The Killers cover U2 at London’s O2 Arena
The Killers cover U2 at London’s O2 Arena
Singer Brandon Flowers recovers from a sore throat to play last night of UK tour
The Killers covered U2’s ‘With Or Without You’ at London’s O2 Arena last night (November 17) – you can watch a fan-filmed video of the band playing the track above.
The gig, the second of two nights at the 20,000 capacity venue and the final date of their UK tour, came just days after the band were forced to cut their show short at Manchester’s MEN Arena after vocal problems forced frontman Brandon Flowers to end the gig after four songs. The setback also resulted in the band cancelling their second show the following night.
Referencing his sore throat early on at the London show, Brandon Flowers said that he was “feeling OK”, before asking the crowd to “keep their fingers crossed” his voice would hold out for the night. Thankfully, for the fans in attendance, it did and sounded strong with no sign of straining.
Opening with ‘Mr Brightisde’ from their 2003 debut album ‘Hot Fuss’ with the house lights still on, the band then launched into ‘The Way It Was’ and ‘Smile Like You Mean It’.
The band’s set was made up of track’s spanning all four studio albums and included six songs from new album ‘Battle Born’. The Las Vegas group ended their set with a blistering version of the record’s title track.
Before ‘Read My Mind’ and ‘Runaways’, which went down exceptionally well with the crowd, Brandon Flowers and guitarist Dave Keuning played a stripped-back, shortened version of U2‘s ‘With or Without You’ to enthusiastic applause. Other set highlights included an astonishing ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’, which was accompanied by an impressive laser display and a pyro-accented ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’.
Later, fans took to Twitter to praise the band’s performance. Stewart Marc wrote, “great night at the O2 seeing The Killers. Such a good band,” while Rick Sweeny commented: “Absolutely amazing show. Brandon’s voice is on another level. Ronnie Vannucci, what an awesome drummer.”
The Killers played:
‘Mr. Brightside’
‘The Way It Was’
‘Smile Like You Mean It’
‘Spaceman’
‘Bones’
‘Tranquilize’
‘Bling (Confession of a King)’
‘Miss Atomic Bomb’
‘Human’
‘Somebody Told Me’
‘Here With Me’
‘For Reasons Unknown’
‘From Here On Out’
‘A Dustland Fairytale’
‘With or Without You’
‘Read My Mind’
‘Runaways’
‘When You Were Young’
‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’
‘All These Things That I’ve Done’
‘Battle Born’
Tickets for The Killers’ forthcoming Wembley Stadium show next summer are on sale now. To check the availability of Killers tickets and get all the latest listings, go toNME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.