Sparks fly, alternative anthems flow when Hard Rock Live lands arena and festival fillers The Killers

The Killers Photo provided by Chris Phelps

Generally speaking, whenever The Killers come to town, it’s to fill up a sports arena the size of the United Center or headline the even more enormous Lollapalooza, so right after the Las Vegas-bred alternative rock band announced an appearance at the relatively intimate Hard Rock Live Northern Indiana, it didn’t take more than a morning to sell out.

The normal bleacher configuration was switched to standing room only status to allow at least a little more room for faithful fans, who not only came from all the surrounding regions, but traveled considerable distances for the rare opportunity.

Brandon Flowers and company definitely rose to the occasion, bringing the same towering energy and glitzy visuals that recently filled up a place like Riverside Stadium in the UK, which is where the front man was pictured above.

The KillersFor nearly two hours, The Killers brought a couple decades’ worth of radio anthems and a few specially selected album cuts, drawing heavily upon its multi-platinum beginnings, plus a pair off each pandemic-era release, the glossy “Imploding The Mirage” and the gritty “Pressure Town.”

As a blast of confetti rained down and a giant “K” on the keyboard flashed like a marquee on the Sin City strip, “Sam’s Town” and “Enterlude” blared from the state-of-the-art speakers, straight into the shockingly soon “Mr. Brightside,” which for many lesser acts would’ve been saved for the bitter end, though it was one of well over a dozen warranting similarly euphoric reactions.

“The Way It Was,” “Run For Cover” and “Smile Like You Mean It” were a few of the other early and like-minded instances, all characterized by polished new wave productions reminiscent of the 1980s, but nonetheless firmly planted in the now.

The guys dialed back the intensity on a few occasions, including the shiny mid-tempo pop of “Shot At The Night” and the stripped down, heartland narrative “Runaway Horses,” plus invited a concertgoer named Romero from Fort Wayne to quite capably drum during “For Reasons Unknown,” always holding the attention of a rapt Hard Rock.

The Killers

Photo by Andy Argyrakis

Additional endorphin rushes came when lasers enhanced “Somebody Told Me,” the brand new bounce of “Boy” earned a local debut and cascading sparks accompanied “Caution,” while “All These Things That I’ve Done” generated such a communal scream-a-long over the shower of streamers, those over the border in Chicago may have quite possibly heard what all the “Hot Fuss” was still about.


For additional information on The Killers, visit TheKillersMusic.com.

Upcoming concert highlights at Hard Rock Live Northern Indiana include Wayne Newton and Tony Orlando (May 13); Billy Currington (May 19); Andrew Schulz (May 20); Incognito (Jun. 3); Kevin Hart (Jun. 10); DC Young Fly (Jun. 16); Kevin James (Jun. 18); Halsey (Jun. 30); Cypress Hill (Jul. 2); Dream Theater (Jul. 7); Jimmie Allen (Jul. 8); Weezer (Jul. 9); Shinedown (Jul. 21); Deon Cole (Jul. 29); Volbeat (Jul. 30); Extreme (Aug. 17); W.A.S.P. (Aug. 20); Daryl Hall (Aug. 22); Gipsy Kings (Sept. 29); Styx (Oct. 13); Tom Segura (Oct. 14); Aaron Lewis (Oct. 27-28) and Grand Funk Railroad (Nov. 2). For additional details, visit HardRockCasinoNorthernIndiana.com.