Going to The Killers in Dublin? We were at night one — here’s what to expect

We’re all here for the song tonight. You know what song that is, The Killers know what that song is — the question is, can they keep everyone entertained until they get there?

Wednesday is the opening night of the Las Vegas band’s Rebel Diamonds tour, which comes following the release of a compilation album last year of their greatest hits to date. Unsurprisingly, cuts from their first three albums got the strongest showing on that record, and it is the same tonight.

Opening with ‘Read My Mind’ from Sam’s Town, frontman Brandon Flowers appears on a diamond-shaped stage in a glittering three-piece suit to images of a rolling Las Vegas desert on the screen behind him.

There’s a steady chorus from the fans at the front, but it isn’t until they crack into Hot Fuss’ ‘Somebody Told Me’ the rest of us wake up.

That album celebrates its 20-year anniversary this year, and two decades on, it’s clear the impact it continues to have. 

The audience tonight is truly cross-generational — there are families with young kids, teenage couples, husbands and wives, groups of friends that span decades. And everyone seems to know the words to ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’, ‘Mr Brightside,’ ‘Smile Like You Mean It’, ‘Somebody Told Me,’ and ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’, all of which are on the setlist for the first of three sold-out gigs at Dublin’s 3Arena.

By way of introduction to the crowd a few songs in, Flowers asks: “How’s everything going tonight? You finding everything you need?” 

“We are The Killers and we are in the service industry. Now I believe you people wanted a good time tonight… it just so happens to be our specialty.” 

Indeed, this is a band that knows what the audience wants and has no egotistical qualms about giving it to them. On one hand, that’s a great thing, but there is a sense that they’re just going through the motions of playing the hits people want to hear. In a recent interview, drummer Ronnie Vannucci himself compared playing ‘Mr Brightside’ to playing ‘Happy Birthday’ (though Flowers claimed he never gets bored of it).

But — there are moments when we can truly appreciate what made the Nevada rock band so special in those early years. On ‘A Dustland Fairytale,’ the iconic voice of Flowers is given scope to really shine. And, Dave Keuning, the original lead guitarist, is back on stage tonight. He had been on a touring hiatus from the band since 2017 (the original four-piece haven’t played together since bassist Mark Stoermer left in 2016), and the love for him in the room on Wednesday night was palpable. 

Flowers, for his part, provides all the energy on the stage, sweat gleaming on his forehead throughout as he dips behind the drum kit between songs to grab a towel. Never without a grin, he jumps atop speakers, waving arms in the air, trying to pump up the crowd as we run through a 22 song setlist.

When the encore comes, you can feel the itch to get to the moment everyone’s been waiting for. ‘Human’ comes first, and it could close out any stadium show in its own right. But, of course, that honour has to go to ‘Mr Brightside’. 

We are rewarded for our patience with an extended version, with Flowers throwing the mic to us to sing every word at the top of our lungs. 

In that same Guardian interview, where Vannucci compared playing the song to ‘Happy Birthday’, Flowers said: “I really don’t get bored of it. I’m able to feed off of the excitement of somebody who’s there, hearing it for the first time. I still get a thrill.” Seeing the grin on his face, he’s either telling the truth or a great showman. I suspect it’s both.