Monday, December 29, 2008

The Killers to headline Coachella 2009?


The official Coachella board is going nuts with 2009 lineup speculation at the moment.

----------------------------------------

EDIT 1/18: Okay more information from the official Coachella board- it's looking more likely that they will be there, but on Saturday since that is the only open day in their tour schedule:

04.16.2009 Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theatre
04.17.2009
4.18.2009
Las Vegas
Coachella???
The Joint

04.19.2009 San Jose, CA Event Center at San Jose
04.22.2009 Seattle, WA WaMu Theater at Qwest Field Events Center

Indio is apparently only 4 hours from Las Vegas so this is very likely. However, this puts the question of whether the Killers will headline under even more scrutiny- will the Killers really headline a Saturday? The day Prince and Radiohead have headlined before? But then to that I would say Coldplay also headlined the same day, at a time when they had the same amount of albums as the Killers right now, so this is not impossible in the least. Some on the board are predicting that the Killers will be listed as intial headliners and then later on a bigger surprise headliner will be announced and added above them. This happened last year when Portishead were originally named Saturday headliners and later Prince was announced and placed above them.

One more thing- I'm sick of people on that board saying that the Killers will not attract an audience or sell tickets. I'm not going to create a username and argue, but all I have to say is-

1. Their Madison Square Garden show sold out almost immediately. Both two years ago and a couple months ago. Even in their $$-costing fanclub presale! Literally one minute and gone for the latter.
2. and most important- the Killers have had no dates in Southern California throughout any of the three legs of the US tour that have been announced so far- there were a few in San Francisco, one now in San Jose, but NOTHING in any part of Southern California! And they have a huge following in L.A. (I should know. Quickly sold out Staples Center), not to mention the rest of the region. These people haven't seen them in two years and are dying to, so you can damn straight bet that they will haul ass to Indio just to see them headline. Alright? Alright.

/END EDIT
--------------------------------------

One of the most buzzed about bands for potential headliner is, oh, what would you know- The Killers! Some boardies are saying they have had unofficial confirmations... and the writer of Consequence of Sound is claiming he got a confirmation from a source that requested to stay anonymous. All together it sounds pretty legit. I mean just look at the album art for Day & Age above- as my meticulous editing shows, it is practically a foreshadowing of a Coachella set.

Granted, just about everyone on that board (except the awesome person who started this thread) is bitching about the possibility of the Killers headlining. I bet none of them has ever seen them live. But after reading all of their nasty comments, I almost don't want the Killers to headline... I don't want them to be the laughing stock of music blogs and hipsters all over the US in the coming months. Really, no. There has been enough of that already. They don't deserve to experience the exhilaration of a Killers concert.

... Obviously I do personally think the Killers should headline and can pull it off in a huge way. But the haters at Coachella can be so vicious and I don't want them to have to deal with that shit. And what if the hipster crowd just stands and stares blankly during the whole concert? Yeah, I can just envision them doing that right now. It would ruin everything. That kind of crowd isn't meant for Killers concerts. It's just not right when people aren't singing every word and jumping along.

My teensy little hope is that, if the Killers do headline one night, they end up blowing everyone away and squash all the nay-sayers. However, I have enough experience with this band to know that is not likely to happen... indie snobs won't even give them the chance to impress them- most will just write them off before they even arrive at Indio. Just because they're played on KROQ. Or something stupid like that. Oh indie snobs, why must you be so pathetic.

Anyway. How do these videos on their own not make this band worthy of a headlining spot in Coachella? Someone Explain to me, please. From T in the Park 2007 (in Scotland, where crowds know how to go properly insane for a band, damnit)

All These Things That I've Done:



Enterlude & When You Were Young:



I rest my case.

So, if the Killers want to stay safe, they should avoid the headlining spot. Maybe be sub-headliners instead and later possibly-maybe be singled out for stealing the show (again, doubtful, but for some reason more likely as sub's). But if they want to take a risk- which they have done far too many times than is healthy already- they should dive in and headline. Why not. Prove those assholes wrong. And even if they don't change any snobs' opinions and the audience is completely unresponsive and leads to a flat set... even then, at least they didn't cower at the possibility of being ridiculed. As long as they try their best they will be, in my opinion, phenomenal. All the snobs whining that there better be a good band in the Sahara tent during the Killers set will eat their hearts out for missing them.

Now, let's wait and see what Coachella and the Killers have up their sleeves... expect a lineup announcement sometime in the next few weeks!

No comments: