My best friend turned to me and said, “I don’t have to call you during the show anymore!” with tears in her eyes right before the screen covering the stage with the projected intro video dropped to reveal The Killers behind it as they started playing “Sam’s Town.”
If I had not already felt emotional and near tears already, that would have done it. Ten years ago when The Killers released their second album Sam’s Town, I was 15-years-old and lived in Oklahoma. I never had the opportunity to see the band during their Hot Fuss tour when they stopped in the state because my parents deemed me “too young” at 13-14, and then they never came through during Sam’s Town. In the months leading up to the October 3, 2006 release of Sam’s Town , I met a few friends through the band’s fandom who lived in a major city, and their experience of Sam’s Town live became mine. I loved it. They would call me during shows, I would get excited to hear about everything that happened, and I was always so overjoyed for them. Since then we have seen The Killers together quite a few times, but this past weekend (Friday, September 30 - Saturday, October 1) was where we finally were able to experience Sam’s Town live together, which was one of the reasons the Decennial Extravaganza was significant.
When Sam’s Town came out, it was a different time, and infamously Rolling Stone gave it a two-star review, but none of that mattered. There were even posters up in the Sam’s Town movie theater with quotes of negative reviews written over photos of the band, which provided a great laugh. What mattered was that the band made the amazing album, and the weekend was being spent by them and fans at the namesake Sam’s Town Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada where The Killers would play it in full. As Brandon Flowers said at one point during the first night, “we’re here to celebrate.” Sam’s Town means something different for everyone. For me, it was finding self-identity and ambition, and I’m sure it would be something else for the guy standing in front of me on night two. The casino was exclusively playing The Killers, people in the band’s shirts were everywhere, and it was just wonderful being at the actual Sam’s Town in the band’s hometown.
On the first night, September 30th, my friends and I had the privilege to see the small two-song acoustic performance the band did before the show for the 100 or so people with VIP, and it was just so cool seeing them play on a stage that was probably the size of my small New York City bathroom outside next to a pool. I will say the crowd really contributed when they played “Smile Like You Mean It” acoustic because we took care of the keyboard part. You’re welcome, guys.
But it was the main show when we were all inside the Sam’s Town Live venue of the Gambling Hall & Hotel that left me overwhelmed. Back in April, I had really been convinced the band would play the song “Sam’s Town” during their show for the grand opening of the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, but I am so much happier that my first time seeing it live was with the full effects of their 2006 tour of the intro music and video projection. The moment the screen fell to reveal the band immediately starting the song, I would be lying to say my eyes were dry. The stage was even set up to look like their tour for Sam's Town. Seeing songs I’ve never seen live for the first time like “Sam’s Town” and “Why Do I Keep Counting?” was amazing, but even seeing ones I have before like “Uncle Jonny” and “This River Is Wild” felt even better in the Sam’s Town atmosphere. The band played through everything so well and tight with high energy, with a shout out given to Alan Moulder for his work producing the album before they played “Read My Mind.”
Once the Sam’s Town portion of the set was done, the band came back out to play more off their other albums. I was particularly excited when they started the second part of the set with “Under the Gun,” a b-side from Hot Fuss that held the top stop in my Top 25 Most Played in iTunes for a long time. During the two-song encore to wrap up the set, Brandon said something to the effect of “you didn’t all come from all over to Las Vegas to land at McCarran Airport to drive to Sam’s Town to not hear ‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine.’” I appreciated that more as a reflection of how fans had traveled from all over the world and gathered in this small 2,000-person crowd to celebrate. After the show, we slowly walked our way back through the casino and saw the debris of confetti everywhere and created our own pile of strangely stuck confetti in the hotel room. Pure joy.
Night two was also an incredible time, and I feel thankful for being able to go to both of these Sam’s Town shows. Seeing them play the album twice was something I never thought I would get the chance to experience. They changed up their second part of the set by adding their cover of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay” that was recorded for the movie “Control” directed by Anton Corbijn about Ian Curtis. Corbijn shot the photography for Sam’s Town and also directed The Killers’ music video for “All These Things That That I’ve Done.” That night’s performance of “A Dustland Fairytale” during the non-Sam’s Town set also felt particularly emotional because that song truly feels like the string that ties the the band’s third album Day & Age back to Sam’s Town.
Just like a listen-through of Sam’s Town, everyone who attended these shows will come out with different emotions and feelings about them, but we all had the opportunity to really experience Sam’s Town. Ten years ago, I met three of my best friends through the band, and never did we think when we were all 15-years-old that a decade later we would find ourselves being able to celebrate our friendship with the band and album that brought us together. This was a perfect weekend for the perfect band and album, and I definitely enjoyed my stay.
