“Miss us?” The Killers’ frontman, Brandon Flowers told the crowd at Governors Ball after playing a setlist crammed full of their early-2000s hits. The performance was nothing short of blissful on the rainy night in New York City. Despite their soaking clothes and mud-clad feet, toothy smiles were seen throughout the band’s performance making it obvious, that yes, the Killers were indeed missed very much.
They showed fans that even after their long hiatus, legends never die. The Killers started the night out with mega-hit “Mr. Brightside,” sending people from all around the festival in a dead-sprint to be front row. The continued the rest of the show with crowd favorites, from “When We Were Young” to “Smile Like You Mean It,” never playing original material, despite rumors of an arising album this year.
The new album is in works with none other than Flowers’ idol Elton John, who revealed in February during a Shazam interview, that he had plans to work on their next album in the band’s hometown, Vegas.
“Getting into the other artist’s world is the fascinating thing for me,” John said. “So that (working with the Killers) will be interesting.”
Another highlight of the show was the band’s cover of Interpol’s “Obstacle 1,” and Flower’s explanation of Interpol’s influence on their music.
“We met in 2001 and there was a renaissance happening of good music,” he said. “It was no surprise that New York was spearheading it. We had the Strokes, we had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs … But there was this other band, this mysterious band, Interpol.” He said Interpol listened to the group back in 2004 when they were making “Hot Fuss.”
“We thought we’d pay tribute to them tonight,” Flowers said.
Later, they delivered their much-loved cover of Elvis Presley’s “Only Fools Rush In” giving fans a breather before some of their glam rock hits, “Read My Mind” and “Runaways.”
Fans were enthused with their two renditions of “Human” and “Somebody Told Me” all before closing out with an elongated version of “All These Things I’ve Done.” Echoes of “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier,” could be heard throughout Randall’s Island until they returned for an epic encore.
“We’re not done with you yet!” Flowers said after playing 2008’s “This Is Your Life” and “Jenny Was A Friend of Mine.”
The beginning guitar chords of “When You Were Young” sent waves of electricity throughout the crowd, erupting everyone once more. Fireworks filled the sky over the muddy grounds, and the looks on the fans’ illuminated faces showed that everything they were seeing in the Killers’ 90-minute performance were visions of what they, “imagined when you were young.”
