Review of The Killers: Leaving Las Vegas

Introduction

The Killers are quite possibly one of the biggest bands in the world at this point in time. Hailing from Las Vegas, the band comprising of Brandon Flowers (vocals, synths), Dave Keuning (guitar), Mark Stoermer (bass) and Ronnie Vannucci (drums, percussion) couldn`t initially break through the limited music scene in their native city and so decamped to the UK.

Breaking through in 2004 with singles Somebody Told Me, Mr Brightside and All The Thing`s We`ve Done, The Killers gained widespread critical acclaim with their debut album Hot Fuss. Dubbed `the best British Band to have come out of America`, The Killers mix of new wave music with a modern sensibility has garnered them many fans across the UK and Europe. Influences include U2, The Smiths, The Cure, David Bowie and The Pet Shop Boys.

The second album Sam`s Town cemented their reputation as a quality band despite an initial mixed response to this album`s slight change in direction and unabashed love of Americana. Personally it was my favourite album of 2006, but that`s just me.

The Killers, and Brandon Flowers in particular, are not averse to a bit of controversy either. As well as Flowers having public spats with The Bravery and Fall Out Boy, a spot at Live 8 was almost denied the band by promoter Harvey Goldsmith who was worried about too many bands playing at the event and that The Killers weren`t well known enough to deserve being on the bill. Geldof, for all his faults, was adamant that they should appear and Goldsmith eventually compromised and decided they could appear but only perform one song. Whilst Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me were probably crowd favourites, the band pulled out all the stops with a storming version of All The Things I`ve Done.

This documentary looks mainly at their early career and interviews people from their home city, whether musically or academically connected to the band. It`s an unauthorised DVD so there is no music by the band appearing here although there is plenty of still and performance clips of the band (which is a little odd).

Video

Mix of colour and black & white shots, the colour shots are mostly framed with a blur around the edges which makes it look a bit more interesting.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, but no subtitles.

Features

The hardest Killers quiz in the World - yay, I scored a meagre 14 out of 25.

Discography - quite detailed actually, providing you with all the different versions of singles and albums.

Conclusion

A nice introduction to the band via their ex-bandmates, the first Killers drummer, some local radio people and University lecturers who know the band intimately. There`s a lot of anecdotal stuff from the various talking heads, some of whom probably shouldn`t be there, but it`s harmless enough - especially at the price.

Where this documentary falls down is mainly due to the fact there is no Killers music in it. Obviously that can`t be helped if it`s unauthorised but part of the attraction of DVDs like this is the inclusion of the music. It`s more annoying when the film is showing footage of them playing and the music playing at the same time is something completely different.

It was also obviously edited together not long after the release of Sam`s Town so there is very little said about this album, which in my opinion is better than Hot Fuss. I`m sure there are plenty who would disagree with me on that one though…

Quite an interesting viewing overall if a little laboured, spotlighting the Las Vegas music scene and telling the story of how they came together. Never quite realised just how bland the Vegas music scene was, supposedly a hotbed of Emo and metal bands, and just how difficult it could be to get attention by being different. What is a little surprising for me is the exclusion of Brandon Flower`s synthpop musical past with Blush Response, although they were actually called Subversion when Brandon knew them and appeared on a Ninthwave Records synthpop compilation back in 2001. It may have been a short stint, but even so it`s part of the history of the band where other local bands are namechecked. Never mind.

Not a bad effort, but don`t buy this expecting any killer tunes…