Flowers: Killers considering Billy Joel-style residency at Caesars

Brandon Flowers is greeting a few guests backstage about a half hour before Friday’s Killers show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Looking every bit the rock star, the 43-year-old frontman is sporting a suit that is either muted pink or burnt orange, depending on the light. He’s wearing an open-collared white dress shirt, showing off his ever-present state of Nevada necklace, what he once called “a cheap pendant from Etsy” he bought 10 or 15 years ago.

It was money well spent. Flowers wears that piece, all the time.

Brandon Flowers is wearing his state of Nevada necklace … Every show. Works like a charm … @thekillers @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/J69sGnsue6

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) August 17, 2024

Las Vegas ambassador

The prominence of this performance is reflected in Flowers’ disposition. Like a sprinter about to burst from the blocks, he’s tought, his words and movements efficient, giving off a “Let’s get out there” vibe.

In a city where “first” and “only” are huge words, the Killers have achieved both in this run at Caesars. It is the first, and thus far only, residency engagement by a Las Vegas rock band. The show marks the 20th anniversary of The Killers’ breakout debut, “Hot Fuss,” played in its entirety.

Splashed with Vegas iconography, the show is also a celebration of the band’s exalted position in our city’s history. As the Killers’ primary voice on and off the stage, Flowers has ascended to an ambassador role for Las Vegas.

Two decades as a superstar representative of the city’s past and present, Flowers is becoming what Bruce Springsteen is to New Jersey, or Billy Joel is to New York. Flowers might not see himself that way, but he does carry himself with a certain Rat Pack-style panache, like the Sinatra of rock.

Flowers grins at the idea of an even more permanent presence on the Strip, after these 10 shows conclude Sept. 1.

How we start it … @thekillers. Intense Jenny action @CaesarsPalace … @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/g9cFj5aeaw

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) August 17, 2024

“We are so in love with this stage, and the way that looks, that we have already kicked around the idea of, ‘What if this was a thing where we come back every now and then?’’’ Flowers said. “Just save the stage, and every year come back, like Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden.”

An educated forecast of the concept: If the guys want to do that, they can do it.

Killing it with ‘Hot Fuss’

Demand for the Killers at the Colosseum makes that type of recurring run plausible. All the Vegas dates have sold out in the theater’s 4,400-capacity configuration (that’s with the GA pit open). But Flowers conceded he wasn’t fully confident how the show would be received, or if it would come off at all, until he tracked early ticket sales.

“They moved so fast, and it felt great,” Flowers says. “But then you start carrying it around, from that moment on, like, ‘OK. This is real. This is gonna happen.’”

Flowers said the set list for the Colosseum is atypical of any Killers show because the classics from “Hot Fuss” lead the performance. There are a few walk-off songs — hello, “Mr. Brightside” — performed at the jump, as if the band opens with its encore.

“I was worried, you know, because we rely so heavily on ‘Hot Fuss’ in our day-to-day lives (laughs) and in our live shows,” Flowers says. “We get rid of ‘Jenny,’ ‘Mr. Brightside,’ ‘Somebody Told Me,’ ‘Smile Like You Mean It,’ early on. But when we came out (opening night) with ‘The Man’ and ‘Human,’ it was very celebratory. The crowd was so into the encore, which made me feel good.”

Caesars nostalgia

The Colosseum set is instantly iconic, and Vegas to the max.

“The entire stage in the shape of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign is just, it was a genius idea,” Flowers says. “You want to utilize that giant screen that’s in the room, and this is obstructing it a little bit. But it’s so beautiful. I think this is the coolest production we’ve ever had.”

Flowers has a known affection for Caesars Palace. He was a busser at Spago as a teenager. He hung out at the Forum Shops. He went to the movies. All at Caesars.

“Going to see the OmniMax with my family was such a big deal, my instant thought of Caesars Palace is that,” Flowers says, referring to the theater complex that was pulled apart to build the Colosseum. “I bought ‘Is This It’ by the Strokes at the Virgin Megastore, and it changed the trajectory of my life.”

Not known as a launching pad for rock stars, the busser job also shaped Flowers’ musical ambitions.

“When I worked at Spago, I feel like it prepared me for the lifestyle that I’m in now, in a lot of ways,” Flowers says. “It was so fast paced, and it was serious business. Getting to these people, when they were done, you’d better clean that table and get the next group in.”

‘The next stage’

The rock star still carries those life lessons to the stage.

“And that’s become a part of my life, going to the next town,” Flowers says. “Where’s the next stage? Where’s the next batch of people? I realized something different about myself that I’d never felt before when I worked at Spago.”

In the service industry, and in the entertainment culture, it’s called the personal touch. And this Las Vegas showman has it, in spades.

You might have noticed #BrandonFlowers showing off his necklace at the close of last night’s @thekillers show. It’s this, and he never takes it off … #RJNow @reviewjournal #Vegas #Nevada pic.twitter.com/ZYQm4CUZxf

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) August 27, 2022

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.