Credit: Found On Internet

The Electric Ballroom, Camden
18th September 2006

The Killers rolled into Camden town for just one late summer date to drum up business for their new album Sam’s Town – out on 2 October.

From out of the red and black cavernous gloom of the Electric Ballroom, they conjured a high-octane Las Vegan light show with their latest musical tricks and potions.

It has been ages since I’ve been to a gig where there has been so much fervent anticipation amongst a crowd thronged with industry movers, city boys and glamorous indie rock n rollers. You could actually see the glint and gleam in their wide eyes.

The bewildering success of The Killers since their 2004 debut Hot Fuss owes much to the flowering of frontman Brandon Flowers. (Forget the lead-singer envy of guitarist and co-founder Dave Keuning, who insists on sticking his tongue out and wielding his axe – a lot).

Ditching the lashings of black eyeliner for sparkly white tuxedo, western neck-tie and moustache, Flowers has come out from behind his keyboards and become quite the American showman.

Centre stage, Flowers reels in his followers with come-hither hands, earnest facial expressions and occasional fist-pumping. It’s all a far cry from his off-stage image as a devout Mormon, who’s not fond of drinking or excess.

Yes, The Killers are in town to spread the word. They are slick, professional, they eat the hype surrounding the second-album syndrome for breakfast - and their set is structured to near perfection.

Straight off the bat, the band open with a new track, a rush of euphoric pop-rock with thumping drums, synth overlays and crunching guitars – so loud it makes your chest ache.

From there it is an easy leap into the now familiar new single, When We Were Young, to crowd-pleasers Somebody Told Me and Smile Like You Mean It.

The band premiere a trio of tracks, including Bones – the second single expected to be taken from Sam’s Town – which Flowers introduces with a drawl: “Don’t you wanna feel my bones on your bones – it’s only natural?”

The new material is much weightier than the electro-pop that sparked Hot Fuss. Borrowing from Born To Run era Bruce Springsteen, but without the masterful subtlety, it relies on driving guitar riffs, pulsating drums and landscape lyrics with The Killers trademark snatches of searing synth.