The photos in this post are mine. The videos are not. Cross-posted from my blog and elsewhere.On August 3rd, Brandon Flowers came to Boston. Brandon Flowers is the lead singer and songwriter for a popular band called
The Killers, and he's released two solo albums in between his work for that band.
With that out of the way, I can profess how much I love his music. Across both The Killers and his solo material, Brandon energizes and excites my soul in a way no one else in the medium can.
With doors opening at 7, I made sure to get there at 6:30. The line was already quite long, and by 7 it had wrapped around Brookline Ave. The venue (
House of Blues) isn't very big, certainly not like a concert stadium, but that makes the turnout even more impressive to me.
The red represents the entire line as far as I could tell right before they let us in. When they did, I managed to nab a spot just a few yards from the mic on the left side of the floor.
After patiently standing through the strangely dad rock-ish opening band ("Donald?" Is that the band's name or the lead singer...?), there was a 20 minute break before the main event. Some kind of "Under the Sea"-type song started playing as the lights dimmed and the various members took their places on stage. And then...
Brandon Flowers exploded onto the scene in a way that only he could. "Dreams Come True" was an amazing start to his latest album, and an even better start to a concert. The loudness and liveness of the song in person was one of the most energizing experiences I've ever had. I don't think it's possible to dislike or be neutral on this song after you've heard it performed live, it was just that good.
He hopped up right in front of us during the second song, "Can't Deny My Love," and I swear he pointed right at me. When the song finished, the cheers just would not stop. "Wow, sounds like I need to come here more often!" I know it's something he probably says no matter where he plays, but I still flipped my shit. Brandon, you'll always have a place in Boston.
From there, it was onto "Crossfire," "Magdalena," "Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts" - all songs from his debut solo album
Flamingo, and all songs that I can really groove to. I was shouting and fist pumping pretty loud for "Why did you roll your dice? Show your cards? Jilted lovers and broken hearts!"
Next he posed a question for us to answer after the next song finished. "Is he innocent, or guilty?" Brandon twanged. The crowd went wild. We knew what was coming.
He asked the question again. "Innocent?" Silence. "Guilty?" The place erupted. Who needs juries when you have mob rule?
"Lonely Town" and "Diggin' Up the Heart" followed, both two extremely strong entries in his latest album
The Desired Effect. "Lonely Town" is a great 80s ballad (with a creepy undertone if you pay attention), while "Diggin' Up The Heart" is frenetic absurdity in song form. Before the latter, Brandon related how he was brought up that "bad people were just bad people" and how being in the world expanded his horizons beyond that. When writing "Diggin' Up The Heart," he was "aiming for" something like the film
The Place Beyond the Pines but "hit
Raising Arizona instead." And all of that really shines through in the song itself.
Brandon then said he'd let us choose between three different covers - "If Still It Can't Be Found" by Joe Pug, "Simply Irresistible" by Rob Palmer, and "Underdog" by The Spoons. The cheers for all three were roughly even (I voted for "Underdog," because "The Spoons" sounds like a cool band name), but it didn't matter. The band launched straight into "Read My Mind" from The Killers' third album,
Day & Age. This track is in my top three favorites for the band, and it's probably the most meaningful song ever for me personally. I've attached a very cherished sentiment to it.
He went on to "Untangled Love," "Swallow It," and "The Way It's Always Been" which are fine songs, but not "up there" for me. "Untangled Love" wasn't the strongest track off
The Desired Effect, but it was an amazing song to rock out to in person. Very dancey and catchy. The other two were a bit too slow for me.
The main setlist finished with "Human" which is probably the danciest and most well-known single from
Day & Age.
Flowers then kind of gave a half-hearted "see ya" gesture and ran off stage, with the rest of the performers following. Knowing we were due for an encore, all of us in the audience just kept cheering. We were rewarded about 50 seconds later when the stage crew brought a synth piano and another mic on-stage. Flowers and the rest returned, along with Donald from the opener.
Brandon proceeded to tell us how when The Killers was just starting out, he'd put on make-up for shows and how they'd run to Wallgreens and how it looked "just awful." But he was inspired by a band called
New York Dolls, whose frontman David Johansen releases solo music under the alias
Buster Poindexter. (He promises at this point the story will come "full circle.") Apparently, recently The Killer's drummer Ronnie Vanucci played a Buster Poindexter song for Flowers over the phone.
That song - "Heart of Gold" - was then performed by both Flowers and Donald. It was a nice song (though I still couldn't understand Donald at all.) They finished and Donald bid farewell.
Brandon wasted no time and launched into "I Can Change," another one of my favorites from
The Desired Effect. Even if it's not AAA material on its own, it's a great crowd-pleaser. After it finished I was feeling pretty winded (standing and jumping for three hours can do that for you.)
He walked up to the synthesizer they dragged on stage before the duet. "So do any of you know what song's this for?" There were a couple generic cheers as I looked around - most were silent and stone-faced. I yelled out, loudest I've ever done in my life, "
Still Want You!" The lights dimmed. The synths started. The fog washed over the stage.
"Everyone's got a combination, if you put in the time." Finally, the rest of the audience started to cheer.
He pointed the mic at us and the hall lit up for half the refrain while he sang the rest.
"Nuclear distress?" he asked.
"Still want you!" we all shouted back.
"But the earth is heating up!" he pleaded.
"Still want you!"
"Hurricanes
and floods!"
"Still want you!"
"Even more than I did before!" I went nuts.
"Still Want You" is my favorite song from Flowers' solo career. It's poppy and catchy yet still a bit grounded and weighty. It's hummable and shower-singable and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. With it, my night was complete.
There was one final song, "Only The Young" from Flamingo. A nice slow song to close out with. At the end, Brandon thanked us and pleaded that despite our cheering he physically could not sing another song. "If I sing anymore, I'm gonna crack! Sorry, and thank you!" I heard his voice crack a little during "Only The Young" so I didn't hold it against him - in fact, he hit all the notes I wanted him to ("Dreams Come True"/"Crossfire"/"Magdalena"/"Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts"/"Read My Mind"/"Human"/"I Can Change"/"Still Want You.") My only disappointment is that the Jacques Lu Cont remix for "Mr. Brightside" wasn't played (when it was at previous stops in the tour), because it's a lovely remix and the original song is another in my top three The Killers songs. But thinking about it, I'd much rather have "Read My Mind," so again, it's moot.
Easily one of the best experiences of my life. I was nervous since I had to go alone, but once the music actually started everything else just melted away. The only thing that could top this is The Killers dropping by Boston, and I hope they do soon.
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