Yahoo Lifestyle The Killers Celebrate 20 Years of ‘Hot Fuss,’ Cover the Beatles’ at Forest Hills Stadium: Concert Review
The Killers delivered a hit-after-hit concert at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium on Saturday night, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut album “Hot Fuss” and also paid homage to the Beatles’ 1964 performance at the iconic venue.
On June 14, 2004, singer Brandon Flowers, guitarist Dave Keuning, bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. released their first studio album as the Killers, which included hit singles like “Somebody Told Me,” “All These Things That I’ve Done” and “Smile Like You Mean It.” But one song in particular has gone mega-popular in the years since then and has been heard at countless college parties, footballs games and inside the head of nearly every millennial at some point: “Mr. Brightside.”
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The Killers closed their Saturday night concert, the first of two sold-out shows at Forest Hills Stadium, with the anthem, and everyone in the 13,000-seat, outdoor venue sang along. With lasers shooting into the crowd, stage lights dazzling and everyone on their feet jumping and chanting, it was a “Mr. Brightside” performance to remember.
The crowd shouted along with virtually every lyric from the Killers’ most popular songs, whether it was “Are we human, or are we dancer?” from “Human”; “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier” from “All These Things That I’ve Done”; or “Somebody told me that you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend” from “Somebody Told Me.” The setlist covered all of the hits from the Killers’ hot streak of albums from the 2000s: “Hot Fuss,” “Sam’s Town” and “Day & Age,” with several other songs sprinkled in, like “Spaceman,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” “When You Were Young.” The self-proclaimed “purveyors of rock” certainly brought the upbeat energy, electric guitar solos and thumping drum beats to keep the crowd hyped up for the two-hour long show.
Earlier in the night, Flowers paid homage to the Beatles, who famously played at Forest Hills Stadium 60 years earlier, by singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
“Some of you might know the history of the place,” he told the crowd. “Obviously, there were some amazing tennis matches that took place here. When we think about that historic Beatles performance at Shea Stadium, that was in 1965. But in 1964, 60 years ago, the Beatles did two nights here at Forest Hills. We thought that we would pay our respects. I don’t think there’s a person here that wasn’t influenced by them in some way or another. Here you go.”
Since the band of Las Vegas musicians formed back in 2001, they’ve gone on to win the MTV VMA for best new artist in 2005, thanks to the “Mr. Brightside” video, receive seven Grammy nominations and sell more than 28 million records worldwide. “Mr. Brightside” alone has gone certified diamond in the U.S., and in the U.K. it’s the third biggest-selling song of all time after spending more than seven years (and counting) on the top 100 singles chart.
In a night of famous anniversaries, two eras of rock ‘n roll were served well at Forest Hills Stadium.
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