Sparkle and fade.

Sam’s Town may have been boxed out of a No. 1 Billboard debut by Evanescence’s Open Door, but the Killers are still guiding the word on the street. Types were talking about Brandon Flowers et al. around the bar at Northern Lights Tuesday night, and by zero hour for their Wednesday night appearance at the State Theatre, my phone’s inbox was full with texts from pals talking about hooking up at the show. I didn’t go to the Killers gig, though; something about the way Flowers’ voice wavered with desperation during the band’s recent Saturday Night Live performances made me feel like it wouldn’t live up to the best moments on Town or 2004’s Hot Fuss, and besides, I only like the band for those few precious best moments, and would rather just listen to Rio (or, to make the Internet’s 4 millionth Boss reference of the day, Born to Run) the rest of the time.

So, when I was at Trumpp’s on 8 Mile late last night (don't ask), reading my pals’ gushing post-Killers show texts and enjoying a splash of Jack Daniels to go along with the curvy view, it was pretty perfect that the club's DJ spun “When You Were Young,” the Killers’ new single and definitely one of their precious best moments.

Forget about Flowers’ Springsteen channeling in the vocal (Warbling over glockenspiel chimes: “Sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live

”) — “When You Were Young” is fantastic in the moment he sings its chorus over that rhythmic churn, and the hook rises and falls like a resigned sigh full of memories. Not only does it make you remember being young; it makes you feel young. And in the glittery shadows of Trumpp's, where the winking LEDs from the west wall recalled the neon pointillism of Hot Fuss’s cover art, and the girls on its light-cycle landing ramp stage moved with a calculated blend of sexual want and listless hipsway, the devil’s water dripping off the stage’s molded plastic sides, “When You Were Young” almost certainly looked and sounded better than it would have a few hours before at the State. It was intoxicating.

Of course, the DJ followed the Killers with Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up,”* and that totally broke the spell. But still.

JTL

*It was decided that “Sex You Up” is what K-Fed's music would sound like if this were 1991 instead of 2006, and he was married to Robyn instead of Britney. Playing With Fire 10/31! For real, yo!

Related:

A Catholic priest gives his own track review of "When You Were Young."