vancouver October.13,2005

Killers live up to Flowers' hype by recycling '80's

Vancouver Sun
by Elaine Corden.


Perhaps no one could've predicted the Killers' meteoric rise to fame over the past year. No one, that is, except the Killers. For more than 12 months, the Las Vegas quartet's debut album, Hot Fuss, has been topping the Billboard charts, all the while with the group's lead singer, Brandon Flowers, spouting off to the press about the group's date with superstardom.

As arrogant as he many have sounded, he was right. From discos to dorm rooms, the Killers are everywhere and with their cache of catchy singles, they are perhaps the first stars of the iPod generation.

Vancouver is no exception to the rule. A year ago, the group played as openers to an unenthusiastic crowd at Richards, but Thursday night, they were playing to a screaming, adoring crowd at the PNE Coliseum.

Letting much of Andy Williams' version of Love Story play before striding onstage, the Killers received a hero's welcome from the crowd, which was composed of an eclectic mix of scenesters and teenage girls. Opening with the lead-off track from their album, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, the group seemed much more in control of their audience than a year ago, with Flowers' confidence on stage finally matching his sassy words to the media.

Belting through hit singles like On Top and the omnipresent Somebody Told Me, the group's infectious hooky sounds had the kids out of their seats in no time.

Of course, non-teenagers in the crowd would be blind not to notice that all of Flowers' moves and style are a careful study of Smiths' glum-o Morrissey, from his effete dancing, to his wry, sometimes Wildean lyrics (especially Flowers' Mr. Brightside). The music itself is similarly 80's oriented, and the result is a kind of wax museum replica of the original era of hot pink and Duran Duran. To anyone who was there the first go-around, the Killers might seem a bit off, but to the youngsters in the audience, Flowers and his cheeky, ambivalent sexuality are probably a revelation.

To hear the Killers perform, (even with the sound being terrible, as it was at the Coliseum) is to recognize what a hit factory the album has been. Nearly every song they played - Believe Me Natalie, Smile Like You Mean It, Everything Will Be Alright - was instantly recognizable from nightclubs and parties. Of course this means that they've exhausted the singles from their album and almost certainly will have to return to the studio soon.

Ever ambitious, the group announced that this Vancouver show would be their last for awhile, with the foursome working on a new album in their time away.

And if the follow-up is anywhere near as world-conquering as their debut, well, that'd be Killer indeed.