Grant About Town - October 17, 2006

This is the first entry in a series that I am calling "Grant About Town" where I report on the various concerts, sporting events, museum visits and other happenings I experience here in Chicago. Unlike Katie Couric, who was able to solicit ideas for her CBS news signoff on national television, I did not have access to a major TV network to help name my column. However, I think that it is sufficently clever for now and if I think of something better I can always change it.

Last night I went with a co-worker to see the band The Killers perform at the Congress Theater on the northwest side of Chicago. The Killers have been a favorite of mine since I bought and subsequently wore out their 2004 debut CD "Hot Fuss" last spring. They just released their second album, "Sam's Town" earlier this month and while it is not quite the equal of the first is still a good listen in my opinion. The tickets for the show sold out in less than 10 minutes and the place was packed 3,000 strong from the front row to the back of the balcony as showtime approached.

Around 8:10p the black curtain covering the stage came down to reveal a huge flashing "Sam's Town" sign. The album is a nod to Americana so carnival music played on the PA system while the crowd waited for the band to appear. They opened with three straight songs from the new album including the current hit "When You Were Young" and from there went into a mix of new and old. The new album features more of a straight ahead guitar rock sound as opposed to the 80's synthesized Brit pop sound of "Hot Fuss." Lead singer Brandon Flowers said that the American theme came about as a reaction to talk of how British the band sounded on the first album, and how he sang with a fake accent.

That being said, the songs from the first album are catchy with better hooks and choruses that the crowd reacted a lot better to than the new stuff. The energy of the crowd really picked up with the fourth song, "Somebody Told Me," and lagged a bit in the middle when some of the new songs were played. I will say this about Flowers: When he wasn't contributing his textbook synthesizer to songs such as "Smile Like You Mean it" he was working the crowd like a used-car salesman and preacher all-in-one. This is a band and a frontman that is ready for bigger arenas than the Congress Theater, and as such they had no trouble working the entire room both sonically and lyrically.

For example, between songs Flowers sang the line "My kind of town" as an homage to the Sinatra song about Chicago and later added the line "My kind of people" to thank the fans. He also showed off this little statue of a black crow that had been given to the band by Louis XIV, the opening act for earlier shows on the tour. He explained that it is for good luck and added "I don't know what else to say, but at least it gave me something to talk about for a few minutes." Finally, before starting to play the last song of the main set, "Mr. Brightside," Flowers pointed up to the balcony and said "This one is for all you in the back."

As lead singer Flowers sang the chorus "It started out with a kiss. How did it end up like this? It was only a kiss. It was only a kiss" from "Mr. Brightside" the crowd sang right along with him. The highlight of the night for me was during "All These Things That I've Done" towards the end of the song when Flowers stopped singing and let the crowd pick up the chorus "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" for a couple of minutes before he joined back in. It was a very cool moment among many during the night.

One odd thing I noticed was that at a certain point Flowers introduced the drummer, Ronnie Vannucchi, a dead ringer for the guy from "My Name is Earl." One would then expect him to name the other two members of the band, guitarist Dave Keuning and bassist Mark Stoermer, right? Nope. The show was also short on extended solos a la the Dave Matthews Band which may have contributed to a running time of about 70 minutes. Nonetheless the rhythm section of Keuning, Stoermer and Vannucchi shined thoroughout, particularly on the opening song "Sam's Town" as well as "Uncle Jonny" from the new album.

I hope I can see The Killers in a venue as intimate as the Congress Theater the next time they come around. Chances are they'll have moved on to bigger and better places by then.

Killers Set List - October 17, 2006 at Congress Theater

Sam's Town
Enterlude
When You Were Young
Somebody Told Me
Smile Like You Mean it
Bones
Bling (Confession of a King)
Read My Mind
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
Uncle Jonny
Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll
Mr. Brightside
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My List
For Reasons Unknown
All These Things That I've Done
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Exitlude