The Killers followed last night’s TRNSMT headline set by making their return to Glasgow’s legendary King Tut’s Wah-Wah Hut. The surprise show was quietly announced on Friday morning and tickets sold out in under a minute, setting a new record for King Tut’s and sparking chaotic scenes as one of the world’s biggest bands returned to a venue they last played in 2004, when they were supporting now-defunct New York art-rockers Stellastarr*.
Earlier in the day, the band brought TRNSMT festival to a close with a spectacuar 90-minute set that kicked off with ‘The Man’ and saw frontman Brandon Flowers throwing shapes in his dragon-emblazoned suit jacket. “At the end of this show, I don’t want anyone in Glasgow saying we got away with it,” frontman Brandon Flowers told the crowd. “If we’re The Killers and you’re the victims, I want everyone to be saying, ‘Those motherfuckers onstage, they’re the ones who did it.’”
https://twitter.com/t_hekillersfans/status/1016125577357660161
It was an emotional return for a band who have always had a special relationship with Scottish crowds, stretching back to their first T in the Park headline show in 2007, and this year was no different: not only did they play a snippet of Travis’ 2001 single ‘Side’, they also included a cover of Edinburgh band The Waterboys’ ‘The Whole of the Moon’, introduced by Flowers as, “one of the finest songs I’ve ever heard, and I dedicate it to all the women here tonight. In interviews they always ask you what song you wish you’d written and you always get stumped, but I think from now on my answer is gonna be ‘The Whole of the Moon’.”
After closing with ‘Mr. Brightside’, the band dashed across town to King Tut’s, where their hour-long set opened with ‘Midnight Show’, a deep cut from their 2004 debut ‘Hot Fuss’. The Killers have made a habit of playing these surprise gigs – they played The Garage after their Wembley set in 2013, not to mention their unscheduled appearance on the John Peel tent at last year’s Glastonbury festival – but this one felt particularly special, and featured rare setlist appearances from ‘Glamorous Indie Rock n’ Roll’ and ‘Enterlude’, capping off a hugely-successful second year for TRNSMT.
