Brandon Flowers wishes he’d written The Waterboys’ ‘Whole of the Moon’.
Flowers admitted he’s often “flustered” when he gets asked which tracks he wishes he’d penned himself but having had the time to ponder the question, he opted for the 1998 track and treated fans at London’s The O2 on Sunday (07.07.24) night to the band’s take on the song.
He told the audience: “People ask me all the time ‘What song do you wish you had written’ and I always sort of get flusterd in the moment, there’s so much information going on, so many songs that you love, but I have an answer now, it’s ‘The Whole of the Moon’ by the Waterboys”
“We love performing it and we’re gonna play it for you tonight.”
The band had initially planned to cover The Kinks’ ‘Come Dancing’ after Brandon “stole” a line from the song for the group’s own hit ‘Bones’, but performing it earlier on their ‘Rebel Diamonds’ tour had fallen flat.
He explained: “I was stealing [a line] from Ray Davies and a Kinks song, ‘Come Dancing’.
“I think it was bigger in American than in the UK, definitely in Ireland. We found that out the hard way because we were going to play ‘Bones’ and then ‘Come Dancing’ and I thought it was gonna go off but it was… crickets.
“Everyone write down on your phones, go home and check out ‘Come Dancing’ by The Kinks, the legendary Kinks.
“So when I sing ‘It’s only natural’ [in ‘Bones’], I stole that, I’m a thief – ‘Come Dancing, it’s only natural’. ”
The band were playing the third show of their six-night residency at the venue and have kept things fresh by mixing up their set list each night.
After kicking off with ‘My Own Soul’s Warning’ and the familiar ‘Enterlude’, Brandon teased the audience about their earlier gigs.
Speaking to the crowd before they launched into ‘Human’, he said: “England progress in the Euros and you’re seeing The Killers and Travis in The O2, you must be very good boys and girls.
“Listen, before we go any further I have a confession to make. We’ve been seeing other audiences. In fact we saw another audience on Friday night in this very room. Sure it was fun, but you gotta believe us, it’s different with you.
“Are we gonna go all the way tonight or what? We just need one thing from your first, London do we have your enthusiastic consent? Alright, we’re good to go.
“One more thing, outside it’s a Sunday night in London, not here, it’s a Saturday night and a Killers show.”
Fans sang along enthusiastically as the band barrelled through hit after hit including ‘Somebody Told Me’, ‘Caution’, ‘Runaways’ and closer ‘All These Things I’ve Done’, with spectacular visuals, explosions of confetti and a dazzling laser show all adding to the Las Vegas experience as Brandon and guitarist Dave Keuning prowled the diamond-shaped stage.
The band returned for a four-song encore which featured a tour debut for 2021’s ‘In Another Life’ before timeless classics ‘Mr. Brightside’ and ‘When You Were Young’. Brandon himself then wheeled out his own piano, decorated with a thank you message for fans, as they played out the crowd with ‘Exitlude’.
He also told the audience the gig was a dream come true.
He said: “I don’t know what you were dreaming of when you were young, but we were dreaming of this. Thank you so much for making it possible for us, thank yo for coming tonight.”
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