The Only Way Is Las Vegas! The Killers Rock V Festival!
The Killers could literally be V Festival veterans. Returning to the event for their fourth year, Brandon Flowers and Co were back for yet another go at headlining. With four albums of non-stop tunes under their leather belts, 2014 promised to be the best yet…
Feeling: After a rather lovely set from Paolo Nutini, Chelmsford waited with bated breath for the bright lights of the Las Vegas rockers. Suddenly, the crowd was silenced by a ear-splitting loud noise, sounding a lot like an airplane engine roaring before take off, with their intro going on for at least a few minutes. The Killers had officially arrived!
Tunes: Kicking off proceedings with Somebody Told Me, each of the band walked on to the stage separately before belting out the track. They proceeded to blastthrough some of their biggest hits including Smile Like You Mean It, Human and Shot At The Night.
Things then got a bit bizarre as Jimmy Carr - who is apparently pals with Brandon - came out to introduce their encore, with the Sin City band wrapping their set with When You Were Young and Mr. Brightside,bringing the perfect end to the two-day weekender.
Banter: We had a giggle when Flowers made reference to hit reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex, smiling at the crowd and stating: "Is it true the only way is Essex? Surely there are other ways. Can we show you the Las Vegas way here tonight?"
Celeb Spots: None that we noticed, but we can just imagine Paolo Nutini, Lily Allen and Rita Ora hanging out watching The Killers in action backstage.
Sweat Factor: After a day dodging the rain, the weather had notably cooled for The Killers set, with Flowers losing the glitzy coat, revealing a simple black shirt and jeans instead.
Summary: The Killers seemed at home on the V Festival stage, bringing a slice of Vegas to Chelmsford. With an impressive back catalogue and an even more impressive frontman, the rockers proved that after a number of years headlining the event, they can still bring a fresh take on their crowd-pleasing set.
Reporting:Ben Lowe
Words: Joanne Dorken@MTVUK
'Watch MTV’s coverage of V Festival Saturday August 30 from 7pm on MTV Music and Sunday August 31 from 7pm on MTV Live HD.'