THE KILLERS // ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOWGROUNDS, EDINBURGH
FOLLOWING THEIR HEADLINE SETS AT READING & LEEDS AT THE WEEKEND… THE KILLERS RETURN FOR ONE-OFF SOLD OUT SOLD AT EDINBURGH’S ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOWGROUNDS.
★★★★★ (5/5)
THE KILLERS LIVE AT EDINBURGH’S ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOWGROUNDS
PHOTOCREDIT: CHRIS PHELPS
Despite being to many venues over the years and having either lived or worked in Edinburgh several times over the years before this gig I’d never seen a band play at this venue. This experience was therefore all new to me. I had been lucky enough to see The Killers live before so knew how good they could be but I had no idea about the venue, the acoustics, how to get there etc.
Firstly it’s really easy to get to Ingliston from Edinburgh, just jump on a tram to the park and ride, join the queue for the shuttle buses and you get taken right to the entrance and then get through the very efficient security checks. I had to pick up tickets at the box office which was also quick and efficient. I was lucky enough to be in the VIP section which I can highly recommend, great views, not so much queuing and space to watch the gig.
Getting home was not quite as easy just due to the large numbers involved but it still ran efficiently, one minor complaint, easily rectified, was there were no lights in the West car park, my friend spent some time after searching for his car to leave, one to perhaps fix for the future?
The support act for the night could easily headline in his own right, as one of the most important, if not the most important, members of the Smiths whose fantastic back catalogue he co-wrote Johnny Marr has also been a band member of both Electronic and the Pretenders as well as playing with countless other great bands.
I saw Johnny support Blondie in the last few years so knew how good he is live and what he’s capable of, he didn’t disappoint, mixing his own solo material with some Smiths classics and never being less than excellent, he was the perfect warm up act for the Killers. By the time he was finished the crowd was well and truly buzzing, what else could they be when he finished with a selection of Smiths classics?
THE KILLERS LIVE AT EDINBURGH’S ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOWGROUNDS
PHOTOCREDIT: CHRIS PHELPS
So to the main act, the Killers have always been an electrifying live act with Brandon Flower’s voice being their most potent weapon, so when so much is expected of you how do you blow the crowd away from the start? Well firstly walk on to the genius that was Big Country in their prime, always a surefire winner with a Scottish crowd then, secondly, open the show with what’s without a doubt your biggest and best known song, Mr Brightside, it blew the crowd away and got everyone up for it right from the off. This is a song that in the past has often been the finale of the encore so to walk out and start the gig with it took a lot of guts and showed a supreme confidence in their own stagecraft.
It wasn’t misplaced confidence, as Brandon Flowers kept reminding us we were there to hear some good old fashioned rock and roll courtesy of Las Vegas, Nevada. When you have a back catalogue like the Killers do you have more than enough songs to play but to then throw in perineal crowd pleaser and sing along classic The Whole of the Moon as your first, but not last, cover of the night showed just how much this band believes in themselves.
If there was anyone be this stage who wasn’t signing and dancing their hearts out they had clearly come to the wrong gig. The crowd were responding to Brandon’s every request, clapping, swaying their arms, taking over singing duties as and when required. The evening was turning into one massive party.
So how to keep the party going? Well deliver more of the same, big anthemic sing along songs which are the Killers bread and butter, there will have been a few hoarse people wandering home after this gig.
Finishing the main set with All These Things That I’ve Done was a great choice, it keeps the crowd singing and up for it while they waited for the encore and what an encore, starting off with one of the more recent hits The Man, bringing Johnny Marr out for the classic This Charming Man and finishing of an hour and forty minutes of adrenaline filled rock and roll with When You Were Young (with Johnny Marr still joining in), the Killers promised at the start of the gig to deliver rock and roll and they really didn’t disappoint. They are an excellent live act and well worth seeing if they come near you in the future.
All in all a great gig at a great venue, are we Human or are we Dancers? For this night only the crowd were very much in the latter category with lots of singing thrown in!