As Brandon Flowers gets set to return to Glasgow, we remember the night The Killers played one of their best ever gigs at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.
Flowers will perform at the city’s O2 Academy on Friday night as he brings his Thrasher Tour to Glasgow having already performed in Bournemouth, London, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester and York.
He is no stranger to Glasgow, and has been performing in the city for over 20 years. We wanted to take a step back in time to remember the night that The Killers made a glorious return to King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, 14 years after they last performed there in 2004 after headlining the main stage at TRNSMT in 2019.
With a plethora of songs to choose from, The Killers played fan-favourites ‘Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll’, ‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine’ and ‘When You Were Young’ at King Tut’s, delighting the 300 fans who filled the intimate venue for the ‘Midnight Show’.
After a set at TRNSMT which saw Brandon Flowers and crew cover Scottish classics ‘The Whole of the Moon’ by The Waterboys and ‘Side’ by Travis, fans inside King Tut’s truly had a once in a lifetime experience.
In the early days of the band, when they were starting out, the frontman told John Dingwall: “We’ve played a couple of gigs in Scotland before, including King Tut’s, and we’ve always had a great time. The crowds are memorable.”
As the date of the gig approached, drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr said: “We plan to play TRNSMT then right afterwards play King Tut’s.
“I’m curious to see what that will do to my brain. I think it will bring back memories…We were going to open it up to the public but worried about announcing it on stage on Sunday because of the level of interest and the amount of people arriving. It might be a hazard.”
Looking back on his first time playing King Tut’s, Vannucci Jr said: “Back then playing King Tut’s in some ways we knew we would do well. But in some ways you still have doubts.”
Speaking in 2022, Flowers said: “We do look forward to going to Scotland. We’ve had some magical moments there, moments we’ll never forget.
“TRSNMT was out of this world, and then we went back to where we started and played King Tut’s the same night. And those kind of…we love doing things like that and those are the kind of moments that, you know, again, you just never forget.
“They’re part of our repertoire now, and I don’t know if we’ll be able to hit King Tut’s again after this next gig. We may try, but we’re looking forward to it.”
What songs did The Killers play at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in 2019?
Midnight Show
Enterlude
When You Were Young
Somebody Told Me
Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll
Tyson vs. Douglas
Human
The Man
Spaceman
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
Mr. Brightside
All These Things That I’ve Done