Ah, Wembley Stadium, the stadium where only the mightiest of musicians get the chance to play. These are the shows that can make or break bands at the very pinnacle of their careers. Play a good show and that’s that, you’ve got the whole world at your feet and you’ll go down in musical history. Play a bad show and well, we don’t even talk about those bands any more, do we? Knowing the importance of the show, you can only hazard a guess as to what Flowers, Vannucci, Keuning and Stoermer are feeling backstage as they prepare for The Killers potential assent into greatness. But before we get to that we’ve got two very, shall we say unique, support acts to see.
James are a name that ring a few bells of familiarity in my head, but, cleverly, James haven’t really been booked to entertain the 20-somethings in the crowd, but much rather appeal to the older crowd contingency who seem more than familiar with the songs. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy their set because I do, a lot more than I was expecting at first. Singer Tim Booth is an unusual character, looking a bit like Moby meets Richard O’Brien and acts a lot like it too.
Between his juddery dancing and slightly nonchalant, deadpan manner you’re not quite sure whether he’s enjoying or hating performing at Wembley; but that in itself is utterly compelling. James somehow, despite the unfamiliarity of the material, get the crowd going and the dual closer of their most popular songs ‘Sit Down‘ and ‘Laid‘ send the crowd into a relative frenzy for a stadium sized crowd watching a support act. At the end of the set they’ve certainly reminded me of their existence and I vow to look up more of their material when I get home.
Second support act for the evening, and the booking to appease the younger members of the crowd were The Gaslight Anthem. Although I fall into that category, I find myself not enjoying it as much as I enjoyed James and I continually zone in and out of the performance. This is in part because although they play their Americana rock with a certain finesse; I quite often find the genre tiresome and The Gaslight Anthem aren’t quite dynamic enough for me to change my mind. The other reason I keep spacing out is the lack of intelligible vocals because that makes it even harder to engage with the performance.
Though this lack of vocals doesn’t last throughout all the performance, when singer Brian Fallon tries to amplify his voice he ends up overexerting himself and stretching his vocals to the point he just sounds like he is shouting. This isn’t to say there’s not moments of enjoyment to be salvaged from the set, ‘Here’s Lookin at You Kid‘ has more of a country-rock element to it which has a tender resonance about it, which I can’t help but like. For me though, The Gaslight Anthem really fail to capitalise on such a valuable experience to bag themselves a few more fans; instead I’m now more inclined to ‘meh‘ about them than before.
As Brandon Flowers takes to the stage unaccompanied by the rest of The Killers there very much is a moment of holding your breath. As he settles behind the piano and the simplistic little ditty of ‘Enterlude‘ from Sam’s Town greets us, you know you’re in for a special treat. It’s the perfect low-key introduction to the evening, stripping The Killers back to the bare bones that have brought them to this very point in time and it gives me that spine-tingling moment when I know that tonight is going to be special. Of course from such low-key beginnings, The Killers have ended up spawning some global hits such as the song that ‘Enterlude‘ perfectly segues into: ‘When You Were Young‘. It packs one hell of a metaphorical punch and immediately gets the crowd into the correct levels of euphoric buzz that doesn’t relent all evening.
Not content with lowering the pace at all, ‘Spaceman‘ is an energised, pogoing affair for everyone involved. Flowers never lets his vocals falter despite continually zipping around and punching the air as if it’s personally affronted him. It’s not just Flowers that seems to want to work out some tension as Ronnie Vannucci Jr. thrashes his drumkit with such tremendous force it rattles the cameras surrounding him and makes him grimace something chronic.
Though ‘The Way It Was‘ acts as a little reprieve it doesn’t last long as its’ polar opposite is released in the form of ‘Smile Like You Mean It‘. There is no denying that the crowd reaction from the Hot Fuss hit is on a completely different level to anything that has gone before. Although the track doesn’t have the same cinematic qualities of The Killers later material, the sheer indie disco tenacity is enough to evoke the same emotional intensity– though this time the main emotion is sheer euphoria. It’s very much The Killers at their least deep and most fun; as Keuning’s guitar-work gets its moment to be appreciated because despite the multitude of other things going on, it’s the guitar that brings ‘Smile Like You Mean It‘ to life.
It’s after this that The Killers seem to fall into a natural rhythm with the show; like men almost reaching the summit of that Wembley mountain. Any tension that had been carried has seemingly evaporated and in comes a lightness of enjoyment which helps to add a bit more spring in bassist Mark Stoermer’s step and makes sure that Brandon’s heart-melting grin never once leaves his face. It’s as they settle to they start upping the ante in the stakes of theatrics– firework waterfalls over the screens, explosions during ‘Miss Atomic Bomb‘ (credit for the relevance), lasers over the crowd and the ever famous Wembley illumination by phone-light only. Although these flares of stage-showiness are few and far between, it helps to add a little extra magic to the performance without being wholly distracting from the music that brought us here. It’s nice to see something so stripped back after seeing Coldplay and Muse here who, frankly, pulled out every gimmick in the book possible.
And musically the band do something a bit special too. Aside from their cover of ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ (which they just about manage to get away with) they’ve specially written ‘Wembley Song‘; a song to commemorate the occasion. Maybe it is a little cheesy coming from other bands, but it’s impossible to say that about The Killers when everything is done with such wide-eyed sincerity. It’s a endearing and witty little ditty that nods to previous bands that have made it here, oh and the England ’66 team, whilst also acknowledging how far The Killers have come and how much they’ve changed in the process. It tugs on my heartstrings just slightly and by the crowd reception, they all feel equally as moved.
It’s the rather reflective, and very appropriate, ‘All These Things I’ve Done‘ that rounds off the bulk of the set. Brandon’s vocals get well and truly snowed under as people take to chanting “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier” en-mass alongside the song. It’s a great way to end the show, as one united front, you feel connected to every one of the 80,000 people in the audience. It’s at this point some people choose to leave and although I know the chaos of the tubes/traffic in fifteen minutes will make me regret not leaving early, I can’t bring myself to miss The Killers reach the summit of their Wembley experience. It turns out to be the right move because the four-song encore is probably the highlight of the evening, with its’ back and forth juxtaposition of the then-Killers (Hot Fuss) and the now-Killers (Battle Born) as an almost homage to the journey that lead them to this point in time.
Opener off Battle Born and my favourite, ‘Flesh and Bone‘, has real conviction behind every note and never have the lyrics “What are you made of? What are you afraid of?” been more relevant than right now, when The Killers have shown us all what they’re made of– great stadium sized songs and heaps of feel-good entertainment. Similarly title track ‘Battle Born’ has never felt quite so cinematic with musical crescendos which you can’t help but want to reach out and grab. During this song Brandon Flowers introduces each member of the band individually and it feels like this their moment of crowning glory. Of course, it is closer ‘Mr. Brightside‘ that will always remain a crowd favourite and the reaction tonight just proves the impact that this Las Vegas quartet have had over the 10 years of their career.
Tonight The Killers faced their defining moment and instead of shying away, The Killers stood their ground and gave it their all. Turns out that their all is more than enough because they showed themselves to have the songs, stage presence and charm to keep a huge audience hooked on every single note throughout the duration of their set. They’ve proven themselves to be able to conquer the Wembley mountain without so much as breaking a sweat, only time will tell what insurmountable challenge they’re going to tackle next.
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