The Futureheads have told NME about their experience touring with The Killers during the 2005 NME Awards tour.
The tour, which ran in the lead-up to the 2005 awards ceremony, saw The Killers, The Futureheads, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs play shows across the UK. At the time, the venues – which included universities – were the biggest the bands had ever played in.
Prior to 2005’s edition, the likes of Coldplay and Franz Ferdinand had become household names following their participation in the tour.
Speaking to NME recently, Futureheads frontman Barry Hyde had been reminiscing about the impact of the tour, which provided a pivotal platform to the bands, who all went on to have illustrious careers.
“All the bands hung out together, and there was a positive competitiveness. We were below headliners The Killers, and they changed their setlist depending on how we went down,” Hyde told us. “We went down extremely well in Glasgow – so much so that The Killers decided to start with ‘Mr Brightside’!”
“Retrospectively, it was an exciting time for British indie music, and I would love there to be a positive nostalgia trip for the Noughties. Looking back, we were so young. Our drummer was only 16 and wasn’t even legally allowed in the venues for our first tours of America.”
Hyde also recalled the 2005 NME Awards ceremony, which marked the end of the tour. “That was a heavy-duty Noughties night! I was gutted because I went up to Simon Pegg at the bar and told him how much I loved his sitcom Spaced, and he wasn’t very friendly,” he said. “I ended up winning the award that nobody wants – when NME gave me The Drunkest Person of the Night award!”
In October, Kaiser Chiefs also spoke to NME about the impact of the tour, which coincided with the release of their 2005 debut album ‘Employment’. “I think one of the things for NME is how important the NME Tour was,” bassist Simon Rix said. “The year before [2004] Franz had been first on, and then they got really massive – taking America by storm with ‘Take Me Out’.”
He continued: “We should be very thankful for NME. Even though we were first on, it was one of the many things that catapulted us and got us in front of lots of people. The year after, I remember Arctics were on that bill, but everyone wanted to do the first-on slot because it became like a lucky slot. Everybody just wanted to be first on.”
Frontman Ricky Wilson then added: “I think Arctic Monkeys were on before Maxïmo Park! I like Maxïmo Park, but to see what Arctic Monkeys became… it’s incredible.”
Last year, Brandon Flowers also shared the moment in which The Killers met Noel Gallagher on the tour. “We were playing at Brixton Academy or something and we heard that Noel’s gonna come to show, he was probably there to see Franz Ferdinand or Kaiser or somebody but he’s coming and after the gig, we finish and here he comes, you know, This is one of my heroes, he walks in the door and I am just so excited,” began Flowers.
He continued: “He walks straight past me, straight to Vannucci and it was just, I was like oh shit, we better keep an eye on what Oasis’ drummer is doing, but yeah he was a huge fan of him right away.”