Review of last night's Killers show at POPSCENE in San Francisco

THE TRIPWIRE.COM
06.18.04] Live - The Killers Do Just That To Packed House At popscene In SF

For the second time in a week, I was given the pleasure of catching one of my favorite new acts, The Killers, live. But instead of in the open expanse of the second stage at Live 105’s BFD event like last week, this time it was from the cozy confines of popscene in San Francisco. A small packed club and The Killers’ energy and hooktastic tunes led me to believe that this was one not to miss. As is usually the case, I was dead right.

The Vegas quartet had been frequent guests at the indie danceclub, but had never been on the stage until last night. The room was full of hipsters and indie kids alike, waiting to catch what was for the majority of them their first glimpse of the hotly-tipped act. With their debut, Hot Fuss, having dropped via Island this week, it was perfect timing and the band ripped through a hit-laden 40-minute set. Album highlight and second single “Mr. Brightside” was burned early in the set, but it shone ever-so-brightly, as did other songs from the record like “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” “On Top,” “Midnight Show,” and, of course, the show-stopper and floor exploder that is “Somebody Told Me.” They even threw in UK album track “Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll” for good measure. An encore was planned, but since the band couldn’t make it past the crowd pressed at the front of the stage to get off stage and back on, they stayed to rock two more songs, including the swelling closer “All These Things That I’ve Done.” The crowd went mental throughout the whole show, the first three rows proving me wrong by singing along to each and every song, and all present lapping up the growing stage presence and ever-expanding sound of one of the most engaging bands of 2004. Miss them at your own peril. Big ups to Jesse Camp’s wife, Christine Chiappetta, Roland “West Test” West, Killers' manager and owner of the world's biggest dome, Braden Merrick, and So Cal bandwagon driver, Mark Chotiner.


-Reported by Jeremy P. Goldstein