Purely by coincidence, two of my favourite bands decided to tour in November. Not only that, but the nearest concerts to us were within a few days of one another, the Killers at the weirdly named FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield on the Saturday, with the Divine Comedy on the following Tuesday night at the O2 Ritz in Manchester.
The two concerts couldn’t have been more different but brilliant in their own ways.
The Killers was a full on stadium rock concert. I must admit when we first arrived I was a little worried about whether I would enjoy the experience, being seated, firstly, rather than standing in the thick of it, and secondly being so far away from the stage. The support act did nothing to remove the nagging doubt. Nothing against Juanita Stein , but it’s hard for a single individual to captivate a stadium with their presence without the bells and whistles of full AV support. The only person I have seen do it is Ed Sheeran (yes, I have diverse musical tastes – so sue me!) Stein’s songs are good but the backdrop looked like a bed sheet with her name spray painted on, like something out of a high school talent contest, and that was about as far as the audience engagement went. Anyway, she was only on for 30 minutes or so and then it was on to the main event. I needn’t have worried. From the opening chords of Wonderful Wonderful, the first track off their new album of the same name, the Killers totally commanded the stage with their presence. Brandon Flowers is a proper showman, but at the same time doesn’t take himself too seriously; the downpour of bright pink sparkly confetti at the start of second track, The Man, was surely evidence of this. Recent talk of chlorinated chicken coming into the UK from the USA post Brexit only served to highlight the self-deprecating lyrics of the songs (is ‘USDA Certified Lean’ really a ringing endorsement?!?) My only niggle-y complaint was the large male symbol which doubled as keyboard – when Brandon Flowers went behind it to play, he all but disappeared.
The encore was a suitably glitzy affair with Flowers’ suit changing from bright yellow to silvery white between songs depending on the hue of the light. Mr Brightside was wisely saved until the final song of the encore and it brought the house down. Exhausted from dancing we made our way back to Meadowhall where we had parked the car (we’d learned from our last visit to the arena to see Kings of Leon that the car parks there are totally gridlocked following a concert!)
By Tuesday we were almost recovered and ready to go again. This time, we decided to skip the support act (sorry Jealous of the Birds!) and instead enjoy another round of great drinks at the Alberts Schloss – our favourite Manchester bar (we like it so much we went back for breakfast the next day). We rocked up to the O2 Ritz just before the Divine Comedy were due on stage and managed to work our way right to the front (admittedly to one side) – something that would have been impossible at the Killers. The O2 Ritz is much more my kind of venue – dark, dingy, sticky carpets, perfect for an indie disco. It was in a similar venue (the Leadmill in Sheffield that I first saw the Divine Comedy in my first year at university. It’s totally impossible to me that that could have been over 20 years ago now! Back then they had a discography of five albums; now it’s over twice that number. How on earth would they choose a setlist?! As it turned out, they did a pretty amazing job, mixing up well known hits with more obscure numbers. My only addition would have been In Pursuit of Happiness. The Killers performed 21 tracks but were beaten hands down in the numbers game by the Div Com, coming in at a whopping 26 tracks.
In contrast to the pyrotechnics of the Killers, the Divine Comedy relied on good music and the charisma of Neil Hannon’s interactions with the audience – and after over 20 years in the business he certainly knows how to deal with the odd heckler or two. Actually I felt that the audience at the Divine Comedy weren’t quite as fired up as they could have been. Perhaps they were quietly enjoying the music in a contemplative way, but the loudest audience singing appeared to come in when the band played a cover of Peter Sarstedt’s Where do you go to my lovely -and that’s surely got to be a slap in the face for any performer. Neil Hannon seemed genuinely tired, at times messing up the words to a couple (which is totally forgivable) but the lack of energy from the audience can’t have helped. Having said that, he came out on top form following a short costume change after Our Mutual Friend, dressed as the diminutive French general for Napoleon Complex. I swear he only wrote that song to be able to wear the costume – and that’s totally fine! The Divine Comedy also saved the best till last with an encore of Songs of Love, followed by the audience requested Your Daddy’s Car (all the better for being unrehearsed and slightly rough around the edges) and finally, probably my favourite track, Tonight We Fly.
Actually it’s nigh on impossible to pick a favourite track, I love the Divine Comedy for their hilarious, clever, cheeky lyrics combined with beautiful orchestral music, creating a brilliant song from the most random situations (who else could get away with rhyming Catherine the Great with powerful gait?!). Maybe therefore it’s fitting that we saw both them and the Killers in such quick succession, given that Humans was voted weirdest lyric of all time in a 2014. It’s unfair to compare the two experiences. If I had to choose one to go back to it would have been the Killers but that says more about the crowd at the Divine Comedy gig who, I felt, didn’t give enough back to get the best performance from Hannon et al.
But if we’re in the business of comparing, neither event lived up to seeing the Arctic Monkeys and Smashing Pumpkins on consecutive nights at the castle in Carcassonne – so much so that we regularly keep an eye on the programme for future Festivals. If either band wants to play a gig in that venue in 2018, it would be just about perfect!
The full setlists for each concert are:
The Killers
- Wonderful Wonderful
- The Man
- Somebody Told Me
- Spaceman
- The Way It Was
- Run for Cover
- I Can’t Stay
- Smile Like You Mean It
- For Reasons Unknown
- Shadowplay (Joy Division cover)
- Rut
- Human
- This River Is Wild
- A Dustland Fairytale
- Deadlines and Commitments
- Runaways
- Read My Mind
- All These Things That I’ve Done
Encore:
- The Calling
- Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
- When You Were Young
- Mr. Brightside
Divine Comedy
- Down in the Street Below
- To Die a Virgin
- Something for the Weekend
- Becoming More Like Alfie
- Catherine the Great
- The Summerhouse
- Don’t Look Down
- The Plough
- Eye of the Needle
- Bad Ambassador
- Everybody Knows (Except You)
- To the Rescue
- A Lady of a Certain Age
- Where Do You Go To My Lovely (Peter Sarstedt cover)
- Neapolitan Girl
- Love Theme From “The Godfather”(Nino Rota cover)
- Our Mutual Friend
- Napoleon Complex
- How Can You Leave Me on My Own
- Generation Sex
- At the Indie Disco / Blue Monday
- I Like
- National Express
Encore:
- Songs of Love
- Your Daddy’s Car
- Tonight We Fly