THE STRUTS + BAD NERVES – O2 FORUM KENTISH TOWN, LONDON 12.8.23
The Struts formed in Derby in 2012. Thus far they have three albums to their name: ‘Everybody Wants’ (2014), ‘Young & Dangerous’ (2018), and ‘Strange Days’ (2020). Their fourth album ‘Pretty Vicious’ will be released on 3rd November.
The Struts had been on my radar for quite some time, so when the opportunity to see them arose, I grabbed it with both hands. Five minutes before the band are due on stage, ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)’ by AC/DC plays over the PA, which seems pretty apt. The venue is rammed. There are quite a few children here, which I’m quite surprised by. Maybe their parents are starting them young. AC/DC are followed on the PA by Blur’s ‘Song2’. The rabble are well and truly roused. The band’s intro music is an instrumental version of ‘Rock And Roll Part 2’ by Gary Glitter, which I find quite a surprising choice. Still, at least the criminal’s vocals are erased. I would hate to think that he was being rehabilitated.
Each of the band take the stage separately, and each receives a hero’s welcome. The last to appear is Luke Spiller, and when he does appear the whole place goes crazy. The band seem to ignite with opening song ‘Dirty Sexy Money’, from their debut album, and the pure intensity doesn’t let up for the rest of the set. In terms of stagecraft, The Struts seem far more mature than the support act Bad Nerves. They simply ooze confidence and their stage moves seem natural rather than being something that they’re thinking about. During ‘Body Talks’ guitarist Adam Slack runs backwards whilst soloing. It all just seems completely effortless.
The Struts’ music is classic (in every sense of the word) rock with a hefty side order of glam, topped off with a dollop of Queen. Their songs are driven by some mighty riffs, which carry more than a hint of Led Zeppelin. Vocalist Luke Spiller is more graceful than most rock frontmen. His stagecraft is clearly very influenced by Freddie Mercury. Before ‘Primadonna Like Me’ he asks if there are any primadonna’s in the audience. It’s something that you could very much imagine Freddie Mercury doing.
The one thing that can’t be denied is that this band rock really hard. Drummer Gethin Davies’s bass drum keeps edging forward, and his drum tech keeps having to come onstage to anchor it down. For ‘One Night Only’ Luke Spiller sits at the upright piano. There are more screaming girls than I think I’ve ever heard at a rock gig. Spiller removes his jacket to reveal a black vest not unlike the kind of garment that Freddie Mercury wore in the 1970s. He then sings ‘Mary Go Round’ accompanied only by guitarist Adam Slack, this again is another distinctively Queen moment. When Spiller throws his sweaty towel into the audience there is a mini riot. This man is already a star.
Guitarist Adam Slack spends most of the gig playing the classic hard rock Gibson Les Paul and Marshall amp combination. However, for one song he switches to a Fender Stratocaster to play some very funky blues. He sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan. He sounds every bit as good as Stevie was too. Adam is a very impressive guitarist. About two-thirds through the show, and back on the Les Paul, he played a solo slot that Jimmy Page would be proud of. Indeed, it’s better than that great maestro’s solo slot on the ‘Destroyer’ bootleg from Led Zeppelin’s 1977 US tour.
The Struts play ‘Pretty Vicious’, the title track of their fourth album to be released in November. The fact that they do this is further evidence of the band’s confidence, plus an indication of how down to earth they are, irrespective of their very impressive showmanship. There’s no pretentious bothering about new songs being bootlegged, unlike some other bands. The song is fairly fast, but it’s also sleek and loose without being overtly heavy. Adam plays a Les Paul Junior for this song, whilst Luke takes to piano during the guitar solo.
For ‘Put Your Money On Me’ it’s clearly audience participation time. There’s a lot of call and response between Luke and the audience. Then he persuades everybody to get down on the ground before jumping up in unison. I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t take much for him to persuade the audience to eat out of his hand. This is the last song of the main set, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll be back.
Luke Spiller comes back onstage very slowly and sits at the piano. He asks us to applaud the venue and its staff, support band Bad Nerves and The Struts’ crew. He says that they don’t get back to the UK often enough, which suggests that they’re either based in the US, or spend most of their time touring there. It’s where the money is I suppose.
Luke performs ‘Fire (Part1)’ from the ‘Young & Dangerous’ album solo at the piano. The rest of the band come on for ‘Could Have Been Me’ from their debut album, and that signals the end of a very impressive gig. Luke Spiller exits telling us “remember the name”. We will Luke, we will.
I remember thinking earlier in the gig that if this was the 1970s, The Struts would be huge. I think on tonight’s showing it’s something that may well happen. This is partially because the band doesn’t purely appeal to a rock audience. They clearly appeal to the mainstream audience too, and I think that appeal will only increase with their new album. One gets the impression that this is a band whose moment is about to arrive. I only hope that they resist playing arenas for as long as possible.
The Struts ‘Pretty Vicious’ will be dropping on 3rd November, purchase options can be found HERE.
The Struts:
Luke Spiller – lead vocals
Adam Slack – guitar
Jed Elliott – bass
Gethin Davies – drums
The Struts setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘Rock and Roll, Part 2’ (Gary Glitter song)
‘Dirty Sexy Money’
‘Body Talks’
‘Fallin’ With Me’
‘Too Good At Raising Hell’
‘Kiss This’
‘Primadonna Like Me’
‘All Dressed Up (With Nowhere To Go)’
‘In Love With A Camera’
‘One Night Only’
‘Mary Go Round’ (Luke and Adam only)
‘Low Key In Love’
‘Royals’ (Lorde cover)
‘Guitar Solo’
‘Wild Child’
‘Pretty Vicious’
‘I Do It So Well’
‘Where Did She Go’
‘Put Your Money On Me’
(encore)
‘Fire (Part 1)’ (Acoustic)
‘Could Have Been Me’
Support band Bad Nerves kick off their set with ‘Don’t Stop’ from their recent ‘Alive In London’ ten inch. This song has a punk metal edge, which isn’t really representative of their rest of their material, which seems to have more of a classic rock feel. Onstage they’re certainly very mobile. From the get-go bassist Jon Poulton is star-jumping. Guitarist Will Power looks like a young Jeff Beck. He may not yet play like Jeff Beck, but he has some very impressive lead stuff going on.
The band seem to be trying very hard to impress. Possibly they’re trying a bit too hard. Perhaps part of the reason for this is the presence of two camera people onstage with them; one shooting stills, the other shooting video. Watching the band I find these two a bit distracting. Their presence is probably not helping the band either.
Their songs are punchy with big choruses. They have some quite powerful harmonies too, but in general the vocals seem to be a little too low in the mix. They’re certainly not the kind of band to just stand still and play. At one point the whole band (apart from drummer Sam Thompson) star jump in unison. I can’t decide whether this is cool or funny though. Vocalist Bobby Bird is clearly powered by Duracell batteries. He simply doesn’t stay the remotest bit still for the whole set. He’s jumping off the bass drum. He’s in the photo pit. He’s on the rail looking like he’s going to dive into the audience (he doesn’t though).
There’s an awful lot here to like. They freeze onstage before the penultimate song ‘Mad Mind’, building up the tension. This is absolutely explosive. They are quite self-conscious about their stagecraft, but it doesn’t adversely affect their playing however. This band are bound for greater things. I very much get the impression that they won’t be a support band for much longer.
Catch Bad Nerves next in action at ‘Till The Fest’ in New Cross, London in October. Further details HERE.
Bad Nerves:
Bobby Bird – vocals
Will Power – guitar
Jon Poulton – bass
Sam Thompson – drums
George Berry – guitar
Bad Nerves setlist:
‘Don’t Stop’
‘Baby Drummer’
‘Palace’
‘Terminal Boy’
‘Radio Punk’
‘Electric 88’
‘USA’
‘Can’t Be Mine’
‘Mad Mind’
‘Dreaming’
