NORFOLK, VA | Watching The Struts’ Luke Spiller, it’s easy to conclude that he is doing what he was born to do, that “Rock and Roll Frontman” is the job description that suits him best. There would be no mistaking him if you ran into him on the street; he is a rock star. Certain comparisons are applied so frequently to him that it borders on the cliché: the hip moves of Mick Jagger, and the audience command of Freddie Mercury. I might even throw in a dash of Rod Stewart. However, it never appears to be an affectation for Spiller. He really does seem like he’s being himself onstage—sweaty, ultra-charismatic, and delighted to have complete command of his audience.
I got to experience this for the very first time in Norfolk, Virginia last Tuesday night, when The Struts graced the stage of The NorVa, the fourth stop on the English band’s Across the Pond tour. The band (Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott, and drummer Gethin Davies) took the stage in matching yet personally styled stage costumes and radiated infectious energy as they led the crowd through singalong after singalong.
The impressive setlist balanced older hits such as “Body Talks,” “Kiss This,” and “Put Your Money On Me, with several songs taken from The Struts’ latest effort, Strange Days. Throughout the set, I walked around observing the audience, which ran the spectrum in terms of age. Toddlers with giant headphones where there along with folks who probably saw Queen and the Stones in the ’70s. Many people unselfconsciously danced and sang.
Once the band returned to the stage for their encore, they closed out the night with “Strange Days” and “Could Have Been Me.” This is where I saw the band’s command over the audience in full force as Spiller got the entire house to crouch down on the NorVa’s sticky floor, only to spring up a minute later, with many people breaking into song themselves. It was great to be a part of the fun. I’m no longer a Struts virgin.
Supporting The Struts on the Across the Pond Tour is Philadelphia’s Nick Perri and the Underground Thieves. It’s not often you get excited to see an opening band, but I got to experience that Tuesday night. I’d seen Nick Perri in Philadelphia four years ago when he, along with the Underground Thieves, opened for Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators at Franklin Music Hall. I had been quite impressed then; I was looking forward to seeing them again.
The band Perri has with him is more stripped down than in the past—he is part of a trio on this tour. Joining him is bassist Brian Weaver and drummer Zil Fessler. Together the men put together a tight set, drawing on tracks from the band’s debut album, Sun Via, released in 2020. Musically, it felt much like the roots rock of the 1970s and, consistent with this, the band blazed through an excellent cover of Neil Young’s “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue).”
The Across the Pond Tour was relatively brief, just eight dates up the East Coast, which wrapped up in Atlantic City on May 29. From there The Struts tour Europe in June and July and make a stop in Japan in August before heading back to the US in September.
NICK PERRI AND THE UNDERGROUND THIEVES
THE STRUTS SETLIST
Primadonna Like Me
Body Talks
Kiss This
I Hate How Much I Want You
Fire (Part 1)
One Night Only
Dirty Sexy Money
Low Key in Love
Mary Go Round
Put Your Money on Me
Put Your Hands Up / These Times Are Changing / Bulletproof Baby / All Dressed Up (With Nowhere to Go) / Only Just a Call Away / Where Did She Go
Am I Talking to the Champagne (or Talking to You)
Guitar Solo
Wild Child
I Do It So Well
ENCORE
Strange Days
Could Have Been Me
