The Killers Mix Sublime, Ridiculous With a Touch of Camp in New York

There was a symphony playing as the Killers took the stage at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom Friday night, and the set design was Miami hotel chic: white tiger backdrop, light-up palm trees and orchids laced into amplifiers. This, of course, is the Killers in shorthand, a winning mix of kitsch and grandiosity. Friday's concert served dual purposes, to run briskly through the group's catalog and to offer a preview of songs from their forthcoming Day & Age. At both ends, they succeeded.

The Killers have evolved into a spectacular live band, and songs like the zooming "For Reasons Unknown" had a toughness and intensity absent from their recorded counterparts. Brandon Flowers is a weird, wired frontman, jerking his way across the stage like an electrocuted chicken. The new songs seemed a bit more tenuous. "Spaceman" and "Neon Tiger" were bright and vibrant, built on big choruses and tough grooves. But other numbers, like "Losing Touch," felt strangely shapeless, needing more to ground it than just neon synths and glam guitars. The group was at their best when the leaned hard into the big hits. Show opener "When You Were Young" hurtled breathlessly forward and "Somebody Told Me" was a big burst of white heat.

What makes the Killers so charming — and, ultimately, so successful — is that they think they're a more important band than they are. Their reach is always exceeding their grasp, and their bids for the Big Emotional Moment are both unabashedly naked and irresistibly ham-handed. They're like a new wave Billy Joel. "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier," Flowers proudly bellowed at the end of the night. On paper, the sentiment is preposterous. But played at several hundred decibels, with thousands of voices singing it back, it seemed as rich and profound as Stendahl. Or, at the very least, "New York State of Mind."

Set List:
"When You Were Young"
"For Reasons Unknown"
"Smile Like You Mean It"
"Jennie Was a Friend of Mine"
"Somebody Told Me"
"Losing Touch"
"Spaceman"
"Sam's Town"
"Read My Mind"
"Sweet Talk"
"Bones"
"Joy Ride"
"Change Your Mind"
"Mr. Brightside"

Encore:
"Human"
"Neon Tiger"
"Shadowplay"
"All These Things That I've Done"

Related Stories:
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• The Killers Premiere "Human" Video
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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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