UK rockers The Struts played to a sold out crowd at DC’s 9:30 Club on Monday night in what turned out to be a riotous evening of fun, dancing, and a big dose of the band’s new material.
The Struts’ newest release, Young & Dangerous (Interscope) is due to hit record stores on October 26 this year, while the band has already released advance singles “Bulletproof Baby,” “Primadonna Like Me,” “Fire (Part 1),” and dual versions of “Body Talks”—one of which features a really enjoyable collaboration with singer, Kesha.
I’ve seen them play live a handful of times now and any evening with The Struts is a wild ride. Their last round in DC was during the band’s two-year tour stint with the Foo Fighters performing at the 9:30 Club’s bigger and newer brother, The Anthem. A few years before that I watched them blow the roof off the Rock & Roll Hotel during a promised make-up date—both fantastic shows. Presently The Struts are a bigger and badder presence then ever before, yet with the same intention—to entertain their audience to maximum levels.
A high point of the evening was the band’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s classic, “Dancing in the Dark,” replete with an invitation for an audience member to dance on stage like Courtney Cox in the classic music video—which arrived in the form of a kid from the crowd whose dance moves and microphone skills were as entertaining as they were heartwarming. Another highlight came during the anthemic “One Night Only” which was given a healthy dose of ambient light provided by cell phone flashes—this generation’s lighters.
Their setlist included “Primadonna Like Me,” “Body Talks,” “Kiss This,” “Fire (Part 1),” “Dirty Sex Money,” “People,” “One Night Only,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Mary Go Round,” “Put Your Money on Me,” “Bulletproof Baby,” and “Where Did She Go.”
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