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The Killers put on jubilant showcase at First Avenue

July 14, 2023

The Killers performed at First Avenue on Thursday July 13, 2023.Chris Phelps

If you walk into a karaoke dive bar, fraternity party, Hot Topic store, sporting event, or wedding reception dance floor, it's likely you’ll hear “Mr. Brightside,” the megahit from the Killers’ 2004 debut, Hot Fuss. A sing-along erupts whenever a band covers the song at a show, or when the line “Coming out of my cage / And I’ve been doing just fine” comes over the speakers at a social gathering. So imagine the atmosphere when the Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers belted those words on First Avenue’s stage on Thursday night.

The Las Vegas band wrapped up a U.S. arena tour last October, including a St. Paul stop at the Xcel Energy Center, with venues with capacities up to 40,000. This time in the Twin Cities, the crowd was a bit smaller: just 1,500 people packed into the sold-out Mainroom.

First Avenue announced The Killers’ performance about one week before the show. Tickets came with tight restrictions: “Any attempts to exceed the ticket limit of 4 tickets per customer or household, or to game the system in any way, will result in cancellation of orders without notice.” Tickets were non-transferable on any ticket purchasing platform. Every person in the room raced to grab a ticket for the rare opportunity to see the alt-rock band in this intimate space.

The band didn’t need an opener for people to show up early. Before doors opened, queues passed the The Killers’ star on First Avenue’s exterior wall and extended down the block on both sides. Inside, the floor was filled from the stage to the back bar an hour before the show began. Some fans donned T-shirts from the Killers’ past tours, and the dress code seemed to be band tees of artists who got their starts at least a few decades ago, like David Bowie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Metallica, and Blink-182.

The Killers opened with “Sam’s Town,” a nod to their hometown from their sophomore record Sam’s Town, then continued with a nod to Minneapolis by covering Prince’s “I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man.”

The evening could be summarized by one word: jubilant. The 90-minute show featured four rounds of confetti bursting from cannons and floating down into the hands of thrilled fans. Hands swayed for “This Is Your Life” from 2008’s Day & Age, and a woman a few feet from the stage grinned and shook her head in awe for the euphoric, thumping anthem of “Humans.” The music the Killers play live is unapologetically optimistic; it’s a feel-good show.

Not skipping any of the biggest radio-friendly hits, the Killers seemed to perform for the purpose of indulging fans, not to spotlight their most recent albums. They released Imploding the Mirage in 2020, and followed with the more subdued and self-reflective Pressure Machine in 2021. The set only featured two tracks from Pressure Machine, which Flowers called a “change of pace record” that was made to be played in a space the size of the Mainroom. During “Runaway Horses,” Flowers stood at the mic stand with a hand over heart while two background singers provided soft, harmonious ornamentation. Multi-instrumentalist Dave Keuning pulled out a harmonica to embellish the country-pop track “Quiet Town.”

Flowers claimed he doesn’t talk much during shows, especially not before “When You Were Young.” But for some reason, he felt compelled to share the song’s background: The success of their first album took them by surprise. After traveling to England, the band came back and wanted to capture upbringing and familial dynamics for the sophomore release of Sam’s Town. “When You Were Young,” which includes the lyrics — “You sit there in your heartache / Waiting on some beautiful boy to / To save you from your old ways” — finally hit what they had been searching for. Flowers hoped he wasn’t “killing the momentum of the concert,” but the brief speech made him seem more human — less of a famous person putting on a face for over an hour.

Flowers is a showman. His eyes burst with enthusiasm, and the stage didn’t appear large enough to contain his energy. It was easy to picture the vocalist running across a stage, but with a hefty gear set up, he skirted around bandmates and equipment, and at times, seemed to not know where to step next.

The Killers on stage — The Killers performed at First Avenue on Thursday July 13, 2023.
Chris Phelps

It was a sized-down show — Flowers told The Current’s Ayisha Jaffer that playing at a venue this size is the equivalent of five rehearsals ahead of their Target Field show on Friday — but audio levels remained high. Visceral sound waves could be felt on every inch of the body. Arm hair stood up. Chests vibrated. Esophagi pulsated. Earplugs couldn’t keep ear canals from buzzing.

The only time Flowers’ vocals didn’t 100% match songs’ recorded versions was “All These Things That I’ve Done.” Luckily, it was also the song with the most audience participation; people sang “I got a soul, but I’m not a soldier” over and over in tune.

The audience members taking overhead selfies were mostly Millennial and Gen-X folk and likely feeling nostalgic when hearing songs that blew up in the aughts. But the 20-somethings may have experienced fauxstalgia — the feeling of yearning for a time in the past, despite not being old enough to have experienced it.

At one point, it appeared the show might end on an anticlimactic note. For the encore closer, Flowers began a monotone, slightly apathetic “Mr. Brightside” remix with the only instrumentals coming from drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. A night without the gratification of the peppy synth-handled tale of jealousy and betrayal felt disappointing and elicited the thoughts, “This must be a joke?” and “Is this really it?” But after two choruses, Flowers smiled, confirming it was a tease. He began again as the band jumped into the unequivocal guitar chords.

Referring to the band’s place on the Friday night bill at Target Field for TC Summer Fest, Flowers said, “See you tomorrow,” before exiting the stage.

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