Save for the holidays, The Killers really hasn’t taken a break since performing its final show of The Killers: Live in Las Vegas residency. The band ended its Sept. 1 set at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace with “When You Were Young” before resuming a tour through Mexico and Australia in support of greatest-hits album Rebel Diamonds. The upcoming dates at Caesars, which celebrate the release of Hot Fuss, help bring The Killers’ latest touring arc to a stop, although it has dates in California, Laughlin, Nev., and Tempe, Ariz., after that.
They also will leave all four founding members of the band warmed up and ready to chart the next course of the band’s history, or begin outlining new chapters in the members’ solo careers. What The Killers does next is a question that will be on the minds of the many Victims (band fans) making the pilgrimage to the Strip to commune with other faithful fans from around the world.
Should its next move include staying together to record, the results would be a far cry from the angsty desperation of “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine,” “Mr. Brightside” and “Smile Like You Mean It.” The musicians, like their listeners, have grown since debuting on MTV with the video for “Somebody Told Me.” Heartland rock stylings began to intertwine with its established post-punk sound, creating nuanced foundations for frontman Brandon Flowers’ lyrical expression.
So new music could head in any direction Flowers, guitarist Dave Keuning, drummer Ronnie Vannucci and bassist Mark Stoermer decide to steer it in. The majestic glam and grandeur Flowers so effortlessly conjured from his keyboards for Hot Fuss can still be evoked in new material without sounding calculatingly retro.
Regardless of whether it takes the inspiration from The Killers: Live in Las Vegas into the studio or quietly decides to split up for good, the band is providing fans with an incredible gift: The chance to see it in Las Vegas, where the songs that would become the soundtrack to The Killers’ lives were first written and performed, at a property where the restaurant (Spago) Flowers once worked remained for many years.
That was before the Colosseum existed, when a small-town boy from Nephi, Utah, and a lanky guitarist from Iowa looked at Las Vegas as more of a launching point for the world’s next greatest band rather than a permanent homebase. Two creative souls found each other, lyrics met chord progressions, a powerful drummer added propulsion that elevated the songs to transcendence, and nimble bass hooks made them unforgettable.
That’s why it might be a smart move for the band to go into the studio while the mojo is working and the connection between music and audience is still fresh. Those songs from Hot Fuss will be played live again as long as touring is in The Killers’ future, but the magic of all four original members playing the album from beginning to end with audiences handling the choruses of “On Top” and “Change Your Mind” may never be conjured the same way again.
Caesars Palace, 8 p.m. Jan. 22 and 24-25, starting at $119 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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