The Killers at Electric Picnic 2023: 'If you're looking for rock'n'roll, you ...

Electric Picnic: Brandon Flowers and The Killers on the main stage on Sunday night. Photograph: Alan Betson

“What’s up, Electric Picnic? We’ve been coming to Ireland now for 20 years. We’ve seen a lot of change,” frontman of The Killers Brandon Flowers tells a packed main arena on Sunday night. “But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed. If you came here tonight looking for rock’n’roll, you came to the right place.”

Few in the crowd would argue with that: the Las Vegas band open with a bang, beginning their headline set with Mr Brightside. By the time they perform Smile Like You Mean It, the audience is in full swing. Human, in particular, has the crowd singing along at the top of their lungs.

Halfway through their set, the charismatic Flowers, who’s wearing a sequinned velvet blazer, brings out Mike Scott of The Waterboys to play The Whole of the Moon with the band.

Electric Picnic: The Killers begin their headline set with Mr Brightside. Photograph: Alan Betson

Electric Picnic: Brandon Flowers and The Killers on the main stage on Sunday night. Photograph: Alan Betson

Electric Picnic: Brandon Flowers and The Killers close the festival with a a performance of When You Were Young. Photograph: Alan Betson

Flowers changes outfits for the band’s encore, coming back on to the stage in a green suit that’s an ode to the country he’s playing in. “I have some friends here tonight – some 70,000 of them,” he tells his bandmates. “Some of them have travelled a long way to be here tonight. I want you to play something that will make their trip worthwhile.”

And that’s exactly what The Killers do, finishing with a performance of When You Were Young that’s as energetic as Mr Brightside was. You couldn’t ask for a better end to Ireland’s biggest music festival.

Shauna Bowers is a reporter for The Irish Times