The Killers with The Silver Beats and The Red Romance

The Killers with The Silver Beats and The Red Romance
Went to see The Killers on Friday night with my friend Susan. She and my British auntie are big fans, but I never saw what the hot fuss was about. Then there was glitter. Not technically glitter, Susan would remind me, but metallic confetti shooting out from the top of the stage. It glittered like glitter in the lights, and it made the first song a spectacle to remember.

But I should begin by discussing the opening bands, which are certainly worthy of mention. First was The Red Romance. Now, three of the five members of The Red Romance are three of the four members of Ambulance Ltd. I'm a fan of Ambulance Ltd. Their album was an Album of the Day a while ago, and I've listened to it several times since. Ambulance Ltd. is now apparently mostly a solo project featuring the lead singer, Marcus Congleton. He's currently working on a new album with The Velvet Underground's John Cale. Meanwhile, The Red Romance broke away to play more danceable pop songs. Their first EP comes out on May 1st. I was concerned by some of the band members' comments in the media. From their interview with Entertainment Weekly:

"So finally, after two EPs and one full length [with Ambulance Ltd.] , all very "cool" and "critic's darling" type stuff, we were done. We needed to have a project that wasn't just for cool kids and hipster music geeks that couldn't get laid in high school [...]The purpose of music is communication and connection, not exclusion and elitism."

Well, okay, but, paired with the teenyhipster look of their website, what that says to me is that these people are more interested in appealing to a mass audience (and, I cynically assume, making more money) than in making good music. But yeah, they were fun. They did seem to be trying to make some anti-hip overtones -- for example the lead singer was wearing semi-loose jeans with a gaping hole in the ass that showed flannel boxers. Maybe we're moving into retro-90s as opposed to glam 80s. But I digress. The music was fun, the lead singer tried to connect with the crowd (remembering that the Tweeter Center is in Camden, New Jersey. Many bands think or pretend it's in Philly, which is across the river.) The crowd was very supportive, for a Jersey/Philly crowd and an opening band.

Next was the band I was most excited about: The Silver Beats, a Japanese Beatles cover band. I couldn't find any of their music to buy or steal, but I think one of the magazines I've read has mentioned them. The members even look like specific Beatles, only Japanese. From a review at http://www.jasonwhiton.com/TheSilverBeats.htm :

"The American version of tribute revolves around Elvis. Relying heavily on the jumpsuits and karate moves, these performances seem to be more about Elvis the icon than about his music. To our eyes, it's a close cousin to drag reviews, and exists in that wonderful world of kitsch.

Tribute in Japan, however, is an integral part of artistic tradition. The student strives to follow in the style of his master. There isn't the same emphasis on individuality typical in the west. Eric [the group's "John Lennon"] finds self-expression through performance by trying to empathize with Lennon's own experiences. To use that classic Zen lesson, he draws bamboo until he becomes bamboo."

They were fantastic, and a great move on The Killers's part. One of the band's tech people came on and introduced them (which I think every headliner should do -- remind the audience that the headliner had something to do with choosing the supporting bands, thereby giving the supporting bands the support they deserve.) The tech guy said the band and crew saw The Silver Beats at the Cavern club when The Killers shot a video in Tokyo. The genius of choosing a Beatles cover band as support is that most everyone knows and loves the songs. The Silver Beats warmed up the crowd exactly the way an opening band should. And for those of us who never saw the Beatles, it's fun to at least get this close to their music.

But back to The Killers spectacle: It's not that Susan exactly dragged me to this concert, but I wasn't enthusiastic about going. This was for two reasons. #1 the tickets she was able to buy were in the pit in front of the stage. I was concerned about being in the pit with all the rabid fans, being only a casual fan. And #2 I don't love the band's albums. I hadn't listened to the new one, Sam's Town very much (if at all) but I'd heard Hot Fuss a few times and never really got into it. I'm listening to Sam's Town now, and I think I've figured out my problem with the albums. This is really music-geeky, but there's something about the recording that I don't like. It seems like the elements are all sort of mashed together, like Brandon Flowers's voice is straining to be heard above the mix.

With all that said, the show really was excellent. I had a great time. The crowd was mildly annoying, but not nearly as bad as some of the Electric Factory crowds I've experienced lately. For the most part, they were into the music. It helps that the music is mostly loud and fast and kept the crowd occupied with jumping around. But I think The Killers just are a good live band. All of their songs sounded better live. The mix was better -- Flowers's voice sounded better. The band members seemed enthusiastic and not pretentious. Flowers is a good frontman. He's compelling the way a frontman should be. I read a review of one Killers concert that was short: an hour and fifteen minutes. Friday night's show went for about an hour and forty-five minutes. The crowd was so enthusiastic that the band came out for two encores, even repeating a song from the beginning of the show. And there was the glitter, and there were the sing-along songs. It was cool to be so close to the band -- I always love to actually see a guitar player's fingers on the strings, but I'm rarely willing to fight the crowd to be near the stage.

Coincidentally, I've been reading Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, specifically the section about Billy Joel in which Klosterman talks about how it's usually more important for rock bands to be "cool" than "great". He goes so far as to say, "the musical component of rock isn't nearly as important as the iconography and the posturing and the idea of what we're supposed to be experiencing. If given the choice between hearing a great band and seeing a cool band, I'll take the latter every single time." I completely disagree with that statement, but I think there's artistic value in a performance that comes together with the crowd and the musicians exchanging energy. The sum becomes greater than the parts, somehow. (That's one secret to U2's success -- although it's not "cool" to say so, I maintain that a U2 show is an almost-religious communal experience.) There's something to be said for performance art, and when I see a great show I would have to be a real asshole not to recognize it and enjoy it.