Washington, DC’s Anthem hosted a night of swaggering rock and roll, when The Struts blew through town last Thursday, a stop on the band’s Pretty Vicious tour. The night got started with an explosive and raucous set by rocker Barns Courtney. From the very moment he and his equally glam band took the stage, it was delightful chaos—and hard to know where to look!
Courtney hails from England and has released two albums—2017’s The Attractions of Youth and 2019’s 404—along with a few EPs. His next album is Supernatural and is slated for release in September. The 45-minute set pulled from his entire catalog, leaning on both his earliest work (songs like “Fire,” Glitter & Gold,” and “Kicks”) and most recent (“Supernatural,” “Young in America,” and “National Treasure”).
Courtney is a man who can’t be contained—he was at times engaging with the audience or letting the microphone dangle from his mouth while he grinned at the crowd. Stopping to dance with the guitarist, a man who has the looks of ’70s Jimmy Page and endowed with the back bending abilities of KK Downing circa 1982. It was hard to look away. Courtney’s ability to command both stage and audience is impressive. The crowd ate it all up and responded to Courtney as if he were the headliner.
It seems Courtney has a family connection to Washington, DC—he has a brother who (as of last fall, at least) attends Georgetown University. Hopefully DC will be treated to another show by Barns Courtney soon.
Pretty Vicious, The Struts’ fourth studio album, represents the UK rock and roll band at the top of its game. Since the band’s emergence in 2012, their throw-back sound has garnered comparisons to rock greats like The Rolling Stones and Queen; being keepers of rock music’s eternal flame is a big responsibility. Nevertheless, in 2024, The Struts have a body of work that can stand on its own outside the usual comparisons.
But they still honor their heroes. When the lights went down in The Anthem, the room filled with the familiar “stomp stomp clap, stomp stomp clap” of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Lest anyone forget The Struts’ British pedigree, the band (born rock star Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott, and drummer Gethin Davies) took the stage against a huge backdrop of London’s Big Ben.
Outfitted by famed Ray Brown, they embodied glam rock and roll. The Struts radiated infectious energy as they led the crowd through singalong after singalong. Spiller’s rock star wattage and ability to command an audience only gets stronger with the passage of time.
The impressive setlist balanced older hits such as “Body Talks,” “Kiss This,” and “Put Your Money On Me,” with several songs taken from Pretty Vicious. Throughout the set, I walked around observing the audience, which ran the spectrum in terms of age. Gen Z was heavily represented along with folks who probably saw Queen and the Stones in the ’70s. Many people unselfconsciously danced and sang.
The band returned to the stage for their encore and closed out the night with the sexy “Pretty Vicious,” “One Night Only,” and a sweaty “Could Have Been Me.” The crowd was still all in, and still singing its collective heart out. It was great to be a part of the fun.
A final note: The Struts are an important part of The Anthem’s history, as they were support for Foo Fighters on the venue’s opening night in 2017. The Pretty Vicious tour continues through August, wrapping up in Anaheim, California on the 31st.
BARNS COURTNEY
