To quote the late music journalist Marc Spitz from Meet Me In The Bathroom: “The [00’s] band that wanted it, and were fucking ready for it, were The Killers.”

Here we are, 20 years after The Killers broke out of the pack of “The” bands. It’s been 19 years since I saw the Killers play a mid-afternoon set at Lolla but I don’t recall much because it was record setting temperature in Chicago and I fell victim to the heat. This year’s Boston Calling was warm but fine, and there was ample filtered water, shade, and sunscreen to be had. In the fog of my first Killers experience, I do remember one thing though, which was that they were the buzziest band of the day. 

Not to their detriment, but on Sunday The Killers did not have outsized hype. They followed Chappell Roan, Megan Thee Stallion, and Hozier — who packed the sold-out Harvard Athletic Complex all day long. Hats off to Boston Calling, Sunday’s Red and Green stage booking was a masterstroke in programming. 

Enter: The Killers. They began by dialing up “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine,” as singer Brandon Flowers cued the audience to handle the first pass of the chorus. The stage was busy – a four tom drum kit, bass guitar, a few guitars, keys, three backup singers, and a sneaky synth behind The Killers ‘k’ logo. 

Even after playing The Dise last night, Flowers and Co. looked amped. Flowers strutted around the stage, frequently climbing up on top of the vocal monitors that barricade the lip of the stage. He’s the only performer I’ve seen all weekend that is not using in-ear monitors, preferring to use a lengthy row of wedges, and then climbing the cabinets in skin tight pants to flex on the crowd. 

For “Smile Like You Mean It” the jumbotron went for a tight shot on the mean-mugging bearded bass player. Flowers continued to peacock around with “come at me” hands. He’s got us singing along, doing hey-ho call-and-responses. He’s throwing his hands up in the air, and now our hands are up in the air. On “Run For Cover,” guitarist Ted Sablay took a running guitar solo. On “When You Were Young” they closed the main set with a pyrotechnic shower of fireworks behind the band. 

The stage was emptied except for lingering smoke as The K’s took a quick break. The band took an encore, featuring an excellent arrangement of “Mr. Brightside,” which began down-tempo and weird, and then somehow surprisingly kicked into the original guitar arpeggio, blasting the OG version straight into our ear holes at full speed.

Drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. took over the reins by leading the band through a jammed breakdown. A UNLV music major, Vannucci motioned for silence with his hands, and then conducted the audience. He split the stadium into three parts, left, center, and right and waved to control our volume by swatting up for cheering and batting down for silence. 

After a final cheer we reluctantly left the football field and bid farewell to Boston Calling 2024.