Here’s what The Killers played as they kicked off 2024 ‘Rebel Diamonds’ greatest hits UK and Ireland tour in Dublin
The Killers have kicked off their 2024 ‘Rebel Diamonds’ greatest hits tour with an opening night in Dublin. Check out the setlist from the night and fan footage below.
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The gig took place in Dublin last night (June 12), as the opening night for the run of dates that the band will be holding across the UK and Ireland throughout the summer. It took place at the 3Arena and saw Brandon Flowers and co. break out a huge 22-song setlist, which included fan favourites from across their catalogue.
It also saw founding member Dave Keuning back in the line-up, following him leaving in 2017 to spend more time with his family. He confirmed that he wouldn’t be joining the band to tour their fifth studio album, ‘Wonderful Wonderful’, seven years ago, but remained a member of the group.
While he did not contribute to their follow-up LP ‘Imploding The Mirage’, he did join them in the studio back in 2021 for their seventh album ‘Pressure Machine’. He also used his time away from the touring line-up to release solo music. These shows mark some of his first back on the road with The Killers.
To kick off last night’s gig, the band opened with a rendition of their 2006 track ‘Read My Mind’, followed by fan favourite ‘Somebody Told Me’, ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’.
From there, they broke out performances of ‘Shot At The Night’, ‘Running Towards A Place’, ‘Be Still’ and more, before also performing a different arrangement of ‘Dying Breed’ as the last track before the encore.
“Before the magazine covers and the festival slots, before we ever set foot on a transatlantic jet, we were a band. We were full of piss and vinegar and, don’t tell anybody I told you this, we were also full of ambition,” Flowers told the crowd before launching into the reimagined track.
“A lot of people thought we were just full of shit, but there has been one sound so loud that drowned out all the critics and the haters. It wasn’t Dave’s guitar or Ronnie’s drums, and it wasn’t my voice. It was you. We come to town and you show up and we pick up right where we left off. Just like old friends. And you can’t make new old friends. So tonight this next song is our song. It’s about making a promise and keeping it. It’s about showing up.”
From there, the band returned to the stage for a five-song encore, which included ‘boy’, ‘Human’ and ‘Mr Brightside’. It also featured a cover of Erasure’s track ‘A Little Respect’.
The performance also comes just weeks after the ‘Hot Fuss’ hit ‘Mr Brightside’ hit a huge milestone, and overtook Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ to become the UK’s official biggest single of all time yet to reach Number One.
According to figures from the Official Charts Company, it has UK sales and streams of 5.57million, yet never topped the charts.
Find more footage of the gig below, as well as the full setlist.
The Killers’ Dublin setlist was:
‘Read My Mind’
‘Somebody Told Me’
‘Spaceman’
‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine’
‘Smile Like You Mean It’
‘Shot at the Night’
‘This River Is Wild’
Running Towards a Place’
‘On Top’
‘The Man’
‘A Dustland Fairytale’
‘Be Still’
‘Runaways’
‘All These Things That I’ve Done’
‘When You Were Young’
‘Caution’
‘Dying Breed’
‘Your Side of Town’
‘boy’
‘A Little Respect’ (Erasure cover)
‘Human’
‘Mr Brightside’
Last night’s gig took place shortly after the band announced their last-minute concert in New York, which took place on the same day as the 20th anniversary for their seminal debut album ‘Hot Fuss’.
During the intimate gig, they broke out a performance of ‘Andy, You’re A Star’ for the first time in seven years.
Flowers and Co. have two more shows in Dublin lined up, followed by four stops in Manchester and three in Glasgow. They’ll then wrap up the tour with six nights at The O2 in London. Visit here for last-minute tickets.
NME spoke to Brandon Flowers last year, with the frontman sharing the news of his upcoming solo album. “I’m making a solo record right now! I almost had it wrapped up,” he said. “The goal has always been to get all four original members to take ownership and be proud of what we’re doing, but it’s so difficult with all four of us living in different cities. It’s not impossible. It’s weird to be talking to you about it, but I’d definitely like to do that.”
He also reflected on the legacy of ‘Hot Fuss’ 20 years on, telling us: “[The Killers] were always little different from the other Vegas bands back then because I noticed that there was this competition and rivalry between local bands. I wasn’t thinking about them – I was thinking about The White Stripes, The Strokes, and Oasis. I didn’t allow myself to get to U2 just yet, but I asked myself, ‘What is it that these bands are doing and why are they not still in their hometown?’ That’s what set us apart quite early on.
“We were different, and we were ambitious. Ambition can be seen as an ugly thing to some people but it has served us well. We were able to persevere and it’s kind of unbelievable.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
