Killers sorry for international incident
THE KILLERS have unwittingly found themselves apologizing for an ill-fated drum solo. The Vegas-born rockers were headlining a show Tuesday night at Black Sea Arena in Batumi, Georgia, when frontman Brandon Flowers brought up a fan to play Ronnie Vannucci’s drum set. It is common at Killers shows for the band to invite fans to the stage.
But the fan was from Russia, which invaded Georgia in 2008. About 20 percent of Georgia’s recognized territory remains under Russian military occupation.
In the latter segment of Tuesday’s show, introducing “For Reasons Unknown,” Flowers reportedly said, “We don’t know the etiquette of this land, but this guy’s a Russian. You OK with a Russian coming up here?” Some in the crowd booed and walked out.
Flowers addressed the discomfort after the song.
“You can’t recognize if someone’s your brother? He’s not your brother?” he called out. “We all separate on the borders of our countries? … Am I not your brother, being from America?” He added: “We’re here together.”
“I don’t want it to turn ugly,” the 42-year-old rocker said. “And I see you as my brothers and my sisters.
The band later posted on social media, “Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone! We have a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play drums and it seemed from the stage that the initial response from the crowd indicated that they were okay with tonight’s audience participation member.”
Since the onset of Russia’s war on Ukraine in 2022, an influx of Russians have moved into Georgia. There have been reports of backlash against Russians, including harassment
KATS! of that country’s cruise ships.
The protesters were reportedly a small but vocal group. The show continued, unabated, through its encore, “When You Were Young.”
A rep for The Killers declined further comment. There might be more from the band regarding the incident, a rare piece of negative news coming from the group that broke in Vegas some 20 years ago.
Spears, Asghari split
Sam
Britney Spears and Asghari’s trip to Vegas last month might have been their last as a couple.
Spears and Asghari are reportedly heading for divorce, according reports originating with TMZ. The couple have separated after a spat centering on “allegations of cheating” by Spears.
An unnamed source says Asghari has moved out of their L.A. estate to live on his own.
They were married on June 9, 2022, at Spears’ estate.
The couple were in Las Vegas the first week of July, staying at Resorts World Las Vegas’ Palace Suite, reportedly Spears’ favorite guest suite. Infamously, she was involved in an incident with Spurs star rookie Victor Wembanyama, rushing from behind the 7-foot-3½ inch No. 1 draft pick to get his attention.
A Metro police investigation determined that a security officer pushed Spears’ hand into her own face.
An independent source close to the couple said that the cheating allegations surfaced after that trip but were unrelated.
Spears remains one of the top-grossing superstars ever on the Strip. When her “Piece of Me” show closed at Axis Theater (today’s Bakkt Theater) at Planet Hollywood Resort on New Year’s Eve 2017, she was No. 4 on the all-time list of resident productions in Las Vegas with a gross of $137.7 million, 916,184 tickets sold over 248 shows.
That put her between Elton John’s “Red Piano” at No. 3 and John’s “Million Dollar Piano” at No. 5. Celine Dion topped the list with “A New
Day …” and was No. 2 with “Celine,” both at the Colosseum. Spears’ next announced production, “Domination” was to debut in February 2019 at Park MGM. But the series was cut short because of what reps explained was a serious illness to her father, Jamie Spears.
Golden moment
The lovefest continues for the Golden Knights family.
Nic Hague of the Stanley
Cup champs got engaged to his girlfriend, Ally Bruder , on the roof of Circa’s Legacy Club on Monday.
The couple sipped champagne and enjoyed dinner at Barry’s Downtown Prime, prepared by chef/owner Barry Dakake. Steak and lobster was the entree of choice.
The 24-year-old defenseman was drafted 34th overall by the Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL entry draft. He made his NHL debut in 2020.
A post on Bruder’s Instagram page says that they have been a couple for four years. They now share an IG page. Bruder posted under photos of the couple toasting, and Hague on his knee popping the question, “The easiest thing to do is love you.”
Cool Hang Alert
Life is Le Cabaret for fine Vegas vocalist Angelina Alexon, playing the lounge of that name at Paris Las Vegas from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday. She can hit the “whistle” note, proven in her cover of Mariah Carey’s “Emotions.” Alexon’s latest single, “Bada Boom,” is out now. No cover to catch her at Paris.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section.
His “Podkats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal. com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal. com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @Johnnykats1 on Instagram.