Brandon Flowers covered The Coral‘s classic ‘Dreaming Of You’ at his solo show in Bristol and also debuted brand new track ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’.
The gig came in celebration of ‘Thrasher’, Flowers’ latest solo album which sees him provide a rare glimpse into his upbringing in Utah and lean into the country music he was raised on. Following an epic show at London’s Royal Albert Hall last week, The Killers’ frontman brought the run of UK shows to Bristol’s Beacon Hall on Saturday (October 17).
As seen in the previous shows, the frontman kicked things off with lively tracks ‘The Red Ground’ and ‘Does It Ever Cross Your Mind?’, before launching into his 2010 solo track ‘Crossfire’.
Other songs on the setlist included cuts from the new album like ‘Tiger’s Blood’, ‘Miss America’ and ‘Still Want You’, as well as a handful of Killers songs including ‘Pressure Machine‘ track ‘In The Car Outside’ and ‘Sam’s Town’ classic ‘Read My Mind’.
Unlike at previous shows, however, the set in Bristol saw Flowers take on a cover of The Coral’s 2002 song ‘Dreaming Of You’ – putting a country tinge on the indie classic, performing it alongside his solo band and two female backing singers.
The set also featured the debut performance of a currently unreleased track called ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’.
Backed by a simple green light, the song opened with stripped-back, stirring instrumentals, and saw Flowers sing about the determination not to lose faith in love, even when times are tough.
“Led through the desert by the deaf and the blind/ Now she’s battered and bruised,” he sings in the opening verse, as a harmonica melody sits alongside his vocals. “She’ll take you through heaven and you’ll put her through hell/ But she won’t turn back on love/ Just presses on forward through canyons of fire/ She somehow rises above.”
The track maintains that slow, tender sound throughout, but picks up around the chorus, as he belts out: “She can change her number, she can change her mind/ But a good man is hard to find”.
Check out the full track below, along with more footage from the night and the complete setlist.
Brandon Flowers’ setlist was:
‘The Red Ground’
‘Does It Ever Cross Your Mind?’
‘Crossfire’
‘Tiger’s Blood’
‘Plans’
‘Paradise’
‘Still Want You’
‘Angel’
‘Magdalena’
‘Miss America’
‘In the Car Outside (The Killers song)
‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ (Live debut)
‘When You Were Young’ (The Killers song)
‘Lonely Town’
‘Can’t Deny My Love’
‘Only the Young’
‘Quiet Town’ (The Killers song)
‘Dreaming of You’ (The Coral cover)
‘Read My Mind’ (The Killers song)
‘Between Me and You’
‘An American Dream’
Dates for the ‘Thrasher’ tour kicked off in North America last month, and saw Flowers bring out his 15-year-old son Henry to cover Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ in Salt Lake City.
The UK and Ireland leg continues tomorrow night (Tuesday October 20) in Manchester, before wrapping up with stops in Nottingham, Glasgow, Dublin and more throughout the rest of the month. Find the full list of dates here and any remaining tickets here.
‘Thrasher’ marked the first solo album from the rock icon in over a decade, following on from 2015’s sophomore record ‘The Desired Effect’.
As for ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’, it seems likely that song will feature on an upcoming solo record – particularly as he told NME in August that ‘Thrasher’ would be the first of two connected solo albums, with a more “romantic” follow-up already completed and on the way.
“It’s maybe not as country but maybe country-leaning; in the same way that Tom Petty is country adjacent, or The Travelling Wilburys,” Flowers said about the upcoming sister record for ‘Thrasher’.
“I see it as an answer to the loneliness epidemic,’ he added. “It is a problem that I’m seeing where we’re separating ourselves. Those beautiful things that make us human are getting lost. The greatest joys of my life have been those moments – just being a young man and dating, falling in love, whatever it was. That’s what keeps the world turning.”
In a four-star review of ‘Thrasher’, NME praised Flowers as “a much better storyteller than he gets credit for”, adding: “With country music, there’s nowhere to hide, now Flowers is out of his cage and doing just fine.”
