When The Killers announced their hiatus, Ronnie Vannucci could have taken a hard earned break. However, he opted to follow Brandon Flowers’ lead by releasing an LP and touring with side project Big Talk.
There’s no point in comparing Ronnie and Brandon’s side projects as they are both entirely different. Brandon’s was on a grander, more flamboyant scale, while Ronnie keeps it cool adding influences from Talking Heads and Tom Waits that is evident on this debut LP.
Tonight is the last night of the band’s mini UK tour and the fans are eager to witness Ronnie take control of the lead vocals and guitar. So eager, in fact, that some of them have been queuing since 9am.
The fans start to chant ‘Ronnie’ and then scream as the band take to the stage. As he picks up his guitar and sings the first few lines of ‘Katzenjammer’, the crowd are hanging onto every word, singing the track line for line. He smiles and takes it all in.
For some, this experience is quite frankly a little weird. You don’t usually associate drummers with being singers and lead guitar players. But for Ronnie, this stereotype doesn’t seem to bother him as he thanks the Scala crowd for coming out.
The most pleasantly surprising part about this gig is that Ronnie’s voice is actually really good. His sweet, gentle voice with a hint of roughness compliments the songs and the tone of the music. It’s all rather soothing, American indie music with a hint of classic country that is a pleasure to listen to.
Having known the rest of the band members for a long time, everything seems to fit together and it’s like watching a group of friends have a jamming session and a lot of fun. They are all loving being up on that stage and Ronnie shines in his lead role.
The rest of the band are grateful, too, thanking pretty much the entire front row of the stage, giving them a thumbs up as they go into the final song for the night, ‘Big Eye’. The song slots in perfectly, making the audience bob their heads along to the music and ‘oooohing’ to their hearts content until it’s time for the band to leave the stage. For those people queuing since the early hours, it was definitely worth it.
Words: Sophie Williams
Images: Sophie Williams
