The Struts made a majestic debut at the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, as the swaggering, fringed, ball-of-energy frontman Luke Spiller emerged on stage, arms wide, and embraced the screaming fans. Spiller and The Struts started of the show with a bang with “Put Your Hands Up” and got every arm in the air, and then dove right into their recently released single “Body Talks”. In addition to Spiller, The Struts feature guitar virtuoso Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott and drummer Gethin Davies, for a group full of personality and each member with their own edge. Their combined glam rock glitz, mixed with dirty rock ’n roll is the fuel that feeds their music, powerful and melodic, assertive and flirtatious, with songs that evoke sing-a-longs and robust responses from their die hard fans. You can definitely hear the influence of Queen, a little Choirboys, Wildhearts, Darkness - dirty brawling rock with a disco ball.
Spiller is an amazing vocalist and outlandish frontman, with nods to extravagant and influential Jagger, Bowie, and most notably Freddy Mercury, with a little Dr. Frank-N-Furter thrown in for extra pizzaz. Spiller clearly feeds off the energy of the crowd, but sends out a powerload of his own back, and the resulting craziness and serious fun time is something to see. Add that with the musicianship of the band in hand (which The Struts showed off in a full on instrumental rock jam later on the show with amazing guitar with from Adam Slack) The Struts have both talent and presence in spades.
The Vegas show stayed very fast paced, even with Spiller taking lots of time to talk to the audience - he was a master at driving interaction, and continuously worked the show from the first song to the encore, for all-consuming attention from the crowd. He let the crowd know that the band had flown in the night before, stayed up basically all night recording a video, before on to the show - and even with the sleep deprivation, the energy level was insane, the mood was infectious.
The Struts set was heavy from the debut album Everybody Wants, from the faster choruses of “Put Your Money on Me” and “Kiss This”, to the impressive Queen-esque “One Night Only” and new single "Primadonna Like Me", that kept the audience jumping and clapping and screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs.
There was even a Bruce Springsteen cover of “Dancing in the Dark”, where reminiscent of the famous video, Spiller pulls “my own Courtney” from the crowd to sing and dance for the final chorus.
The show lasted close to two hours, with lots of jokes and singing and the aforementioned jam session in the middle, and ending on a high note with the anthemic “Could Have Been Me” and “Where Did She Go” that had every person there singing along, before the band took a bow and finally called it a night. And what a night.
The Struts "Body Talk" official Video
For more tour dates, news on the upcoming album, and merch - check out their website HERE.
Debut album Everybody Wants (The Struts) on Amazon HERE
Single "One Night Only" Available on Amazon HERE
Las Vegas Setlist
Put Your Hands Up
Body Talks
One Night Only
The Ol' Switcheroo
Primadonna Like Me
Kiss This
Dirty Sexy Money
Let's Make This Happen Tonight
Fire (Part 1)
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Put Your Money on Me
Somebody New
Could Have Been Me
Where Did She Go
The Struts in Las Vegas photos from Jo Anna Jackson / Stardogphotos