Back in 2014, I had the pleasure of checking out a 'new and exciting' band that were the talk of the town. It may have been a small crowd in the famous Dingwall's in Camden, but what I saw that night gave me a new hope that the decline of rock 'n roll was to be no more, that band was The Struts.
Over the years I've had the pleasure to witness many Struts shows to a varying degree of crowds, and it seems like every time I see them it gets better and better, with the same electricity and performing standards that blew my mind 10 years ago.
Tonight's show is slightly different, with it being a co-headline tour with Barns Courtney, so both acts' sets would be shorter than that of a standard show, but spoiler alert, both acts are so hard-hitting you almost don't notice.
First up on the bill is James Bruner, a musician from Illinois. From the start of his set, consisting of a slow number with just himself on stage, you'd have thought this would be a laid back solo show. Oh how we were fooled, towards the end of the first song one by one the accompanying band joined Bruner on stage, and the energy turns a complete 180, switching to a groovy but vivacious sound and performance to match.
We move onto our first headliner tonight, Barns Courtney, who like The Struts, has proved to us that rock n roll isn't dead. From the get-go, opening with 'Fun Never Ends', the frontman gives an energetic performance, microphones are swinging, speakers are being climbed and jumped from, and the crowd is getting very up close and personal as the singer makes his way into the crowd on several occasions. While most bands nowadays are very strict with keeping their set the same through the tour, it appears there is a sense of fluidity with the band, prior to 'The Kids Are Alright', the band messed around with a track before deciding to skip ahead to the mentioned.
The big number for this set is the popular 'Glitter and Gold', which is where the crowd came alive most vocally. Put in terms of physical activity, it had to be during the final song 'Fire', where once again Courtney was in with the crowd, getting them to crouch before he instructed them to jump up on command (if you have seen Slipknot's famous 'Spit it Out' jump, you'll know how amazing that is to watch a crowd do such a thing).
Onto the final headliner, The Struts. Both co-headliners have been alternating the finishing set each night on this tour, after Barns Courtney's set, you fear the energy may dip, but this of course was not the case. Members Adam Slack, Jed Elliot and Gethin Davies take to the stage first before shortly being joined by frontman Luke Spiller, who straight away has the crowd eating out of the palm of his hands. The band are known for their rock n roll stage gear, however tonight, Adam is sporting an Aston Villa shirt as the team (who arguably are probably the most rock n roll team you could support, think Black Sabbath etc.) also had a huge game on tonight, being in Birmingham, it's almost fate.
Opening the set is the flamboyant and catchy 'Primadonna Like Me' followed by 'Fallin' With Me' and 'Body Talks'. Spiller can't help but notice how whenever the band perform at this venue, "you can almost hear a pin drop", but puts it down to the energy of the old venue and not wishing to disturb the walls. Later on he uses this to an advantage to control the crowd, seeing how quiet they can be on command, which for the most part, aside from a few drunkards shouting, worked in his favour.
Die-hard fans got a very special treat tonight, as the band performed 'Can't Stop Talking', a song which apparently hasn't even been recorded yet, but this didn't mean the crowd couldn't sing along without a little guidance prior to starting.
During the penultimate song 'Put Your Money On Me', a classic for those who have been there from the early days, Spiller pitted the crowd against each other in halves, classically to see who was the loudest before deciding to 'referee' himself by coming down into the crowd to finish the number. Finally it was time to end with the song that plausibly gave The Struts their global name, 'Could Have Been Me'. During the band's bows, it was great to see that their tradition of walking off to the music from Only Fools And Horses has not been lost over the years.
Once again a brilliant performance, and an amazing introduction to a few new acts for myself. Anytime any of the acts are in town, go check them out! You won't regret it!
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