The Killers make surprise appearance at LA Christmas concert

The Killers made a surprise appearance at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas concert in Los Angeles last night (December 9).

The Las Vegas rockers joined several bands for the annual event at the Gibson Amphitheatre including Spoon, Feist, Silversun Pickups, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, and headliners Muse.

Of all the bands on the bill, it was The Killers who exhibited the most holiday spirit, singing Christmas songs and inviting a scruffy-looking Santa Claus on stage to dance and sing with frontman Brandon Flowers.

They performed on a stage filled with multicoloured Christmas trees as white snow-like confetti rained from the sky. "I love this time of year, don't you LA?" Flowers asked the crowd, who cheered back in response.

But it was Muse who stole the show later in the evening. There wasn't a Christmas decoration in sight, just a straight-ahead, rocking, 60-minute set filled with guitar solos and extended jams in between hits including 'Time Is Running Out' and 'Starlight' as well as some earlier, more obscure material.

Frontman Matt Bellamy hardly said a word between songs, but won over the sold-out crowd with his guitar and piano solos.

Feist made a strong showing earlier in the evening as the night's only female performer, getting the audience to clap and sing along to her recent hit '1 2 3 4'.

"We're from Canada--is this really what you call Christmas around here?" she jokingly asked the audience. "Where are the parkas? We went swimming today!"

--By our Los Angeles staff.
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