In life, former U.S. Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who died at age 82 on December 28, was a huge Killers fan. On Saturday, the band’s front man, Brandon Flowers, performed at a memorial service for Reid, attended by President Joe Biden, former president Barack Obama and other dignitaries.
At the service, Reid’s son Leif Reid explained that his father was such a huge Killers fan that in his final days before losing his battle with pancreatic cancer, the band’s music was the only thing he wanted to hear.
“We took his phone out, we were shuffling through his songs, asking what he wanted to hear. Bob Dylan? No response. Bruce? Nothing. Then we said, ‘Brandon? You wanna hear The Killers?’ And he smiled and gave us a huge thumbs up,” Leif recalled.
At the service, Flowers reminisced about his friendship with Reid, which was based on their mutual love of their home state of Nevada. He said in 2009, he’d met Reid and was given a tour of the U.S. Capitol.
“It was just an inspiration for me because here was the Senate majority leader and he came from basically the same dirt that I came from and we shared the same faith,” Flowers recalled. He laughed, “And it wasn’t five minutes into the meeting when he waved for Senator Chuck Schumer to come over and he had me sing the Nevada state song in the office!”
Flowers then performed that song, “Home Means Nevada,” a cappella at the service, as well as “Be Still,” from The Killers’ 2012 album Battle Born.
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