Somebody Told Me . . .

. . . that you had a boyfriend that looked like a girlfriend. Quite the gender –ambiguous diss coupled with pure Las Vegas showmanship. Surely this song should have propelled The Killers into the stratosphere of American music. Granted their last album sold 1.5 million copies; not bad in this age of downloading, but only 1/3 of the sales came from the US. Meanwhile in the U.K. the album sold 200,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 1. Tonight they played Magness Arena on the University of Denver campus -- a modest-size arena and hardly the Pepsi Center. Meanwhile they played Royal Albert Hall in the UK and have been the headlining act at Glastonbury and Reading. But for the crowd at Magness, The Killers were U2; the sold-out crowd never sat down and never stopped dancing. And The Killers delivered the killer soundtrack to their dancing. They have reached the stage where their repertoire makes for a concert with few duds. They made all the right decisions opening with Spaceman off their new album which quickly tapped into the energy of the crowd. They then mixed in some of their new album, which is growing on me, with the classics. I consider half of their first album, Hot Fuss, to be one of the best albums (or half-album) ever made. Think about it – Mr. Brightside, Jenny Was A Friend of Mine, Smile Like You Mean It, and the aforementioned Somebody Told Me. Their stage is also evolving and featured foliage and a screen of freckled lights. And yes the obligatory confetti and sparkles. Viva Las Vegas it was. They ended the set with When We Were Young leaving an exhausted crowd seeing a band ready to take the next step.