The Killers

This should be a breeze for Plans And Apologies. Playing to what is probably their biggest ever audience, it looks oh so easy. So they make life difficult for themselves by committing the cardinal sin of letting everyone in the room know they come from Derby (not a wise move fellas) to a few boos and whistles here and there, and then cap it off by inviting some gimp called Brian to dance with the band in nothing more than a leather thong. Now gimmicks like these would probably be appropriate if you were called the Scissor Sisters and had no discernible tunes but Plans And Apologies possess an array of wondrous moments such as the Slint buggering The Go-Betweens zenith of 'Onwards Away'. Sadly, their reliance on the dancing muppet relegates their status to that of nothing more than a student halls of residence band, and we want them to leave. Immediately.

Komakino on the other hand had no such problems captivating the now restless throng. I must say that prior to coming here, I had my reservations about this lot, what with the name suggesting a Joy Division covers band and everything... but oh, how they manage to make fools of us all! Instead, Komakino are the missing link between The Cooper Temple Clause's balls-out spacerock and Idlewild's most fluent blasts of literate carnage. The truth, it seems, lies in the intros, as throughout their set Komakino have an uncanny knack of being able to devise the most perfect opening to every song that doesn't just beg for, but simply demand your attention for the entire duration of their set.

By the time The Killers take the stage at the ungodly hour of 11:30, a large proportion of the audience has departed for the late trains and buses that will deliver them safely to their beds. If only they'd have stayed. You see, The Killers aren't like anyone else who's around at the moment. Yeah, sure there's a smidgen of Duran Duran here, a bit of 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me'-era Cure there, and isn't that Ric Ocasek and The Cars bellowing 'Mr Brightside'? But that's exactly the point. None of these bands have done anything remotely interesting in years, and yet all of a sudden their legacy has thrown up one of the most exciting bands to cross the pond in ages, a band whose members probably weren't even born when messrs Le Bon and Smith cut their first disks.

Singer Brandon Flowers may sound like an extra from Beverley Hills 90102, but his onstage demeanour ranks him up there alongside some of the most revered frontmen like Bryan Ferry, Iggy Pop, and even Jarvis Cocker. With standing still never being an option to Flowers or his band, their repertoire changes from fast'n'moody to... fast'n'moody, yet each one throws up its own little characters - the aforementioned 'Mr Brightside', 'Jenny' and the boyfriend who looks like a girlfriend from current single 'Somebody Told Me'.

Live, The Killers show that wearing your influences from head to toe doesn't necessarily constitute parody and plagiarism, instead welding a charm and charisma of their own to the distinctly anglophilic references in their music. Sales of '7 And The Ragged Tiger' and 'Head On The Door' may have increased in Nottingham the next day, but it's The Killers who'll really feel the benefits in the long run.