Half way through a blistering set by The Killers at the packed Emirates Old Trafford it abruptly stopped. Vocalist Brandon Flowers was anxious that someone had fallen in the bobbing sea of bodies in front of him at the eagerly anticipated show.
A white-haired pensioner was pulled clear. Flowers asked the audience whether he should really be crowd surfing at his age, before dropping into the pit to check on his welfare and putting his arm around him to rapturous applause.
Back on stage the singer told us: "I said Billy what ya doin'?," Then in a decent stab at a Manc/Northern accent he told us the elderly fella's brilliantly forthright reply.
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"He told me 'I'm enjoyin' me self", said Brandon to the delight of the audience. And so too did the 60,000 others packing in to the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground on a huge night for the city.
Rather fittingly, the song that was halted for said reveller? The Killers' tribute to their own Manc heroes - Joy Division's Shadowplay.
But from the very first thunderclap of Ronnie Vannucci's drums and a volley of confetti, the stadium erupted as one to the band's epic declaration of Las Vegas swagger as they exploded the show open with My Own Soul's Warning.
Flowers, in shiny slick suit and stacked cowboy boots bestrode the stage like a casino croupier on speed as he connected again with Manchester. The band first visited the city in 2003 and "we were good and we knew it - thank God you agreed with us" said Flowers.
The mutual respect was crystal clear as they claimed the space they were born to occupy - the big stadium. With colossal power they unleashed a string of epic bangers. After Enterlude - a gentle scene setting announcement of their intentions, they screeched into a pounding When You Were Young.
Flowers, incredibly, raised the ante with the observation: "It's been a couple of funky years. This is a super spreader event...we are spreading love, we are spreading rock n roll." With that they tore into the track which was the first on their legendary debut album, Hot Fuss - Jenny Was A Friend of Mine. The audio Blitzkrieg which is the first five tracks of that album alone would have filled stadia for a decade.
With no let up in pace and power they delivered of those famous five - a grungy Smile Like You Mean It. The volcanic boom from Vannucci's walloping sticks was the engine which drove a wonderfully loud show.
ET-type techno-speech on screen was the preamble to a scintillating Human with the chorus completed by images of 100 dancers on the vast backdrop behind the band. Flowers had a choir of 60,000 joining him on what felt like a much needed hymn to humanity and its survival.
An epic Somebody Told Me followed and then Shadowplay during which Billy had his tumble. The band were making up for lost time.
The night started with Blossoms given the task of coming on ahead of The Killers - and did it with humour, fine musicianship, funky chops, and buoyant tunes. Singer Tom Ogden told an appreciative audience : "The Killers are from Vegas, us lot have come down the A6, it took us 20 minutes." The Stockport band did a a great set with I Can't Stand It and There's a Reason Why going down well.
The Killers were denied the chance to tour 2020's Imploding The Mirage which is packed with bombast due to the pandemic. To their great credit their new album Pressure Machine is quite a different path for them - panoramic Americana, and chilling tales of small town dreams and hardship set around one remote outpost of US life - an intricate, related collection of songs.
From it the band played a rollicking In the Car Outside - an answer to escaping a claustrophobic existence - get in the car and drive. This is a band not resting on the laurels of a glorious past.
Shot At The Night was a romp given a sultry twist by three terrific female backing singers. And then a young fan called Katie had her request on a placard she was waving answered.
She was invited up on stage to play drums on For Reasons Unknown. It wasn't schmaltzy - just sheer entertainment.
A Vegas-style rendering of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face written by Salford's Ewan MacColl was a welcome and well received lowering of the pace. But there was still time for a frenetic finale.
A wild Caution and piledriver take on All These Things I've Done triggering a crowd-wide chant of "I've got soul but I ain't a soldier" ended the show. Then fireworks erupted for Spaceman, and a rousing version of the greatest ode to paranoid jealousy ever written - Mr Brightside.
The Killers at full throttle build the kind of euphoria that would be matched by driving a 1980s Lancia Delta on a deserted M6 under a dark star-studded night sky. Mick, Ron, and Keith, should be aware their mantle of the greatest rock n roll band in the world may have been stolen - by Vegas' finest. The Killers are at their peak.
Setlist
My Own Soul's Warning
Enterlude
When You Were Young
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
Smile Like You Mean It
Shot at the Night
Running Towards a Place
Human
Somebody Told Me
Fire in Bone
Shadowplay (Joy Division cover)
In the Car Outside
For Reasons Unknown
A Dustland Fairytale
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
My God
Runaways
Read My Mind
Dying Breed
Caution
All These Things that I've Done
ENCORE
Spaceman
Mr Brightside
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