Live Review: The Killers

Imploding The Mirage Tour 2022. 6 December 2022 at the RAC Arena, Perth

Review by Sheldon Ang

Photography: Chris Phelps @chrisphelps

A cannon of confetti is fired into the air in a sea of glittering origami, as the singer is doused in a dreamy concoction of emotion under the paper rain. Draped in a black shirt and jeans, he screams in relief following years of punctuation, opening the floodgate of hysteria from the army of fifteen thousand. He then punches into the sky with an imperious conviction before the beaming screen, carving a silhouette of an iconic extravagance of an Elvis-esque statuesque.

Perth, we’ve waited this for a long time, why don’t we take a minute to appreciate this moment. Listen, the pandemic may have kept us apart but tonight something stronger than Covid has brought us together…

Imploding the Mirage Tour 2022 is perhaps several years late, since their latest album Pressure Machine was released earlier this year. But do we care?

An extended, heavenly intro synth of My Own Soul’s Warning sparked the night with a divine air of surrealism. The on-screen display was spectacular through the Michelangelo-inspired Imploding the Mirage album cover – Dance of the Wind and Storm by American artist Thomas Blackshear. After a dreamy ride, the vocals of Brendon Flowers sipped into the equanimous vibe, “I’ve tried going against my own soul’s warning, But in the end something just didn’t fell eight…Oh, I tried diving even though the sky was storming, I just wanted to get back to where you are”…and like after a foreplay between two souls, first base exploded into a musical sensation with the pounding of keys, guitars and drums, followed by a premature shot of confetti…showering thousands of eager fans.

Enterlude was next, where Flower snug at the front corner playing the organ, which seems to presage the second coming in When You Were Young from the album Sam’s Town, again lighting up the entire arena as the entire crowd sang to every lyric. And just like that, The Killers imploded itself into an orgasmic vocation of Rock N Roll.

…I ain’t talking about no vaccine, I ain’t talking about no Zoom meeting…I’m talking about a little thing called Rock N Roll…brothers and sisters, can I get an Amen…can I get an A-men….

What transpired next is left to the readers imagination.

That was one of the few chit chats of the entire night, a teaser before performing Jenny Was A Friend of Mine. Written in E Flat Minor, the track was clearly made for live music with the powerful drums and snares and the all snaking basslines that weaved through the playing fields of rock n roll.

The night progressed at a speedy pace, with the first consecutive sets of mega commercial hits that propagated the world’s airways struck in Human, which was supported by a congruous on-screen display of one hundred tiny dancers, each encapsulated in a frame arranged in twenty per row in five rows – all tiled onto the screen. Like a hypnotic display, all eyes were drawn to the dancers. “Are we Humans, Are We Dancers”.

By now, the crowd demeanour was rave-like as evident through the reverberation of over fifteen thousand pairs of feet.   

How are we doing so far, are we alright? For those who do not know, it brings me great pleasure to introduce us as The Killers, and we are brought to you by the way of the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada…

And with the iconic Las Vegas landmark displayed on the screen, Somebody Told Me came in as the other hit, uprooting a massive uproar of karaoke festivities as everyone joined the biggest sing along, with the excitement propelled across the arena…

Lead vocalist Brendon Flowers is an on-stage phenomenon, drawing the crowd into sing along’s and rising to the occasion. He grinned from cheek to cheek with every song, perpetuating a genuine smile throughout. The musicianship between The Killers were watertight, and it was not just about Flower; the guitar solo from Dave Keuning and plummeting drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr made the moment as entertaining for anyone else. The drummer sat on a high stool and a hitched-up snare stand, utilising the jazz technique. He played with his trademark enthusiasm, vigour and a majestic style playing. He is the conductor of the orchestra, not just technically, but also the onstage aura oozed from the drums.

As collective unit, the band from Las Vegas brought over twenty years of desert extravagance to Perth. There were three sets of confetti bursts. The RAC Arena was bombarded by lightning bolts throughout like a tropical storm in Malacca, also engraved by a spate of zoom-zoom laser neon, zipping across the floor in a sea of hands looking like a seabed of weeds in a stormy night.

Look at this…Look at this…how many of us are there tonight.

The RAC Arena holds up to fifteen thousand, and the view was packed to the rafters.

The night ended with Spaceman before imageries of celestial allegories, followed by Run for Cover and of course the seminal, career defined Mr Brightside from their 2004 debut album Hot Fuss. It’s the song that has reached over one and a half billion streams on Spotify – not bad considering the track was written almost 20 years ago, considering most of the biggest streaming hits are tracks in the last 10 years.

For the curious who may only be familiar with a handful of single releases, there’s no doubt they will invest their time in reinvigorating themselves into something called rock and roll under the reign of The Killers.

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The writer would like to thank Frontier Touring for the media tickets. Check out their site and follow them for upcoming shows!

The Killers will be in Victoria and New South Wales in the coming days. Click here for info and tickets

About the Writer: Sheldon Ang is the founder, photographer and writer of SAM, having covered some of the hottest acts in Perth since launching in May of 2022.