Twice in his band鈥檚 latest exuberant Twin Cities concert Thursday night at the Palace Theatre, Brandon Flowers made it sound as if he were about to thank the corporate sponsor whose name was uniquely splashed all over the venue鈥檚 walls.
鈥淲e are the Killers, and we come to you tonight courtesy of鈥 ,鈥 the suavely suited frontman said near the beginning and end of the concert.
鈥淟as Vegas鈥 was what he said next each time, not 鈥淲ells Fargo,鈥 the real entity to thank for Thursday鈥檚 sold-out gig.
The 鈥淢r. Brightside鈥 hitmakers 鈥 who call Sin City home 鈥 ventured into one of the few bright sides of the music business for rock bands nowadays and took on a well-paying promotional gig Thursday. Tickets to the show (a reasonable $75 before fees) were sold exclusively to holders of Wells Fargo鈥檚 Autograph credit cards.
Where most artists let certain card holders get early access to tickets, the Killers let certain card holders get the only access. Even resale options were strictly shut down.
As careful as Wells Fargo was about limiting entry 鈥 and as prominently as the company鈥檚 logo was displayed all around the 2,500-person building 鈥 its corporate footprint was nowhere to be found in the performance itself.
Flowers never mentioned the sponsor or circumstances behind the show. He treated it like an everyday gig.
Their set clocked in at their usual 90-minute mark. They opened and closed with two of their biggest hits, 鈥淪omebody Told Me鈥 and 鈥淢r. Brightside,鈥 respectively. In between, the 17-song setlist picked pretty evenly between their seven albums, though with less emphasis on their 2020s-era records than at their two back-to-back shows in 2023 at First Avenue and Target Field.