REVIEW: The Killers killed it in Coventry last night

Coventry surely became the music capital of the world on Saturday night.

As the likes of Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris were playing to 40,000 revellers at Coventry’s War Memorial Park last night, just a few miles away one of the biggest bands in the world, The Killers were rocking out at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

By all accounts Radio 1’s Big Weekend in the War Memorial Park was a blast but I wouldn’t have missed The Killers first trip to Coventry for all the world.

My favourite band since I first saw them perform in their home town of Las Vegas in 2006, they’ve since gone stratospheric with their out of this world hits such as Space Man, Human and Mr Brightside.

And last night in front of 37,000 fans, rock god Brandon Flowers backed by his band and legendary drummer Ronnie Vannuci looked every inch the iconic superstars they are as they belted out their global hits in a soulful 90-minute biographical music journey.

The Killers. Photo credit: PA Media. Picture by: Rob Loud/Officialcharts.com

“Tonight is a superspreader event Coventry!… We’re spreading love. We’re spreading happiness and we’re spreading rock music!” lead singer Brandon shouted to the excited audience in a performance that saw huge crowd covering blasts of ticker tape and a dazzling pyrotechnic wall.

Official Press Photo. Credit: The Killers Music

The band flew through an impressive set of their greatest hits spanning all seven albums.

Show stoppers included ‘The Man’ which saw the enormous stage structure converted into ancient Greek like columns and ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ that had all 37,000 audience members on their feet belting out “I got soul but I’m not a soldier.”

The excited 37,000 strong audience at Coventry Building Society Arena. Photo credit: Coventry Observer

The audience also got to hear a brilliant version of Shadowplay by Joy Division and finally got to hear songs such as ‘My Own Soul’s Warning,’ ‘Dying Breed’ and ‘Caution’ performed live from the band’s latest album ‘Imploding the Mirage.’

Another huge crowd pleaser was ‘When You Were Young’ to fans that comprised of everyone from teenagers to octogenarians. In fact upon leaving I spoke to 82-year-old Andrew Harris, a former military man from Canley who said:

“I came with my niece, we’re both huge Killers fans and I haven’t had a better night in ages. How great is it we can go out again and see live music. The show was spectacular!”

And Andrew certainly made me ‘Smile like I meant it’ when I saw him dancing off towards the car park singing “I got soul and I’m an old soldier.”

“Andy, You’re a Star” I shouted after him.

What a night Killers. Come back to Coventry, the music capital of the world soon!