The Killers: Fan who went on stage ‘discovered’ the band a year ago and learned drums in two months

The Killers closed the first night of the 2023 edition of Primavera Sound São Paulo with hit after hit and a lot of energy. Although the band visited Brazilians last year, in GPWeeklast Saturday’s performance, the 2nd, was not a replica of the 2022 performance. “Mr. Brightside”, for example, went from last to first song on the setlist, while “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” was left out and gave space for “The Man”.

Brandon Flowers was not surprising, however, when he chose someone from the audience to take the Ronnie Vannucci on the battery. It is a tradition of The Killers hand over the drumsticks to a fan willing to face the crowd and obey the rhythm of “For Reasons Unknown”. The chosen one this time was Gabriel Bunho.

For the 25-year-old Piracicaba native, the selection did not happen for unknown reasons: the poster that said “If destiny´s kind, I´ll be your drummer tonight” (“If destiny is kind, I will be your drummer tonight” ”, in free translation), made by hand, contributed to the decision to Flowers.

Butt argued, in an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil, that the vocalist’s attention is always captured by “more artisanal” signs. He knows this because he has watched several videos of the The Killers in order to prepare for the moment that took place a few days ago.

Sabrina Consolmagnowife of Gabriel, was the one who put him in contact with the Las Vegas band. The couple decided to go to GPWeek 2022 because Sabrina is a big fan.

Butt He stuck to a playlist prepared for the show and ended up liking what he heard. He was also mesmerized by the idea of ​​playing in front of such a large audience. “I already had this in my head because of last year, when I saw their show at GPWeek“, he said. The musician “didn’t know if it would be possible” to fulfill the dream created so recently, but the “most important thing was to believe”.

As a drummer, he is a great guitarist. That’s right. Being a member of the thrash metal band Exkil, Gabriel is familiar with musical instruments, but he plays guitar, not drums. It took some lessons from his own band’s drummer and a lot of YouTube videos to learn each fill, performed only live by Ronnie Vannucci.

“I think I did my best, but I didn’t do exactly everything I had rehearsed”, pondered the guitarist, who preferred to stay in the safety zone during his minutes on the Corona Stage. With no return, he needed to assimilate the signs of Vannucciwho took on another guitar, and Flowerswho “threw the bass forward for the crowd to sing”.

After many dishes and under strong emotions, not everything went as planned. However, the audience of 50 thousand people who attended the first day of the Primavera Sound São Paulo didn’t scare Butt how it would scare someone who has never been on stage. The experience with Exkil helped him in this regard. Furthermore, Gabriel he only saw the people close to the railing, while the other fans were just “a blur”.

Consolmagno she was more nervous than her husband: “I think it was incredible for her too, but she was more nervous than me, because she knows I’m not a drummer.” The two took turns near the stage to go to the bathroom, for example. “It’s a good thing the people were generous in the water, because it was very hot,” she confessed. They arrived at 12pm and saw all the shows that took place on the Corona Stage, such as Black Midi It is Marisa Monte.

With the screams of thousands of fans and the language barrier, the guitarist of Exkil couldn’t talk enough with the members of the The Killers. When he went to ask for a photo and confirm if he could take the drumsticks, Brandon thought he wanted to return them.

Butt assured that the invitation to the stage is not a setup, as many think, and added that the chances of receiving it again are almost zero. Still, if he could talk to the The Killers again, he would ask to play guitar at another show and invite the musicians to “a top barbecue at home”.