Live Review: The Killers, Alex Cameron, Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders

Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders roll as a trio - Neal Sutherland on bass and Laurence Pike on drums - for these opening support slots before Tim Rogers (that's Ladder's birth name) introduces Holiday Sidewinder to the stage to supply BVs during what he describes as his "euthanasia disco song" and latest single, Susan. He then coins "euthadisco" as a genre and goddamn he sounds like Bryan Ferry these days! Those baritone pipes just get better and better, and the songcraft on display this evening - they play three songs from Blue Poles (out today!) - suggests this artist's fifth album definitely deserves high rotation.

An old-school projector screen is lowered to act as backdrop for our next act Alex Cameron and this suits his retro-glam stylings. Sidewinder returns to the stage, on keys, Rogers plays guitar and Cameron's shiny black suit is blinding. Then Pike also returns to the stage to play bongos! Cameron is such a showman and we do notice a similarity between his vocal timbre and that of Brandon Flowers from tonight's headline band. His six-piece backing band is sublime and Cameron finishes off with Marlon Brando, which incorporates a keys melody that calls to mind the strings from Coldplay's Vida La Viva. Cameron's in-character macho lyrics really tackle important issues ("And I know that I blew it and I know it ain't right to be calling men faggots and to be starting fights..."). We can definitely see what all the fuss is about and will definitely prioritise catching Cameron's headline show sharpish.

We've already been blessed by the prowess of this pair of world-class local supports and, as such, expect even more from The Killers. Flowers and co enter the stage space to perform opener Wonderful Wonderful, which is a frustrating slow build when all we wanna do is detonate. All in the arena rise regardless, but then we clap eyes on the giant, lit-up male symbol in front of Flowers' mic station. There are also three giant, lit-up female symbols, one in front of each of the female backing vocalists' mic stations. Next up is swaying-paced song The Man and this Las Vegas outfit are certainly note-perfect. But we're not really sure how this set design fits our current expectations for gender identity equality and the fact that Flowers is up front, the male, with three females backing him - further highlighted by their respective illuminated gender sign - seems ill-informed in this day and age.

Looking around the arena, however, no one seems bothered and all pogo along to the rambunctious Somebody Told Me: "Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend/Who Looked like a girlfriend/That I had in February of last year..."

There's an enormous silo prop upstage with "Melbourne" somehow stuck on it, cleverly signalling the band's current whereabouts. Smile Like You Mean It is a gloriously melodic singalong, but we're still kinda distracted by those illuminated gender symbols! Then The Killers tell us we have something to be proud of before taking on Don't Change by INXS. Amazing to hear this song, but Flowers ain't no Michael Hutchence no matter how snazzy his threads. Human follows and we're still baffled by those lyrics: "Are we human or are we dancer?" - we can be both, surely! And as grammar vigilantes, we're further bothered. Why are there so many covers? The Killers also include Romeo And Juliet by Dire Straits in this evening's setlist.

The Killers open their encore with the Depeche-Mode aping The Calling - we can almost sing Enjoy The Silence over the top of this song's chorus - Flowers now sporting a spectacularly glitzy, all-gold-everything suit (he looks like an Oscar statuette come to life). The closing one-two punch of When You Were Young and Mr Brightside is undeniably powerful. But when we chat with a concerned mum post-show who is returning a The Killers T-shirt she originally purchased for her gay teenage daughter, we realise we're not alone in thinking those gender symbols spoil this show.