Stylish Killers lend heat to Boston Phoenix show

June 08, 2005|Globe Staff

On their debut CD, ''Hot Fuss," most of the Killers' songs possess a maddening sameness. It's a pleasant sameness, but the songs can be indistinct. That quality didn't necessarily change when the band played at last night's annual 101.7 WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll.

Yet buoyed by the goofy charm of lead singer Brandon Flowers, and especially eye-catching, manic drummer Ronnie Vannucci, the band gave a charged performance that slowly made clear what all the hot fuss is about.

They took the stage to Elvis Presley's cheesy classic, ''Viva Las Vegas," -- the band is from Sin City -- which had the audience singing along, then launched into ''Jenny Was a Friend of Mine." Seguing into ''On Top," Flowers bounced between keyboards and strolled the stage with a kind of foppish glee.

Things really erupted with ''Somebody Told Me" -- not just because it was the band's first big hit, but because it's a flat-out great song. Of course, they also played ''Mr. Brightside" and ''Smile Like You Mean It," and even pulled out an early song, ''Indie Rock and Roll." But a definite standout was a new song, ''All the Pretty Faces," which conveyed a darker, beefier sound that may hint at the band's direction for its next CD.

If Flowers graciously engaged his audience, Interpol mostly behaved as if the crowd was barely there. From ''Next Exit" to ''Narc" to the singles ''Evil" and ''Slow Hands," the New York quartet played on, with singer-guitarist Paul Banks offering only the occasional ''thank you." Still, the group performed a solid hour-long set, which if nothing else, did little to dispel the notion that it sounds an awful lot like Joy Division.

San Diego's Louis XIV plays as if post-punk never happened -- it's all big guitars and big riffs, the sort of thing one used to hear before AC/DC's Bon Scott drank himself to death. Appropriately, its album, ''The Best Little Secrets are Kept," is a raunchy ode to women, filled with the sorts of uncensored sentiments men would love to express to their objects of the affection if they didn't fear backhanded slaps and restraining orders. Still, songs like ''Finding Out True Love is Blind" and ''Pledge of Allegiance" are good, dirty fun.

New York quartet Robbers on High Street opened the show with a 30-minute performance featuring melodic selections from their full-length debut, ''Tree City."