The Killers sparkled at last night’s Concert in the Coliseum

Some of the most excited people I’ve ever seen were at concerts. I’ve watched superfans dance wildly at local shows, and the unhinged screaming at the Billie Eilish concert in December was, frankly, alarming. I was at the first night of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, for crying out loud. (No, really. Her fans were crying out loud.)

So it was odd to be at the Concert in the Coliseum last night, where country artist Tyler Hubbard and millennial gods The Killers were often treated like the background music.

To be clear, this isn’t because of any action on the part of the WM Phoenix Open, which knows how to throw a hell of a party. The gates opened more than four hours before the Killers took the stage, and thousands of attendees entertained themselves with brand activations, photo ops, shopping, food from local restaurants and many, many drinks before the main event.

The main event takes place on the iconic 16th hole of the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale. There was a small area in front of the stage where a limited number of people stood to watch the show, but most of the attendees were stationed in the stadium-style structure surrounding the hole. 

The Waste Management attendee demographic and the bro country fandom is a Venn diagram with a lot of overlap, so Tyler Hubbard made sense as an opening act (although perhaps not as an opening act for the Killers). The former Florida-Georgia Line singer twanged his way through hits like FGL’s “Cruise” and his own “5 Foot 9,” stopping occasionally to compliment our January weather and discuss the love of Jesus.

The Killers took the stage a little after 8 p.m.

“I’m Brandon Flowers, and I’ll be your host for this evening,” he said, decked out in a black sequined suit.

As they did at Innings Festival last year, the Killers defied expectations by opening with generational banger “Mr. Brightside.” (One row of chairs below me, a 20-something shouted, “I know this one!”)

From there, they did a tight set that touched on most of their biggest hits, including “Human” and “Somebody Told Me.” 

The Killers hail from Vegas, as you probably know, and the unexpected treat of the evening was a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” a tribute to Phoenix native Stevie Nicks and all “fellow desert rats.” 

They ended their set with “When You Were Young” as a drone show displayed their logo overhead.

Flowers is a showman, and an enthusiastic one at that, but at my first Concert in the Coliseum, I was surprised to see how the live music took a backseat to the more popular pastimes of eating, drinking and schmoozing. But the overall effect — packed stands, gorgeous mountain backdrop, lasers, drones, smoke — was impressive and showed why the event is so popular and an ideal kickoff to the greater spectacle of the WM Phoenix Open.

Still, for a Killers fan (it’s me — I’m the Killers fan), last night was about the music. And for the second time in less than a year, the band showed Valley fans why, 20 years after “Hot Fuss,” they’re still a marquee act.

Here are a few more pics from the show.