San Francisco Popscene August 25,2006
 MP3 Live


The Killers go Pop

Vegas rockers, sporting a scruffy Deadwood mod look, unveil their new album at San Francisco's vaunted Popscene party.

The Killers want to talk to you.

Each of you.

And if history is any guide--the Las Vegas quartet's 2004 debut Hot Fuss has sold more than three million copies--there are a lot of you out there.

In a secret show last night at the 10th anniversary of San Francisco's Popscene, the venerable Brit pop/indie rock party that has built a rep on booking bands on the verge of blowing up, the Killers performed tracks from their sophomore album Sam's Town, which hits stores October 3. The new record is filled with more of the same formulaic but oh so catchy mod rock, and frontman Brandon Flowers' lyrics continue to make a point of engaging the crowd directly, layering each track with references to "you" and "your."

The Killers last played Popscene 26 months ago, before props from mega-stars like U2 and Coldplay and a series of monster hits turned them into rock stars themselves. This time around, the band eschewed its previous clean cut look for a hairier--make that much hairier--style, with each band member sporting facial hair and a sort of Deadwood-goes-Brit pop fashion sense.

But while the look was decidedly different, the sound was the same, with Flowers and company sticking to a formula that largely goes like this: a brief, shy intro, usually with just Flowers on keys and vocals, followed by a building 80s synth-driven rhythm and then a swirling sea of guitars and throbbing bass, with Flowers' engaging lyrics taking center stage.

The Killers played several new songs last night that stuck to that formula and seem destined for the sort of cult status gained by Hot Fuss hits like "Somebody Told Me," "All These Things That I've Done," and "Mr. Brightside." Given the spirited response from the fickle Popscene crowd, we can expect a slew of more hits, starting with "When You Were Young," the first single off Sam's Town.

"We get a lot of attention for negative things, so we're really happy to be here on a positive night where we can focus on the music," Flowers said early in the set, eluding to the band's seeming love of controversy, given its off-and-on rivalries with The Bravery and Fall Out Boy and the February breach of contract lawsuit filed against the band by its former manager.

New songs "For Reasons Unknown" and "Read My Mind" seemed to follow the propulsive blueprint of the previous hits and will likely be commanding sing-alongs along the lines of "All These Things That I've Done" ("I've got soul but I'm not a soldier") and "Mr. Brightside" ("I just can't look its killing me").

On a new track called "Enterlude," Flowers took his rules of engagement to a new level: "Outside the sun is shining/seems like heaven ain't far away/It's good to have you with us/even if it's just for the day."

So the Killers are back, hairier but with a new album full of music that Hot Fuss fans will eat up. This is modern rock music, blueprint-style, and it works exceedingly well.

by Jim Welte.