For Reasons Unknown

I went to see The Killers for the third time on their current tour, and for the first time, I felt like I had seen them deliver a legendary rock concert. Now, I love their music, and I LOVE going to concerts, but I was never really a huge advocate of the live performance of the Killers.

I saw them at Madison Square Garden on the first leg of their tour. They played all of their hits, which I love, as they were written and recorded. I knew every word, every chord, which is fun in its own right, but is not the recipe for a great show. I saw them again a few weeks later at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and I didn’t feel any different. But for reasons unknown (haha I couldn't resist) the show at Jones Beach felt different. Perhaps, it was the four and a half beers I chugged in the parking lot before entering, nahh I did some equivalent damage at MSG and The Sun, too. Or maybe it was the intoxicating ocean air. Either way something was different.

The Set:

They sort of burned through the first three songs, Spaceman, This Is Your Life, and Somebody Told Me. But number four was For Reasons Unknown, and for just that something was different. They broke out towards the end of the song and it felt like they were jamming out – I thought, finally!

At that point, I started looking at Brandon Flowers, lead singer, in a whole new light. I watched as he hopped stiffly around the stage in a very tight pair of black jeans (leggings?). His tight black hairdo met at either side by the brown feathers emerging from each shoulder pad of his jacket. I felt like I was watching Freddie Mercury, and that the Killers were delivering hits as grand as, dare I say it? Queen! The Killers certainly have some subset of the whole glam rock thing going on, and I think some of their music has potential to be legendary.

As the show went on, they banged out hit after hit, Bling followed by Shadowplay. Before beginning Smile Like You Mean It, Brandon sat down at the piano (not a keyboard) and asked for a chord. Not sure what that was about, but then I saw an asian dude rocking a violin? And I thought, this is gonna be special, this is legit. Okay, after the first minute or so, I used that opportunity to go to the bathroom, but I had to as I knew we were rounding the halfway point of the show, and that the bombs were just going to keep dropping from here on in. I RAN, and peed faster than I ever have in my life. I was back with a minute or so remaining in the song. (I may have taken one or two people out in my tracks, but my friends had each missed two songs during their bathroom trips, so I was feeling pretty good about myself.)
It was the perfect time to go.

Next up – Change Your Mind, one of my favorites, and then Human. Possibly my favorite performance of the night was Dustland Fairytales. To be honest, I smoked immediately before this song, so my ability to recall specific details about the performance is lacking, but I remember it being epic (and NOT just because I was stoned). This is what sealed the deal for me. They totally rocked it and they knew it. At the end of the song, they segued into the chorus of Love Me Tender, by Elvis Presley -- no doubt a call to the band’s Las Vegas roots. I had already been feeling like I was at a great classic rock show, I had felt the presence of Freddie Mercury earlier, and now the lead singer is channeling Elvis. Amazing. The band then goes right into their radio hit, Read My Mind, and the crowd is loving it.

I know exactly what the last four songs of the show will be, since they are always the same. The last two songs before the encore are my favorites, Mr. Brightside and All These Things I’ve Done. But the final encore song, When You Were Young, is (as always) disappointing. Ever since it was put on the video game Rock Band, and I played it 5+ times, that was it. I don’t like this song and never will, but everyone else seems to love it so I can at least appreciate the excitement in the air. On the way out to the parking lot, I couldn’t stop thinking, what a great show. I must have said it to my friends about 6 times. I can’t wait for my fourth show : )

Putting out fires with sugar

I love the feeling that I can eat anything I want. I usually feel like this when I'm stoned. Last night I came home from a concert, slightly drunk, slightly high, and I was just elated by the idea that I could eat anything in my kitchen right then.

First, I cracked open a bag of soy crisps and shoveled most of them into my mouth. I left like two or three full chips and some crumbs behind to make myself not feel like such a huge fatass. Then, I went for a chocolate chip chewy bar, practically swallowed it whole in one bite. Next up, a bowl of chocolate covered pretzels, but after eating a few, I realized these may be the saltless kind of pretzels. Terrible disappointment.

My final grab was for a pack of trolli sour brite octopi - if you don't know what these are, there should be another posting by me on this very important subject to come, so please look out for it. They're sour gummy worms, in octopi form, made by the Trolli brand. Basically, imagine if you could put out a fire with sugar. That is what it feels like to eat a trolli. You stick a whole sugar-coated octopus in your mouth and you almost choke on the amazingness of it. (Sometimes I do choke on it, or I get a condition called Sugary Esophagus, when I start to cough because there is an obscene amount of sugar stuck in the back of my throat.) After the Trolli coma wore off, I was so tempted to sneak back into the kitchen to break into the bag of Smartfood popcorn on the counter, but I thought about my body, and the fact that I pay money to see a personal trainer, so I didn't do it. Besides, I should know that when the trolli pack is left with only the yellow/orange combo flavor of octopi, it is time to go to sleep.