by Michael McCarthy
Last night on the 23rd of September, 2026, I finally caught a solo performance by Brandon Flowers of The Killers. The Killers are one of my favorite bands and I’ve seen them several times, but circumstances had prevented me from catching either of their two most recent Boston appearances. So, naturally, I was thrilled to finally see Brandon Flowers again last night—albeit this time without The Killers behind him.
Now, if you’d asked me if I wanted to see The Killers again or a Brandon Flowers solo show, I would have said The Killers because they’re one of my favorite bands and I have liked their albums a bit more than Brandon’s solo albums. That said, I am very happy that I went to the show last night because it allowed me to get to know the singer from one of my favorite bands much better than I had known him before. You see, last night he didn’t just perform 20 songs. Rather, he told stories about many of the songs before he performed them. And many of the stories were deeply personal. Before performing “Miss America,” he talked about how his two sisters had been in beauty pageants then he said that Shelly had gotten married and had three kids with an abusive partner starting when she was 17 but she had finally gotten the hell out of there. At another point, he said that his dad used to play country music like Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and he was always embarrassed by that music but he was here in Boston to perform it for us. He didn’t literally do songs by either of those legends, but he performed several songs from his new album THRASHER, which happens to be a country album. It has all of the killer hooks (pun intended) that you would hope for from an album by Brandon but it’s laced with steel guitars and banjo and other country music staples. While he was on the topic, he said that he played his dad the new album and his dad’s reaction was simply, “Finally!”
Brandon also joked that when someone recently asked him when he “went country,” his answer was 16 years ago and nobody noticed—apparently a reference to his 2010 solo debut, Flamingo. While I certainly wouldn’t call Flamingo a country album, there were hints of country and Americana in its sound, making THRASHER feel less like a sudden reinvention than Flowers finally bringing those influences to the forefront.
Last night’s show very much felt like an episode of the great VH1 series Storytellers. And the audience very much appeared to enjoy hearing the stories behind those songs. Often, when you go to a show and the singer or another member of a band starts talking, you’ll hear random people shouting out song title requests or whistling or otherwise doing something distracting and perhaps even disrespectful to the person who’s speaking. But last night when Brandon spoke, the whole place went quiet. It was like being at church. Speaking of church, at one point last night Brandon remarked that he’d been alternating between doing covers of Jim Carroll, John Prine and Randy Travis. And he told the audience he would have us cheer and the one that got the biggest reaction from the crowd would be the one he’d perform. I don’t know if it’s because it was the last name he said or what but people definitely cheered the loudest for John Prine. But then Brandon grinned and said he thought he had something we’d like better and he launched into a very powerful performance of The Killers’ massive hit “When You Were Young.” He had performed it on this tour previously but I had looked at the setlists for his last few shows and he had definitely been doing a cover every night instead recently so I did not expect to hear “When You Were Young” and had one of those I’m so happy I could die moments as I sang along to that one with the rest of the crowd. Now, everyone was totally into the show and having a fantastic time last night, but when he did that song, it was like the entire audience fell into a state of euphoria. It was almost like a religious experience. When he did “When You Were Young,” it was like the entire audience fell into a state of euphoria. It was almost like a religious experience, with what seemed like most of the crowd singing along—not just to the chorus, but to practically every word. Mind you, a lot of people were even singing along to the songs from THRASHER, which was only released 33 days before last night’s show. Which proves that there are many fans who really love Brandon’s solo music and I would certainly include myself in that. But when he did “When You Were Young,” he practically blew the roof off of the place. Honestly, the closest thing I could compare it to was Beatlemania. Maybe it wasn’t quite at that level since we didn’t have anyone fainting in the audience, but people were ecstatic.
Truly. And I have to say, Brandon almost seemed to shine the brightest when he was doing the four songs by The Killers that he performed last night, which also included “In The Car Outside,” “Quiet Town” and “Read My Mind,” the latter two of which were performed during the encore, which also included “Between Me and You” and “An American Dream.”
Although THRASHER was the solo album Brandon performed the most songs from last night, he also did several songs from his previous two solo albums, Flamingo and The Desired Effect. From Flamingo (2010), he played “Crossfire,” “Magdalena,” “Hard Enough,” and “Only the Young.” From The Desired Effect (2015), he played “Still Want You,” “Lonely Town,” “Can’t Deny My Love,” and “Between Me and You.” All in all, he did eight songs from THRASHER, four songs by The Killers, four songs from The Desired Effect and four songs from Flamingo.
I also have to give credit to Brandon’s band, who sounded phenomenal throughout the night. His touring band included Robbie Connolly and Adam Tressler on guitar, Jake Blanton on bass, Glenn Moule of Howling Bells on drums, Bruce Bouton on pedal steel, Charlie McCoy alternating between harmonica, fiddle and guitar, and Erica Canales and Nicky Egan on backing vocals. In addition to Canales and Egan, several of the guys in the band joined Brandon on the choruses of certain songs, giving them the sort of huge vocal sound you’d expect to hear in a stadium even though we were seeing him in a club. The country flavor of THRASHER was brought to life beautifully with pedal steel and harmonica alongside the more traditional guitars, bass and drums.
In fact, I thought many of the new songs sounded even better live than they do on the album—and I say that as someone who really likes the album. There was simply something more powerful about hearing those songs performed by this band in person. I was especially impressed by Charlie McCoy, who also plays on THRASHER and is a Nashville legend who, at 85 years old, is still up there touring and sounding fantastic. Bruce Bouton, whose pedal steel is such an important part of the new album’s sound, also played on THRASHER, making the live performances of those songs feel particularly authentic.
I also have to applaud whoever was responsible for the sound at Roadrunner because it was superb. These days, I often find myself having to wear earplugs at concerts because everything is so loud that the vocals become muddy and I can’t understand the lyrics—or even what the singer is saying between songs. Last night, I never had to put my earplugs in. Everything sounded crystal clear, from Brandon’s vocals to the individual instruments, and I understood virtually every word he said when he was telling his stories. For a show where those stories were such an important part of the experience, that made a huge difference.
One thing that really struck me last night was how humble Brandon seems to be. He talked about relatives who worked for casinos and hotels and said that he’d expected to work at a casino and raise a family off of it but instead his dream came true, thanks to people like those of us who were at the show last night. He said that it was “a miracle” that his dream came true and thanked the audience. I’ve heard artists say things like that before and sometimes it seems like they’re only saying it because people expect them to say things like that but I was close to the stage last night and could see Brandon’s facial expressions perfectly and he truly looked like a man who felt blessed to be in the position he is.
Perhaps that’s what ultimately made last night’s show feel so special. I went into Roadrunner expecting to hear some great songs from one of my favorite singers, but I left feeling like I knew Brandon Flowers much better than I had before. Through the stories about his family, his father’s country records and the life he once expected to lead, he let us see the person behind the songs. And then, when he surprised us with “When You Were Young” and Roadrunner practically exploded, we got a pretty good demonstration of just how far that dream has taken him. Flowers may consider his career a miracle, but after watching him give everything he had on that stage last night, it was impossible not to think that he’s done plenty to make that miracle happen.
PS: Why is the album called THRASHER when it’s not thrash metal? It turns out THRASHER’s title has nothing to do with thrash metal. Flowers has explained that when his family moved from Las Vegas to rural Utah when he was eight, he struggled to fit in and lost a couple of fights. (He said that he was bullied until he started at a new school in sixth grade and finally made some friends.) His father, who had grown up fighting, tried to teach him how to defend himself, but Brandon simply wasn’t a fighter. Flowers has since noticed that he frequently shadowboxes onstage and sees something poignant in the idea that he may still be trying to show his father that he’s a fighter. Hence the title THRASHER and the image of Flowers throwing a punch on the album cover.
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