Ethan Shanfeld Very few modern bands have a “Mr. Brightside.” Even fewer are able to whip it out in the first five minutes of a show and continue to entertain an arena for another 90 minutes.
And even fewer are those who can hold their own in a three-song duet with Bruce Springsteen as he beams with excitement announcing their name to the crowd: “THE KILLERS!” “Everybody knows God made Saturday nights for rock ‘n’ roll,” frontman Brandon Flowers declared toward the beginning of the band’s set, the second of two consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden.
And the Killers delivered on that, taking New York City on a tour of its greatest songs from “Hot Fuss” to “Pressure Machine.” The crowd screamed along to “Somebody Told Me” and “When You Were Young,” swayed back and forth to the disco-tinged “Shot at the Night” and “Human,” and pumped their fists at the Springsteen-esque “Runaways” and “The Way It Was,” which sound like outtakes from the “Born to Run” era.
While it was clear large swaths of the audience were not familiar with the Las Vegas band’s vastly underrated 2020 outing “Imploding the Mirage,” the Killers made a case for why they should be, opening the show with the explosive “My Own Soul’s Warning” and devoting much-deserved space to “Fire in Bone,” “Dying Breed” and “Caution.” Midway through the set, the band went acoustic for “Runaway Horses,” with Flowers declaring that over the pandemic, the Killers had become a country band.
Read more on variety.com