Watch The Killers play ‘Hot Fuss’ in full and debut ‘Bright Lights’ as they kick off Las Vegas residency
The Killers played ‘Hot Fuss’ in full and gave their new single ‘Bright Lights’ its live debut during the first show of their Las Vegas residency last night (August 14). See footage, official images and the full setlist below.
The band are performing their classic 2004 debut album in its entirety over 10 nights at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace to mark its 20th anniversary.
Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Ronnie Vannucci Jr. and Mark Stoermer ran through the 12-song ‘Hot Fuss’ tracklist, including live staples ‘Mr. Brightside’, ‘Somebody Told Me’ and ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’.
They also played the atmospheric ‘Everything Will Be Alright’ for the first time since 2005, after giving rarity ‘Believe Me Natalie’ its first airing in six years. ‘Change Your Mind’ – which replaces ‘Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll’ on the US version of ‘Hot Fuss’ – returned to the setlist too following a five-year break.
“As you know, a lot of people come to Vegas to gamble,” Flowers said when introducing ‘Mr. Brightside’. “And I’m no exception. I came here from a quiet town in Utah when I was just 16 years old. I had big dreams working as a busboy right here in Caesars Palace.”
He continued: “And I bet my life on three men who I hardly knew. Some people come to Vegas and lose everything – that’s just the way it goes. But let tonight serve as a reminder: sometimes it goes the other way too.”
Las Vegas! Are you not entertained? pic.twitter.com/XkhFJkWGue
— The Killers (@thekillers) August 15, 2024
Later, Flowers reflected on writing the lyrics to ‘Glamourous Indie Rock & Roll’ when he was “a young man”.
“In the early days in Vegas, we were outsiders,” he added. “Somewhere in that desert between our longing to be accepted and the musical snobbery we were experiencing, I reached down and I wrote a sneery, satirical song. But not everybody got it.
“Some people heard a joyful song celebrating the spirit of indie rock and roll. And it’s taken me 20 years to realise, they were right. So let’s not argue over semantics – let’s celebrate.”
After wrapping up the ‘Hot Fuss’ section of the concert, The Killers returned to the stage for an eight-song encore of cuts from across their wider discography. This included ‘The Man’, ‘Human’, ‘Runaways’ and ‘Read My Mind’.
The penultimate track came in the form of the group’s euphoric new single, ‘Bright Lights. The Killers then closed out the evening with an airing of ‘When You Were Young’ from 2006’s ‘Sam’s Town’.
Check out a selection of official photos and fan-shot videos, and see the full setlist from Las Vegas below.
The Killers’ Las Vegas setlist was:
‘Hot Fuss’
‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine’
‘Mr. Brightside’
‘Smile Like You Mean It’
‘Somebody Told Me’
‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ (with a snippet of Elvis Presley’s ‘Burning Love’)
‘Andy, You’re a Star’
‘On Top’
‘Change Your Mind’ (First performance since 2019)
‘Believe Me Natalie’ (First performance since 2018)
‘Midnight Show’ (with ‘Luck Be A Lady’ cover intro)
‘Everything Will Be Alright’ (First performance since 2005)
‘Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll’
Encore:
‘The Man’
‘Human’
‘This Is Your Life’
‘Caution’
‘Runaways’
‘Read My Mind’
‘Bright Lights’ (Live debut)
‘When You Were Young’
The Killers had previewed their glitzy new Vegas stage set up in the official ‘Bright Lights’ music video and promo teasers.
The single arrived almost a year after The Killers’ previous track, ‘Your Side Of Town’, and reunited all four original members of the band. In 2021, The Killers told NME that they may all regroup on their next record for the first time since 2017’s ‘Wonderful Wonderful’.
Last summer, however, Flowers revealed that he had scrapped a new Killers album.
In December 2023, Flowers told NME: “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.”
This summer, the band embarked on their UK and Ireland ‘Rebel Diamonds’ greatest hits tour – including a six-night residency at The O2 in London. They also made headlines during the latter after pausing the show to watch England’s semi-final victory at the Euros.
Talking with NME about the moment in July, Flowers said: “It happened to be going on while we were playing a gig, so we just wanted to do something special for the fans, and it ended up being something that timed out really well. You can’t really make anything happen like that. It was a lot of luck.”
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Tom Skinner
NME
