Thursday, August 21, 2008

Review: The Killers, The Academy, Dublin - 20th August 2008


It's hard to imagine the Academy hosting a better gig than The Killers last night. A fantastic performance matched with brilliant quality sound made for a great evening. Opening with For Reasons Unknown followed by Somebody Told Me was a perfect way to start the concert. There were many highlights over the course of the show, with all three albums well represented. For me, the high points were Bones, When You Were Young, Tranquilize, Under The Gun and the two new songs, Spaceman and Neon Tiger. Spaceman in particular is definitely one of the best songs they've written so far on the basis of tonight's performance. Let's hope it translates on to the album. Sam's Town as well was amazing with it being a lot closer to the Abbey Road version than the one on the album.

It was my first time seeing the Killers and I'd heard a lot about Brandon's voice being weak in concert but I didn't find that in the slightest. His voice was very strong and really shone. He's a great frontman and the Academy stage was clearly too small for him. He'll have no problem working the crowd at Marlay Park tonight. The sound helped and really added to the gig. The crowd was good, especially during the big crowd pleasers, All These Things That I've Done, Mr. Brightside etc.

I'd be interested to hear how people got their tickets (I got incredibly lucky on Ticketmaster) because it certainly wasn't an easy ticket. Based on tonight I would say the band are still trying to find their true audience as it was a real mix tonight. The front row was almost exclusively young girls (certainly on my side) with the crowd getting more diverse further back (and more energetic. Still don't understand the fascination with watching the gig through a phone in order to get a crap video of it rather than just enjoy the show as it happens but maybe that's just me) . The differences between their first two albums are pretty clear and it'll be interesting to see what direction the next album goes in. It'll be tough for them to top this gig at Marlay Park later on tonight. It was most definitely a stadium sized show in a small venue and the songs were clearly built for big audiences. It was a pleasure to see them so up close and personal.

Here's a performance of Spaceman from America not so long ago. Trust me that live, this song goes to a whole different level. They've really got it nailed now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just back from Killers in Marlay Park-omg absolutely brilliant-Brandon Flowers can really sing, and he's very lively on stage. Crowd sang along word perfect to nearly every song-must be a great feeling for the band...

Anonymous said...

I was at the show at Marlay Park as well. Totally amazing! The energy from the crowd was nuts. The Killers more than exceeded my expectations. My faves by far! Would've loved to have seen their show the night before.

Anonymous said...

I was at the Marlay Park show as well. It was amazing! The energy from the crowd was nuts, I'm really bummed I didn't get to go to the show the night before. Then again, I was at Metallica the night before at the same venue. It was like night and day, the difference in the crowds. There were also a significantly higher number of people at The Killers. Their show left me well impressed, can't wait to see them again!

Anonymous said...

Iwas at this concert aswee, this was my third time to see the killers live and marley pak was definetly their best perfomance by far, even though i am a huge fan of the band and enjoyed the other two shows also. They seemed so much more energetic this time, and Brandon was much more interactive with the crowd. They seemed to really enjoy it.