Following the release of their new single “Your Side Of Town” earlier this week, Reading & Leeds royalty The Killers gave their latest stadium anthem an appropriately bombastic live debut at this year’s edition of the bank holiday weekend festival.
Check out the performance below:
“Your Side Of Town” hace su debut en vivo en Inglaterra pic.twitter.com/xA6poiQ0zn
— The Killers Fans (@t_hekillersfan) August 26, 2023
The new song, which marks the band’s first of the year, is also their first release since 2022’s standalone single “Boy” and showcases the Las Vegas rockers’ knack for a catchy hook and driving synth-line. In view of a recent Brandon Flowers interview, however, “Your Side Of Town” may be the last arena rock number The Killers put out for a while, with the frontman expressing a desire to make quieter music for smaller venues.
Talking to The Times, Flowers admitted he had grown tired of the band’s classic sound and even scrapped their latest album midway through recording sessions:
“Halfway through recording I realised, ‘I can’t do this’ […] I don’t think you’ll see us making this type of music any more. […] This is the crisis I’m in. The Killers are my identity and our songs fill the seats, but I’m more fulfilled making music like ‘Pressure Machine’. I’m as proud of ‘Hot Fuss’ as you can be for something you did when you were 20, but I’m not 20. So I’m thinking about the next phase of my life. […] I’m a different person now, it’ll be difficult to go back.”
Listen to the studio version of “Your Side Of Town”:
The rock and roll talisman didn’t let his songwriting predicament affect The Killers’ headlining performance at Reading, however, with the band firing on all cylinders and Flowers displaying his usual showmanship flair. “You know they used to call this Reading Rock?”, he declared, “We’re turning back the clock tonight. We just happen to be the purveyors of some of the finest rock and roll on earth.”
Elsewhere during their hit-filled set, the band honoured their longstanding tradition of inviting a fan up on stage to play drums with them. The lucky candidate this time around was a youngster from Bath, whose hand-made sign requested a chance to perform “For Reasons Unknown” – a wish he was duly granted. Donning a Brazilian football shirt, the boy, named Ozzy, was helped up on stage, where he initially kept the tempo at a slower pace, prompting a joking remark from Flowers: “Go faster,” the frontman said, “More cocaine than marijuana”.
Watch the moment below:
