‘I booked The Killers as a favour to play in a room above a pub’

They’ve headlined Glastonbury twice, performed all over the globe and had several number one albums. But on a foggy Friday evening in November 2003, The Killers found themselves playing a small club above a pub in Lincoln. Little did the crowd know, they were witnessing history in the making.

“I thought, where the hell have you been?” Steve Hawkins recalls of the day a little-known band from Las Vegas landed at his Bivouac club.

The windowless venue was known for sticky floors and black walls, but that night The Killers played an anthemic set worthy of Wembley stadium.

“I watched the sound check and within three seconds I knew this band were going to be absolutely massive,” Steve says.

A crowd of 200, squished inside the venue and illuminated by stage lights, soon became united in their amazement.

“We didn’t know who they were,” Steve explains.

“I remember rushing up to the band afterwards and saying, you are the new Duran Duran,” he adds with a laugh.