s gyrations — and beginning a raucous “Midnight Show” with strains of Frank Sinatra-staple “Luck Be A Lady.”
On this grand stage came equally grand gestures: Vannucci giving great rock face during a drum solo that prefaced “Believe Me Natalie,” grimacing as if passing a kidney stone; Stoermer holding his instrument aloft triumphantly, like a battle axe, during “Smile;” Keuning’s mouth agape in a silent scream while shaking his mane vehemently as he ripped the lead to “Midnight.”
After a brief intermission following the “Hot Fuss” portion of the night, the band returned for another 10 songs to close the two-hour show.
Again, they delved into some seldom-played chestnuts, performing searing, cocaine-addled “Sam’s Town” slow-burner “Uncle Jonny” for the first time since 2016.
Flowers remained in a reflective mood, dedicating “A Dustland Fairytale” to his mother, Jean Flowers, who passed away from brain cancer in 2010, recollecting the first time she took him to the hospital after he cracked his head open at a bank when he was a kid.
“As long as she was here, she made sure to give me enough light,” he said, encouraging the crowd to light up their cellphones in tribute as the venue flooded with illumination.
Shortly thereafter the band launched into the new song “Bright Lights,” released last week to coincide with the residency.
The message here was clear: whether mining their past in “Hot Fuss” or eyeing their future with the tune in question, all roads lead back to the same place.
“Baby, turn the bright lights on,” Flowers sang, his voice cannon-balling over surging guitars. “‘Cause I haven’t forgotten wherе it is I’m from.”
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @jbracelin76 on Instagram