The Killers kill it at Thunder Dome
Elaborate stage show, new and old hits and a fabulous Brandon Flowers made for a terrific concert
Despite the absolute chaos of acquiring wristbands to enter Thunder Dome’s concert hall (VIJI Corp, please figure this out), Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers made up for it 10 times over with possibly one of the best rock concert experiences in Thailand this year.
Fourteen years since their megahit debut album Hot Fuss, Thai fans have long been waiting for The Killers to bring their notoriously extravagant concerts to the Kingdom, only to have their dreams crushed when they went on a five year hiatus back in 2012. Breaking their silence in 2017 with their expansive comeback album Wonderful Wonderful, the band, more refined than ever, have been touring the world — astounding fans with their energy-packed and pyrotechnic-heavy shows.
The atmosphere in the almost-sold-out hall was buzzing with anticipation. Fluttering above the stage was their conch shell album art, and centre stage was frontman Brandon Flowers’ signature keyboard teasing impatient fans, decked out as a lit-up male gender symbol. The audience was chatting animatedly, fans clapping their hands and stomping their feet in unison to call the band out.
When The Killers did arrive on stage, the crowd first went nuts, then became suddenly blindsided as the band dove straight into their most iconic track Mr. Brightside with the house lights still on. We all later realised the tonguein-cheek pun they were playing, but at the heat of the moment, amid the thundering singing of the crowd and the energetic jumping, a few fans couldn’t help but yell about the lighting situation.
The house lights eventually shut off on their second song Spaceman, with the audience letting out a roar of appreciation. Frontman Brandon Flowers, wearing a luminous tiger patterned suit jacket, had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He was all smiles — striking poses as he sung dramatically and letting audiences sing along with him, or take over for him in their most famous songs like Somebody Told Me, Shot At The Night and Run For Cover. His spirit and enthusiasm was infectious — reverberating through the crowd throughout the whole night.
Drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr — the only other original band member on this tour, was a vivacious force behind the kit. His strength was realised when both Flowers and Vannucci invited an excited fan named Charlie up on stage to take Vannucci’s place in For Reasons Unknown. The crowd cheered on as Charlie banged on the right beats and tunes, but never with the same amount of energy that Vannucci gave out. Props to Charlie though for not missing a beat.
Accompanying each song and adding even more awe and wonder to the night was the famous Killers stage show. Lasers shot out from the stage, lights were flickering and dancing to the beat of the songs, and whilst performing their 80s-inspired dance track The Man, audiences were showered with pink confetti — the first of two blasts of confetti rain.
After playing all their hit songs from all five studio albums like Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine to Human, there seemed to be only one more song left to play — and the audience knew what it was. Pressing down on a single monotone synth note, Flowers walked on stage, passing the mic a few times with a devilish smile just to toy with the anticipating crowd. He did this for about three full minutes (I know, as I was trying to film the iconic intro), and finally, audiences were rewarded handsomely with their treasure of a rock anthem All These Things That I’ve Done. As the synth intro started, Thunder Dome exploded with raw energy as the audience sang and screamed every word like their life depended on it. “I got soul/ But I’m not a soldier” was all that echoed in the stadium for a while, and as the song reached its climax, boom, another confetti cannon which coloured the hall red, white and blue. The song finished, the band left, for the obligatory encore chant — even though we weren’t sure what songs were left to sing. Flowers came back on wearing an even more bedazzling suit jacket, whilst Vannucci was sweaty and topless — wearing only a pair of blue boxing pants. They hit it off with their 2013 song Just Another Girl to heat the stadium up again, and then the iconic guitar riff of When You Were Young started playing, sending Thunder Dome into another explosion of joy. The chorus was on fire — literally. Stage fireworks shot down from above as Flowers, Vannucci and the rest of the accompanying band gave it their all. By the end, everyone was sweaty, exhausted, and content. Vannucci tried to say a couple of words into the microphone, but it was already cut off. I guess we’ll find out the next time they come to Bangkok.
Frontman Brandon Flowers’s spirit and enthusiasm was infectious — reverberating through the crowd throughout the whole night