REVIEW: THE KILLERS AT MOODY CENTER IN AUSTIN
Cover Photo: Rob Loud
It had been two full length albums and a new single since the last time The Killers were in Austin, Texas for ACL Festival. This time around, the brand-new Moody Center was filled with fans eager to hear all the new material.
“She’s seen some gigs, but she ain’t seen The Killers yet,” said vocalist Brandon Flowers of the new arena. Brandon Flowers and The Killers made sure to deliver on that statement.
Hometown boys Me Nd Adam kicked off the evening with an interesting flavor of country/pop/hip-hop, before the legendary Johnny Marr took the stage. There could not have been a more perfect opener for the Killers than Johnny Marr, and everyone in the room seemed to agree. Marr delivered a great mix of original material and even some songs from his early days with The Smiths.
Then came The Killers. From the moment the lights dropped and the opening track rolled, the whole arena knew we were in for a treat. The crowd erupted as the band came on stage, and somehow got even louder when vocalist Brandon Flowers sang the intro to “My Own Souls Warning”. Soon after, the confetti popped and the band rolled through the opening track off the 2020 release, Imploding the Mirage. The band kept the energy up and followed up with “When You Were Young” and “Jenny Was A Friend of Mine” right after.
Throughout the rest of the two hour performance, The Killers took us through the rest of their catalog, playing all the hits, a few deep cuts, and even played the recently released single ,“Boy”.
From time to time, The Killers are known for bringing up fans to play drums on the track “For Reasons Unknown”. As this show went on, it seemed that they were going to skip part of the night, until Brandon Flowers noticed a fan with a shirt that read “Killer Drummer”. Flowers brought up the fan to the stage, who made sure to be introduced as “Bryan, B-R-Y-A-N,” and he nailed the song as if he'd been practicing for weeks.
The band then closed the set with “All These Things That I’ve Done”, before returning to an epic encore featuring “Spaceman”, and then brought back Johnny Marr to cover the Smith’s “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby”. They then of course ended with the song we all knew was coming , “Mr Brightside”.
It’s not often that a band puts on a flawless performance, covering all the hits, new tracks, and even bringing a fan to play as if he was in the band himself. The Killers did just that, and proved that despite being around for years and years, they are still at the top of their game.