The Killers

Theater at Madison square Garden

New York October 25,2006

Vegas rockers show off their chops on arena-ready new tunes,sleek hits

Near the end of the killers set,Brandon Flowers stood on a monitor,his now familiar uniform-sleek black suit with bolo tie bathed in blue.While flowers busted some fist pumps and fey Morrissey dance moves,the crowd waved arms and belted out the big chorus to "All these things that ive done."It was the most blatantly arena rock moment from a band routinely dissed for its self importance,and it was mildly cheesy at worst.The Vegas quartet's maligned new album Sam's Town,might pack more unfortunate big-rock bombast than its new wave debut,hot fuss,but it shares a generous hook quotient and a Vegas-y talent for crowd-pleasing.

Before a frothy crowd,the killers proved they've become a tight live band.They blasted through a killer opening salvo:the first three songs from Sam's Town,culminaating in a version of the hit "when you were young " followed by Hot Fuss smash single "Somebody told me." there were some lulls-blander new songs like "For Reasons unknown"-but there was usually a well crafted chorus to grab your attention.Amid plenty of Hot Fuss material,new songs like the sweet ballad "Read My Mind" appeared with taut keys and guitar arrangements.Flowers,meanwhile,delivered punchy verses and soaring choruses,bounced around the stage and tossed out some humble dude banter:"New York is a place we've always dreamed of coming to,"he gushed before "smile like you mean it"-and it sounded like he meant it.The only time the set felt flabby was "Exitlude,"a nod to Sam's Towns fully welcome to out hangout concept,which closed the show when "All these things" would have sufficed.But by then,the killers had earned the right to be a little indulgent.

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