Live Review

Brandon Flowers – O2 Academy, Birmingham

• 20th Oct 2010

What makes the lead singer of a successful band go it alone? Wanting all the limelight for yourself? Well for most people, think The Killers and you think Brandon Flowers anyway, Is that alone not enough to satisfy the ego? Or did Mr Flowers simply want a break from what can be an arduous life on the road in the pockets of the same old faces. Well apparently not as in a recent interview Flowers stated “To be honest, I personally would prefer it if this was a Killers record… Some of the songs were originally destined to be Killers songs, but it is what it is. I’m overflowing with songs right now. It’s something that has happened very quickly and very recently. That, combined with the other guys in the band wanting to take a long break, is what convinced me to do this album. I can’t really blame the other guys but I’ve got this fire burning. I’m ready to go”

So it seems more likely that Messrs Keuning, Stoermer and Vannucci Jnr were the ones who needed the time off. Well on listening to debut Solo album ‘Flamingo’ I can tell you that the other three quarters of The Killers loss is Brandon Flowers gain. It is for all intents and purposes, a Killers album with the odd tweak and self indulgence thrown in.

So this brings me to the O2 Academy Birmingham on a cold mid Octobers night. Having seen both amazing and mediocre Killers performances in the past I was there with an open mind. With a back to basics stage set, only made aesthetically pleasing by an old fashioned chest of drawers and a pair of female backing singers, Mr Brandon Flowers enters stage right and the crowd lift the roof.

Kicking off with slow burner “On the Floor” its immediately obvious that Flowers is playing to a well versed Birmingham crowd who gleefully chant every word along with him and then its straight into recent single “Crossfire” which leads the bouncing crowd into a rapturous sing-a-long.

There’s a brief welcome to the audience and introduction to album track ‘Magdalena’ and then like a bolt from the blue comes a brilliant cover of ‘Bette Davis Eyes’- a song made popular by American Kim Carnes in the early 80s.

‘Flamingo’ is played in its entirety and without exception is well received by the sold out crowd. The first Killers offering we are treated to is the opening track from third album Day & Age, ‘Losing Touch’ which, although not an obvious choice, fits in seamlessly.

‘Only the Young’ sees another mass chorus from the buoyant, inflatable flamingo clad crowd, with a 29 year old Flowers singing “Only the young can break away” – Maybe a message to his day job bandmates that it was now or never.

“The Clock was Tickin” kicks off the encore – a song which is as far removed from The Killers as anything that has gone before it. A song which is a nod to Country and Weston / Bluegrass and a million miles away from Flowers’ U2 / Smiths influenced musical childhood.

And so it is to the final song of the evening, and maybe what a lot of those in attendance had been waiting for. A stripped down, acoustic version of ‘When You Were Young’ is beautifully delivered and whets the appetite for 2011’s return of The Killers.

Whatever the reason for Brandon Flowers solo jaunt, the music world is a better place for it.
　
　
Brandon Flowers Played:-

On the Floor
Crossfire
Magdalena
Bette Davies Eyes
Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
Was it Something I Said?
Hard Enough
Losing Touch
Swallow It
Only the Young
Playing with Fire

The Clock Was Ticking
When You Were Young