The Struts Manchester Academy October 11th 2019

Having missed out on the tour in February I finally got to witness The Struts on their Young And Dangerous tour on Friday night at Manchester Academy and what a show it was. This U.K rock band was formed in 2012 and relocated to Los Angeles in 2015 with the U.S realising their talent much sooner. Singer, Luke Spiller, is not just an talented vocalist and musician he is one of the best and most flamboyant performers around at the moment. The first song on the set list, Primadonna Like Me was a perfect introduction to what the night had in store, with Luke literally strutting around the entire stage like a glam rock amalgamation of Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury but with a personality all of his own.

The whole set was a perfect showcase of songs from both albums, Young And Dangerous and Everybody Wants, with a cheeky cover of Dancing In The Street thrown in for good measure. One Night Only was performed with Luke on piano for the most of the song, helped by the whole crowd on vocals, enjoying every minute. With not enough time to fit every song into the gig they did a verse and chorus from four tracks, The Ol’ Switcheroo, Black Swan, Roll Up and Young Stars which was frantically brilliant.

Adam filled the costume change gap on stage with a superb guitar solo before the rest of the band returned with a lengthy I Do It So Well, including band introductions and plenty of crowd participation, which usually I am not fond of but Luke ‘does it so well’ that you can’t help getting into it.

The band which have had great success in the U.S and have supported massive bands such as The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters really live up to their name, and not just the flamboyant front man either, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a bass player move around and sweat as much as Jed, and Gethin on drums also got a small speaking part. Throughout the show Luke thanked the crowd for making their long awaited dream come true and they definitely made sure everyone had a memorable night.

The crowd illuminated the building as their mobile torches came out for the ballad Mary Go Round and they all had a right good sway-a-long sing song. They also created the human firework by sitting on the floor before simultaneously jumping into the air with colourful confetti. The band returned after the encore with the beautiful tracks Somebody New and Ashes then ended the night with the anthem Could Have Been Me. A truly amazing, fun filled gig and will definitely see them again.

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Philip Goddard

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