Concert Preview: The Killers and M83 Bring Keyboards And '80s Love To Erwin Center

The Killers' debut album Hot Fuss, the group became hugely popular by striving to be the next Duran Duran. Their second album, Sam's Town, found them grasping for a fusion of Bruce Springsteen and Queen, but coming up mostly empty save for two great singles ("When You Were Young" and "Read My Mind," both of which need no defense). Over Thanksgiving weekend, the band released Day and Age, which finally dropped them off at a musically appropriate spot: mid-'80s, pop star Bowie. The album literally begins by sounding like "Young Americans," and it makes a lot of sense: The Killers are more serious than the average pop group, but are too pretty and radio-friendly for indie rock. And despite some questionable grammar, there's no doubt that recent single "Human" will sound as great in a basketball stadium as it does in your car. To that end, the band arrives on a high after being announced as a Coachella 2009 headliner late last week - to put that in perspective, the other two are The Cure and Paul McCartney.

While the band have a number of ace singles to throw in to their set tonight at the Erwin Center, they come in battling an early reputation as a live band of shoegazing bores. Singer Brandon Flowers has been adamant in recent interviews that the negative press from Sam's Town forced the band to become a great live act to 'sell' the material, so it should be interesting to see how far they've advanced in the years since we've last seen them. In any event, hearing 10 brilliant pop songs ("Somebody Told Me"! "Mr. Brightside"! "Smile Like You Mean It"!) and some assorted album cuts on a cold Tuesday night will likely be a great time.

In an inspired move, The Killers selected M83 as their tour's opening act...perhaps as a none too subtle nod to their love of all things mascara and John Hughes. The French electronic act are touring behind 2008's epic '80s throwback Saturday=Youth, which literally sounds like the score to a Molly Ringwald movie at times. The opening set will likely focus on the new album, and thus perfectly sets the sonic table for The Killers later on. If DJ Mel would host Rock The Casbah afterward, they'd be all set, eh?