The Killers, the Concert!

Read the Prequel below first!

I've always admired the fact that the Killers have stayed local. They could have placed their recording studio anywhere in the world, even London where they got their start, but they stayed true to their home, Las Vegas. I started doing some research on them, because I was stalking them, oops, sorry, I mean I wanted to get a thank you gift to Ronnie's wife for the tickets, and I was looking online for some interests they had. In the process of reading about them, I discovered Ronnie Vannucci, the drummer, was the drummer for Attaboy Skip, a cute little SKA band my friends used to listen to in high school. It was one of those things where my circle of friends skimmed the edge of his circle of friends. So I was super excited about this information and I was trying to share it with, oh I don't know, THE WORLD! And people already knew this little tid bit of information. Why was it not shared with me! I would have started stalking, oops, I mean searching out for these guys a lot sooner! See the crazed look in my eye? But seriously, what is up with that picture? Take away my glasses and I look full on PSYCHO!

We weren't sure where our seats would be at the concert, but we knew to search for our friend Les, and took comfort in knowing we'd be sitting with him. We called him as we got closer and he told Byron, "It took me while to get the tickets, so we might be in nosebleeders!" A little disappointed, but still excited, we ventured forth and met up with Les. He handed us our tickets, and then in its blingy, golden glory, he handed us our bright, flashy, gold backstage pass wristbands. I could hear the choir of angels as Byron put it on my wrist!
We began walking towards our section in the arena, and I began making mental notes:

"OK, please remember not to make a fool out of yourself backstage. Ronnie Vannucci doesn't really care if you saw AttaBoy Skip at Brock Olson's Graduation party and a fight broke out!"

"Oooh, concert t-shirts, I wanted one of those. Don't forget to buy one. Darn it, the one I wanted is in a ghastly shade of purple."

"It is ridiculously hot in here. You just had to wear this little jacket in the middle of a Vegas September, didn't you."

"On the other hand, aren't you glad you wore flats. Your feet would be killing you be now. Yes, Byron makes you look like one of the Munchkin People without high heels on. Get over it."

"What? The Killers don't go on for 2 more hours? What are we going to do for that long? Oh, stand in that crazy line for my t-shirt. Very good."

"Here's our section. I wonder how high up we are?

"Wait, we're not going up. We're going down, closer to the stage
This is when Les turns at us and gives us a little grin, as though to say, "I tricked ya, didn't I?" Nosebleed nothin'! We were on the side, 3 rows up. Not close enough to lick, I mean, touch Brandon Flowers, but darn close enough to see his smile (more about that later). Come to find out, we were sitting in the Killer's family section. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and wives of the Killers were sitting all around me. Lisa, Ronnie's wife comes up to introduce herself, and hands her father, Les, three purple fabric stickers that read "The Killer's After Party, House of Blues Foundation Room." "Come on up and hang out with the band later." she says. It was the first time of many that night, when I thought, "What in the world am I doing here?" It was very surreal.

Then it was time. Music began playing, the crowd started yelling, and out came the band. The entrance was very simple. No smoke machine, not strobe lights, just the band walking out onto a well lit stage. The entire arena was still lit up. This is what I saw (Thank you YouTube for always having much better videos than mine):
Mr. Brightside

Every time the camera pans to the right, that was our section.

Spaceman

Joyride

Apparently, Brandon Flowers doesn't allow fighting at Killer concerts! "Losing Touch" starts nicely, then all of a sudden, Brandon stops the song! I started thinking it was part of the act, but he saw some fans fightings and this is what he did about it.
Losing Touch

Call it community pride, but I love things having to do with my hometown. CSI, Ocean's Eleven, and Brandon Flowers sarcastic reference to "beautiful Boulder Beach" at Lake Mead as the band starts "I Can't Stay!"
I Can't Stay



All These Things I've Done




I had some immediate impressions while observing these guys perform. First off, in all the videos these guys make, and the pictures they are in, Brandon Flowers is very reserved, mysterious looking. But have you ever watched someone doing something they truly have joy in? No matter how tough they try to look, there is a smile on their face? That was Brandon. He'd sing, do his odd little dance, then look over at the family section, and just smile. I'm also pretty sure he was smiling at me, but I won't tell his mom that! He was like a little kid that was signing and performing just for the joy of doing so.

Something else I noticed was what a show Ronnie Vannucci puts on when he plays those drums. Every single body part is in motion to the beat of the song. Even his head could have created its own rhythm and beat, though I'm sure hitting his head with as drum would be painful. There was also an on stage relationship between Brandon and Ronnie. You could tell that the band really trusted in Ronnie to create the heart and soul of the song. It was almost as if they were looking to Ronnie to lead the band. It was interesting to see.

One last thing about the concert, one of the opening bands are these guys, Phoenix, from France. Really fun music, with another drummer that was fun to watch. Go iTunes them, its worth it.
Phoenix

Well, the concert ends after 90 minutes of non-stop music. We've already made new friends, ran into some old ones, and I was about to find out what this little gold wristband was about to do!

Coming up next, The Killers, Backstage!