Deck The Hall Ball delivered once again. This seven hour concert put on by 107.7 The End radio station featured many of today’s favorite alternative artists. Taking place at Key Arena, the concert started at 3:00 with The Joy Formidable. This band from Northern Whales was the perfect start for a long night, bringing the perfect amount of energy and excitement to the arena. After they left, Of Monsters and Men sauntered on and brought their own Icelandic flavor to the concert. Playing favorites like Little Talks and Mountain Sound, they dominated the stage with six band members including their trumpet player, who is not officially part of their band.
Next up was Grouplove, who exploded onto the stage in a flurry of ponchos and head banging. They played, among others, Colours, Tongue Twisted and Itchin’ on a Photograph. The night progressed with AWOLnation, whose hit song Sail, whipped the audience into a ten minute frenzy of ADD and a call-response with the band.
Passion Pit took the stage for their second time after Bumbershoot and once again, amazed Seattle with their pure energy and high vocals. Astonishingly, their lead singer, Michael Angelakos, does not use any vocal distortion or auto tune to reach those high notes.
The Lumineers brought their own folksy influence to Key Arena. “This is probably the biggest crowd we have ever played to,” they stated right before starting their song Ho Hey. Metric was up next and they were determined to rock the socks off of everyone in the arena. Emily Haines, the lead singer, was a refreshing sight as one of the four female performers in the lineup.
M83 delivered a mesmerizing light-filled show that was hard to look away from. They started their section with an appearance of a man in a giant costume of a wolf-like animal with laser fingers tickling the audience.
Then, after about six hours of awesome music, The Killers appeared on stage. Led by Brandon Flowers and hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada, this power team played with true conviction and heart. They played many songs from their hit-dominated career and two songs from their new album, Battleborn. They began with Mr. Brightside, a song that came out in 2003, when most of Prep’s population was in middle school, and ended with When You Were Young, a melancholy testament to loss of innocence. It was the perfect note to end a perfect night of music on.