"Bristol, it's been a long two years," said Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of anthemic rock band The Killers, as his band settled into their flow, ten minutes in. "A lot of people have been isolated. But we're not isolated now," he added, prompting a roar from the crowd of almost 30,000 people.
It was a roar of relief, joy and release, that finally, three years after the last time this many people were together in the city listening to something as simple as live music, it was happening again. "This is a super-spreader event," Flowers continued, using the language of a pandemic we've become so grimly accustomed too. "And we're spreading love."
The Killers took to the stage - and a huge stage it was - at Ashton Gate Stadium and filled Bristol's biggest venue. They came from up the road and round the corner, and they came from Devon and West Wales and Scotland and Yorkshire, all for this moment - to be able to stand in a crowd and roar with appreciation.
