Sure, we’ve had a few international acts play in the Hunter this year, but nothing signalled a return to form more than The Killers playing to thousands of people at Hope Estate on Saturday night
The Killers are a proper big-ticket act. And when you think of big acts that can actually play spaces like Hope, the list seems to be getting shorter and shorter each year.
And we’re not just talking about acts that play in stadiums or big outdoor spaces either, we’re talking about superstars that have the ability to make the people in the back row feel like they’re as much a part of the show as the people right down the front. And that’s what The Killers do.
They put on massive shows that possess thousands upon thousands of people to lift their arms up in the air and forget about the world for a few hours while they’re swept away in emotion and escapism.
And their show at Hope Estate on Saturday night was a masterclass complete with amazing visuals, pyrotechnics and a sound bigger than we’ve ever heard at an outdoor gig in the Hunter Valley.
Kicking off with My Own Soul’s Warning, the opening track from their 2021 release Imploding The Mirage, the band are tight, they sound big and they’re playing like it’s the last night of their lives.
Then it’s the welcoming Enterlude and straight into one of the band’s biggest hits, the decade-defining When You Were Young.
Its inclusion so early in the set immediately lifts the crowd to another level, a level they rarely back down from all night, and it’s an indication of the confidence the band has in their ability to play a show of this magnitude.
What follows is nothing short of Las Vegas grandeur in the Hunter Valley complete with multiple confetti canons and big stage performances.
Highlights of the set include Smile Like You Mean It, Human, Somebody Told Me, an abridged cover of the Icehouse classic Electric Blue, Dying Breed and set closer All These Things That I’ve Done.
Brandon Flowers‘ voice is flawless and huge, and he’s commanding the stage like an evangelical preacher.
The guitars are colossal and the synths are lush, but the surprising standout is the drumming of Ronnie Vannucci Jr.
On the studio recordings Ronnie is serving the song, just like he should, but live he’s taking things to a new level and it’s hard to take your eyes, or ears, off him.
The band return to the stage for an encore that kicks off with The Man, a track with more than a nod to the disco era from their fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful. Michelangelo’s David towers over the band on the massive screen at the back of the stage – so high-def you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a physical prop – and people are moving to the song like they’re one entity. They know the end is near and they’re making the most of it.
And then it’s into the closer – Mr Brightside. Everyone knows the words and you can hardly hear Brandon over the top of people belting it out whilst jumping on shoulders and hugging the people around them.
We always knew it would be the closing number, but when it comes it doesn’t make it any less exciting or memorable.
For everyone who was there, it will be one of those gigs they won’t forget in a long time and for everyone else, it will serve as a notice that big gigs are back and not to miss The Killers when they return.
