ShareBrandon Flowers performing his Thrasher Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Sunday 18th October 2026.
Review by Kevin Cooper
Brandon Flowers, front man of American indie band the Killers proved that it is possible to listen to both Johnny Cash and New Order as he let his country influences take over for a solo show at Rock City on Sunday night.
For this eagerly anticipated show with tickets at a premium, it was hard to predict how his new music would go down with the crowd. He need not have worried because they were with him from the get-go, singing the lyrics to songs from his third studio album, Thrasher, that had only been released in August of this year.
Engaging with the crowd before each song, he confessed that his whole Vegas rock star image was a smokescreen because behind it there was a small time kid pulled between his elder brother’s British indie rock records and the country music that his dad played.
Delivering a set list that contained eight of the ten album tracks, it was clear that this album is his most exposed and revealing. Opening with The Red Ground and Does It Ever Cross Your Mind? his set list was a mixed bag with some songs from the Killers back catalogue thrown in for good measure mixed with some songs from his two previous solo albums.
But this was very much not a Killers show. It was not until the closing of the main set that All These Things That I’ve Done was given an outing much to the excitement of the crowd, and encore song Read My Mind which Flowers had stripped down and countrified.
His first solo single, Crossfire, came early in the set, followed by Tiger’s Blood, a punchy canyon ballad about a childhood friend and Angel, which is a menacing tale of a brother-in-law hitting the “road to ruin”.
With each song came an explanation that had the crowd hanging on his every word. In set closer, An American Dream he introduced his band who had sounded phenomenal throughout the night.
The Ivor Novello award winning songwriter had captivated this crowd, had exuded confidence throughout the show and had a lot of energy with an animated style. He truly is an enigmatic performer.