(a) setlist

1. Mr. Brightside
2. Spaceman
3. The Way It Was
4. Smile Like You Mean It
5. Bling (Confession of a King)
6. Human
7. Somebody Told Me
8. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
9. Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
10. For Reasons Unknown
11. From Here On Out
12. A Dustland Fairytale
13. Read My Mind
14. Runaways
15. All These Things That I’ve Done

Encore:

1. This Is Your Life
2. When You Were Young

(b) highlights

• just being at the festival when I had no idea I was even going until like 4 days before
• being in VIP and not having to stand at the barricade all damn day like I have for literally every other festival The Killers have ever played
• “This Is Your Life” – the accidental incredible song from the otherwise lukewarm Day & Age that always totally kills live
• the environment of the festival was awesome – breezy, by the beach, great food, fun atmosphere
• RVJ, Dave’s outfit, and seeing Mark’s elbows
• Brandon pretending like he understood football and wearing a Chargers jersey for the encore
• the use of the jumbotron behind the band – I could get used to seeing all their faces that big all the time coming into my view

(c) lowlights

• the VIP crowd was a w f u l; you know you’re bad when BFlow even calls you out mid-song for not dancing

(d) overall thoughts

Didn’t even know there was a music festival in San Diego called Kaaboo until The Killers were headlining. To be honest, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t even a music festival in San Diego called Kaaboo until The Killers were headlining it. The whole festival was practically right on the beach, looking out over the Pacific Ocean, and it was beautiful. My friends and I got stupid lucky with VIP tickets and didn’t have to wait all day in the sun – a true gift after a decade of nearly getting heatstroke at some festival for this band.

The set was usual, but the band was so, so alive and I felt so crazy happy being there. Despite the stage being huge and the band headlining, there was such an intimate feeling to the show. It could be that most of the crowd immediately around me and my friends were bored, unmoving, and, essentially, stupid rich people who didn’t care but watched the show anyway. But because they were stagnant idiots, they effectively disappeared. It felt like the band was on a massive stage with a tiny audience of the 20 or so people who had the best time ever. I remember when “This Is Your Life” began, I started yelling, “None of you boring, rich people deserve to hear this beautiful song!!!!”

Sometimes shows are super awesome when the crowd sucks and you have a great time anyway because the band sounds and looks so perfect.

Bottom line: Costume changes during encores are always a good idea and most rich people don’t know how to dance, but all Brandon Flowers wants is for you to dance, people. Just dance or he will be sassy.