Last Wednesday I saw one of my favorite bands, The Killers, live and they did not disappoint. You may not recognize the group’s name, but I’m sure you have heard their hit song, “Mr. Brightside”, at least once in your life. On the off chance that you haven’t, The Killers are a rock band who have been around since 2001, but who just released a studio album, Wonderful, Wonderful, for the first time in five years.

I arrived at the concert around 10:30 a.m. and waited in line for nine hours before being let in to the venue, Hard Rock Live in Orlando. The seating was general admission, so when we got inside the venue, we managed to get to about the fourth row, about 15 feet from the stage.

The opening act, Alex Cameron and his band, played a few songs for about half an hour. The songs sounded somewhat mellow, but I kind of enjoyed them. Cameron’s dancing was probably the best part, even though he was very odd. One of his band mates, Roy Molloy, who played the saxophone, was the most entertaining part of the act. Molloy’s saxophone solos were fun and upbeat. And yet, in the middle of one of Cameron’s songs, Molloy talked for a few minutes about the quality of the chair he was sitting on, eventually rating the seat a 4 out of 5 stars. It was a random, quirky thing to interrupt the performance with.

Fifteen minutes after the opening act, the lights went off and the whole crowd went silent. A background track of “Wonderful Wonderful” by Johnny Mathis started playing as The Killers finally arrived on stage. They started off the concert with “Run for Cover”, a song from Wonderful, Wonderful. It was the perfect song to start out with because it got the crowd excited and jumping on their feet.

“Spaceman,” a song from their third album, Day and Age, was probably my favorite performance of the night. White lights and lasers flashed everywhere and Brandon Flowers, the lead singer, was so energetic and enthusiastic that it was nearly impossible not to sing along. The set list also included “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine”, “The Man”, “Somebody Told Me”, and “Human”.

About halfway through the concert, the lights dimmed to a dark blue as Flowers started singing “Rut”, a song from Wonderful, Wonderful. It was such an emotional and beautiful performance of the song, which was from the perspective of the singer’s wife, Tana Flowers, and discusses her struggle with PTSD.

After playing over 15 songs, Flowers left the stage and came back out in a beautiful, all-gold suit to play more songs for the encore. He performed “Runnin’ Outta Luck” with Cameron and his band from opening act because it was their last day on the tour. Although this is the first time anyone had heard that song, the fans eventually caught on and started to sing along.

The Killers then played “The Calling” and finished up the night with their most famous song, “Mr. Brightside”. As soon as the electric intro to the song started playing, screams filled the venue, confetti poured from the ceiling, and lasers flashed everywhere. Hearing Flowers sing that song live was incredible, and the crowd couldn’t stop cheering.

Seeing The Killers live in concert was a great decision and I’m sure all of the fans who also attended would agree. The song choice was a perfect mixture of music from their newest album, past albums, popular and lesser known songs. I had so much fun and took enough videos to relive it over and over again. It was truly a wonderful, wonderful concert.