|
New York April 4,2005
Killers are dead-on at
Park gig
From
A band of Killers prowled
Central Park last night, shooting a palpable
ripple of hysteria through the city. Before you
choke on your Cheerios, let's be clear: This
wasn't a nightmare scenario recalling the bad
old days of Manhattan; it was an indie rock
show. The Killers, from Las Vegas, kicked off the
park's annual SummerStage concert series aboard
a roaring hype machine that has launched them
past similarly well-coiffed, '80s music- and
fashion-mining acts like Franz Ferdinand and The
Bravery. They've landed in the role of
dance-rock darlings du jour. If the quartet has thus far failed to
distinguish themselves from the mascaramangling
pack by dint of a breathtakingly original sound
and vision, they've done it with debut record
sales surging north of 3 million in the U.S. and
U.K. combined. Their album "Hot Fuss," which
nabbed three Grammy nominations, prompted Spin
magazine to name them one of 2004's Next Big
Things. They can now be seen sauntering across
the Nevada desert on the cover of the current
issue of British music bible Q magazine. All of which begs the question: Are they
worth the, ahem, fuss? To borrow an album title from former Next Big
Things Oasis: definitely maybe. Unlike indie
rockers of yore, the Killers have been upfront
about their desire to be very big. Last night
they wasted no time striking an arena-sized
pose. Two minutes into their set, as
magenta-based lighting tinted 23-year-old lead
singer Brandon Flowers' white dinner jacket
pomegranate, a catchy chorus struck in unison
with the suddenly lit, high-wattage "Killers"
sign at the back of the stage. Dave Keuning's
lean, happily harmless guitar chugged in time.
In the crowd, several girlfriends in tight white
tanks rode the shoulders of their tight
T-shirted boyfriends. Heavy texting commenced.
The group's MO, particularly on
pulse-quickening hits "Mr. Brightside" and
"Somebody Told Me," sometimes reeks of trying
too hard to sound like other bands. The Smiths
and Pulp, to name two. But some might find it
hard to argue against a group that last night
had thousands of young, sexy "O.C." rejects
chanting loudly along with the lyrics "Somebody
told me you had a boyfriend/Who looks like a
girlfriend that I had in February of last year."
The question is, will anyone remember the
Killers next February?
|