I got tickets for Shaunie and I to go see The Killers for an early anniversary gift. You can't always time a concert by one of your favorite bands around your anniversary, but this worked out to be just about three weeks before our 9th anniversary, so I jumped on the chance to get tickets, knowing that Shaunie would love it. Here is her write up of the experience. Seeing the concert with my wife and best friend was almost as rad as being married to her, she is nothing short of wonderful and she has a truly beautiful heart. I am a lucky, lucky man. Without further ado, Shaunie:
A few weeks ago, a friend with ties to music industry let Ben know that The Killers would be playing a small concert in Hollywood in late September. Tickets were first sold to those belonging to the official fan club of The Killers, and then the rest of the tickets would be open to the public two days later. Ben started leaving hints at this point about some way awesome anniversary present he was hoping to give me. I didn't know what it could be. Then one morning he hid out in the room for a little while telling me to stay away from the computer. Near 10am, unbeknownst to me, he sat at the computer refreshing the browser every few seconds and as soon as the tickets went on sale he clicked the purchase button. Luckily or miraculously, the authentication code he had to enter wasn't too tricky and he snagged two tickets. He later learned from a friend that the public tickets had sold out in less than one minute. Ben was able to wait for about 20 minutes, and then he couldn't do anything but pick me up, swing me around, and yell, "We're going to see The Killers!!!" (He had planned on waiting at least a few days before telling me, but he can't keep a secret when he's excited).
A few days later the latest album from The Killers arrived and Ben immediately started listening to it. We would listen to it in the van everywhere we went and we listened to it on the way to the concert so we would know all the new songs. Ben thinks there is a bit of a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sound on some songs and some influence from 80's bands such as The Pet Shop Boys and The Cure, and Depeche Mode. There is also a song called "The Heart of a Girl" that sounds kind of like a U2 song. I really like the lyrics to that song, and we got to hear it at the concert too!
A fabulous friend offered to swap babysitting for the 5 hours this whole thing was going to take, and our kids were jealous, but well-behaved when we left. (A funny story: When we told the kids we were going to the concert Ben said, "We're going to bring our CD and see if we can meet them and if they can sign it." Once we got there we realized how naive that was, but when Evelyn heard this, the gears in her mind started working and she got a smile on her face and said, "Maybe you can show them a picture of us when you meet them so they know who we are too." Our kids are big fans too, cute.) When we arrived at the Fonda Theater in our minivan, there was a HUGE line wrapping around the block. My heart sank at the thought of waiting in this ridiculously long line. Ben wanted to walk up to the front to see what the line was all about and whether these were people with tickets or people wanting to try and get into the show at the last-minute. We got to the front and after seeing an opportunity Ben smoothly maneuvered us into the front section of the line without anybody noticing. We found out that, somehow, 1300 people are supposed to cram into this modest theater.
A few weeks ago, a friend with ties to music industry let Ben know that The Killers would be playing a small concert in Hollywood in late September. Tickets were first sold to those belonging to the official fan club of The Killers, and then the rest of the tickets would be open to the public two days later. Ben started leaving hints at this point about some way awesome anniversary present he was hoping to give me. I didn't know what it could be. Then one morning he hid out in the room for a little while telling me to stay away from the computer. Near 10am, unbeknownst to me, he sat at the computer refreshing the browser every few seconds and as soon as the tickets went on sale he clicked the purchase button. Luckily or miraculously, the authentication code he had to enter wasn't too tricky and he snagged two tickets. He later learned from a friend that the public tickets had sold out in less than one minute. Ben was able to wait for about 20 minutes, and then he couldn't do anything but pick me up, swing me around, and yell, "We're going to see The Killers!!!" (He had planned on waiting at least a few days before telling me, but he can't keep a secret when he's excited).
A fabulous friend offered to swap babysitting for the 5 hours this whole thing was going to take, and our kids were jealous, but well-behaved when we left. (A funny story: When we told the kids we were going to the concert Ben said, "We're going to bring our CD and see if we can meet them and if they can sign it." Once we got there we realized how naive that was, but when Evelyn heard this, the gears in her mind started working and she got a smile on her face and said, "Maybe you can show them a picture of us when you meet them so they know who we are too." Our kids are big fans too, cute.) When we arrived at the Fonda Theater in our minivan, there was a HUGE line wrapping around the block. My heart sank at the thought of waiting in this ridiculously long line. Ben wanted to walk up to the front to see what the line was all about and whether these were people with tickets or people wanting to try and get into the show at the last-minute. We got to the front and after seeing an opportunity Ben smoothly maneuvered us into the front section of the line without anybody noticing. We found out that, somehow, 1300 people are supposed to cram into this modest theater.
After walking past the well-equipped bar, we headed upstairs to the balcony seating, and found single seats here and there, but there weren't two seats together. So we ended up sitting separately for most of the concert, I was on the aisle seat of a row and Ben was in the aisle seat of the row behind me, so we could talk and hold hands still. It was interesting to see that most of the people at the concert were about our age. Still, that didn't stop some guy from making fun of us as we left in out minivan with Idaho plates. But he was a Red Sox fan, and we all know how Red Sox fans are.
All the pictures we took of us in this dark theater look goofy. I couldn't stand the bright flash, and Ben was trying to take our picture and stay in the photo at the same time. And that lipstick? You can't trust those color buttons at the store. I thought I was buying a red/pink blend. As it turns out this tube is bright fuchsia. The girls think it's awesome. It also takes 18 hours to wear off. But I still kind of like it.
I wish our camera could show how close we were seated, it looks farther away than we really were. We were close enough that I could make out facial expressions and everything.
It. Was. Awesome. From beginning to end.
Below you can see a video of the opening and a bit of the first song, "Runaways," from their latest album, Battle Born. The camera did pretty good with the sound, but it doesn't even come close to capturing just how loud it was in there. When they played songs such as "Mr. Brightside," "When You Were Young," or "Smile Like You Mean It" it was just super loud, Ben loved it (You can hear him yelling, "Yeaaahhhhh!" in the video when the band walks out onto the stage). They played a good mix of songs from all of their albums (set list below). In the middle of the concert The Killers slowed things down a bit and played some of their ballads, which are my favorites. They also performed "Moon River," by Johhny Mercer and Henry Mancini, a song that is referenced in some of their own songs.
Below you can see a video of the opening and a bit of the first song, "Runaways," from their latest album, Battle Born. The camera did pretty good with the sound, but it doesn't even come close to capturing just how loud it was in there. When they played songs such as "Mr. Brightside," "When You Were Young," or "Smile Like You Mean It" it was just super loud, Ben loved it (You can hear him yelling, "Yeaaahhhhh!" in the video when the band walks out onto the stage). They played a good mix of songs from all of their albums (set list below). In the middle of the concert The Killers slowed things down a bit and played some of their ballads, which are my favorites. They also performed "Moon River," by Johhny Mercer and Henry Mancini, a song that is referenced in some of their own songs.
Here you can see Brandon's synthesizer stand is a lightening bolt like the one on the cover of the album, it changes all sorts of colors depending on the lighting scheme.
We didn't end up with any super-crazy drunk people around us, which is nice, though they always provide a bit of entertainment for me.
Or maybe I was just too focused on the concert to notice any crazy people.
I may have lost a degree of hearing, but I think this was worth it. I had planned on bringing ear plugs, but forgot.
It was so much fun. It feels like it was a dream. We still can't believe we got to see one of our favorite bands live! What are we going to do next year for our 10 year anniversary to top this? I have no idea.
(This is the ending of the song "Human," Gordon's favorite song by The Killers. After I walked the girls to the bus stop the next morning, Gordon and I went home and I showed him the videos and pictures from the concert. Of course he liked this one the best and he wondered why the didn't play the beginning of the song for him on the video. :) What a sweet boy.
The kids are a bit jealous that they didn't get to go. So we're thinking of picking up a copy of this DVD from their last tour and asking uncle Dan if we can watch it his house on his big TV with great sound so the kids can pretend that they got to go to a concert as well.
Here is the set list from the concert, we got to sit right next to each other for the encores because some people left after The Killers left the stage for the first time:
Runaways
Heaven Ain't Close
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
Flesh and Bone
For Reasons Unknown
Bling (Confessions of a King)
Miss Atomic Bomb
Human
Here With Me
Dustland Fairytale
Moon River (by JOhnny Mercer and Henry Mancini)
Read My Mind
Mr. Brightside
All These Things That I've Done
Encores:
Heart of a Girl
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
When We Were Young
2 comments:
SO jealous! Happy anniversary. :)
So happy to see that you had so much fun. No wonder I hear the Killers everyday through the wall of my office.
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