The Killers Dazzle During Tour Stop at Patriot Center

Story and Photos by Broadside Correspondent Jason Hartsel

Sam’s Town city limits expanded on Wednesday to include George Mason University’s very own Patriot Center, as Las Vegas synth rockers The Killers brought their sold out Day & Age world tour to campus. The 90-minute show, complete with faux palm kitsch and soaring strands of dirty neon, whipped an enthusiastic capacity crowd into a Hot Fuss that smoldered in the icy January night.

8:15 p.m.

Anticipation reaches its zenith, when suddenly the house lights go down. The crowd goes wild. Cool blue beams bathe fan faces floating in a sea of skinny jeans. And with a splashy tap of the high-hat, French ambi-electric shoegazers, M83, ignite the discotheque.

Known for cinematic flair and pop culture homage, M83 delivered a crowd-pleasing set that included the mesmerizing “Graveyard Girl” and ‘80s pop guitar riff-powered “We Own the Sky.” The ever-intensifying chord progressions and driving soundscapes offered by M83 were a thoughtful first course and only raised the anticipation level for the main event.

9:20 p.m.

Populated by a mirrored piano flanked by potted palms and a five-foot lowercase “k” shaped lightbox, the dustland fairytale tableau onstage comes to life as the opening strains of “Spaceman” fill the hall. Fog spews from the depths of the stage, the lights swirl and The Killers erupt in a wall of sound.

Frontman Brandon Flowers (sporting feather epaulets) might suggest, “it’s all in your mind,” but if the volume of fangirl shrieking behind me was any indicator of allegiance, the crowd was more than ready to “leave this star-crossed world behind” in favor of joining the band’s musical orbit already in progress.

Day & Age, the groups’ latest album was well represented with all but two of the new tracks being played, but Flowers and Co. were not shy with the hits either, galvanizing fan favorites like “Somebody Told Me” and “Smile Like You Mean It” early in the set. From there, fans were taken on a “Joy Ride” where they learned just how natural “Bones” can feel when experienced live. After an animal print curtain fell just in time to salute the “Neon Tiger” and white confetti shot into the air during “All These Things That I’ve Done,” The Killers needed no “direction to perfection.”

The only hiccup occurred when a bizarre and seemingly disoriented audience member wearing a green helmet (with chinstrap) jumped onstage despite the row of yellow-jersey rent-a-guards. A startled Flowers jokingly thanked security while the man was hauled offstage, noting, “if you didn’t have the helmet on, I wouldn’t have been freaked out.”

The band closed out the evening with “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” and “When You Were Young” during a killer encore that concluded in glam pyrotechnic spectacle as white sparks rained down from above to silhouette four musicians with a knack for infectious hooks and indelible refrains.