In 2005, I listened to “Mr. Brightside” from the Hot Fuss  album all the way to my sister’s law school graduation, about a 3 hour drive! This was the beginning of my – maybe obsessive – relationship with The Killers.

But my (perceived) personal relationship with them began when I happened across the recording of their live performance, The Killers: Live from Royal Albert Hall, on Palladia. This, to me, is the best concert ever, featuring many songs from Sam’s Town. We had it on DVR at the time and I watched it so many times I developed a close relationship with all these songs and with Brandon Flowers. He is so dynamic and beautiful to watch, and the songs are magical to me.

“The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun
When you read my mind” – from “Read My Mind”

My husband and I saw The Killers live in 2012 when they were touring for their Battle Born album. This was at the University of Illinois at Chicago arena, and we were on the floor so my (somewhat) personal relationship continued.

So this weekend, thanks to this band, my husband and I had our first Lollapalooza experience. Being in our early 40s, it was definitely an “experience,” and I had to share The Killers with about 100,000 other people, many of them young enough that I could be their mother!! This time we chose to sit to the side, and I was forced to contemplate that my relationship is not so personal after all. Still, the show was amazing.

Here is the set list, which I wrote down because lately after other recent concerts I have had trouble remembering what was and wasn’t played:

  1.  “The Man” – off their album to be released on September 22. Preorder here:  Wonderful Wonderful
  2.  “Somebody Told Me”
  3.   “Spaceman” -such a fun song
  4. “The Way it Was”
  5. “Smile Like You Mean It”
  6. “When we Were Young” intro leading into “Bling”
  7. “Shawdowplay”
  8. “Human (One of my favorites – the title inspired by Hunter S. Thompson work!)
  9. “Starlight” (They covered Muse because that show was rained out the night before)
  10. “Reasons Unknown”
  11. “Dustland Fairytale” also one of my favorites thanks to the Royal Albert Hall concert
  12. “Disarm” cover of Smashing Pumpkins song
  13. “Read My Mind” –  one of my favorites!! (How many times can I say this ha!!)
  14. “All these things that I’ve done”

And this was when I was afraid it was over because this song references “last song.”

But no, they came back out and played:

15. “This is Your Life”

16. “Shot at the Night”

17. “When You Were Young”

“And sometimes you close your eyes
And see the place where you Used to live
When you were young”

and then finally…

18. “Mr. Brightside” where it all started for me.

It was a great show even though it was hard for me to share “my band” with tens of thousands of other people…

You can stream most of their albums for free if you are a member of Amazon Prime, now just $5.99 a month:  Prime Discounted Monthly Offering. Of course Amazon Prime comes with many other benefits as well!

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