The Killers Rebel Diamonds Tour (Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 2024)
Summary: The Killers Rebel Diamonds Tour (Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 2024) - They killed it to perfection!
5
... wow
The Killers make a triumphant return to Melbourne with their ‘20-Years of Hot Fuss & Rebel Diamond Shows’ and thankfully it hasn’t been long between rock music drinks.
For the uninitiated, The Killers formed in Las Vegas in 2001 and have continued to be a defining influence on the music scene as their unique style changes with the times – the end result? Powerful and memorable music. Their discography includes 27 albums and granted that fans love their entire set list, most (myself included) will gravitate to a certain area but man, it’s a hard choice.
Photo Credits for this article: Chris Phelps (Rod Laver Arena 12-Dec-24)
Additionally their music has inspirations from both the US and the UK which creates quite an eclectic music style that while constantly changing, still has that underlying influence from when they first started. It’s also 20-years since their ARIA #1 debut album Hot Fuss and this tour feels like a true celebration as they sing their hits, including classics and newer songs.
Is it the definitive The Killers concert? It comes super close.
And as a clever twist… The Killers are actually doing two concerts: The Rebel Diamonds shows feature back-to-back chart-toppers from across the band’s extensive career. And for Sydney and Melbourne the Hot Fuss shows which are a dedicated performance of the Hot Fuss album in its entirety, with a few extra surprises thrown in. This review focuses on The Rebel Diamonds Tour … the back-to-back chart-toppers!
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Supporting The Killers is Melbourne’s very own Radio Free Alice, best described as alternative indie with origins in punk who helped set the scene for the main drawcard. Given that, the atmosphere at Rod Laver was electric and when The Killers came on, the crowd went wild – Rod Laver Arena literally vibrated.
With two giant screens plus an even larger one in the middle for videos, lasers, lighting and confetti explosions, this was a true rock concert as Brandon Flowers, Ronnie Vannucci Jr., Theodore Sablay and Jake Blanton gave the audience everything and then some, with their opening song… Read My Mind! That’s one of the first and many wow moments in this tour.
Supporting Flowers is his equally talented 5-piece band plus his fantastic three backup singers who were spectacular with one also playing the guitar. Needless to say, they worked perfectly together that took this concert to a whole new level… in other words, they ‘killed it’. As the performance exploded and the songs came fast and hard – the audience was a joy to watch, with Flowers inspiring everyone to join in.
From ‘Somebody Told Me’ to ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’, ‘Spaceman’, ‘When We Were Young’, ‘Smile Like you Mean It”, ‘Once in a Lifetime’, ‘Shot at The Night’, ‘Bright Lights’, ‘Human’ plus an awesome rendition of their classic ‘Mr. Brightside’ that was introduced with perfection – this was just a taste of the songs that The Killers delivered.
Further, the vocals could not be faulted, nor the entire band that just like their song… Smile Like You Mean It, they really meant it with their performance. Flowers is also the ultimate showman who was dressed to kill and was like the rock god puppet master who had the crowd under his control from start to finish. He was a joy to watch as was original frontrunner Ronnie Vannucci Jr who plays the drums like a demon.
There were also some local surprises that included Flowers informing the audience that he met a fan this morning who had elements from almost all their albums tattooed onto his leg. It was also his birthday so what does Flowers do? He asks him what his song request is? It’s My God! as the crowd roars.
The other unexpected surprise was Iva Davies from Icehouse coming onto stage where he performed Electric Blue with Flowers – a superb rendition. Add in talk about Australian breakfasts and the Melbourne chant and Flowers had this larger-than-life persona – a combination of Elvis meets an evangelical preacher.
Final Thoughts?
The Killers Live in Australia Tour aimed for the heavens and delivered the stars… with excited anticipation at the start to buzzing excitement at the end, this was definitely one of our concert highlights for 2024!
Brilliant!
The Killers | Concert Dates & Tickets | Frontier Touring
About the Author
Andrew Bistak When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.
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