English glam rockers, The Struts, took the stage at The Westcott Theater last weekend to deliver a night filled with sweat, sentiment and rock ‘n’ roll to a Syracuse crowd brimming with excitement.

No stranger to playing intimate shows, Luke Spiller, the band’s lead singer, commented throughout the night about the group’s humble beginnings. The band first struggled to find an audience back home in the United Kingdom.

But The Struts gradually found their stride and, with it, a dedicated following of fans from all ages and backgrounds. Whether their fans are classic rock die-hards or are more in tune with alternative rock, listeners in the U.S. have caught the U.K. fever.

Now, almost 75 million streams on Spotify later and years of experience under their belt, the band instantly connected at The Westcott, opening the show with an introductory jam and the band’s latest single, “Body Talks.”

Gethin Davies, drummer for The Struts, and Jed Elliott, the band’s bassist, provided the rhythm for Spiller’s high-energy vocal performance, complemented with power chords and six-string riffs courtesy of Adam Slack, the band’s guitarist and songwriter.

Fans sang along to each song in the setlist, all while clapping along with Spiller and following his lead on call-and-response. The crowd and The Struts started feeling the heat of the packed venue before the third song — both were drenched in sweat by the third song.

Spiller had to pause the show for a “freeze frame” bit after noticing a young woman in the crowd was nearly fainting from heat exhaustion. The woman was taken care of within a few minutes before the band resumed the set.

The Struts gave the crowd a taste of their upcoming album, set to be released within the year, according to Spiller during the performance.

“Primadonna Like Me” and “Fire (Part 1),” were equal crowd pleasers, giving die-hard fans new material to record on their cellphones and play back until the album’s full release.

As the band entered the final leg of their set, Spiller asked the crowd if anyone had seen the group’s music video for one of their more popular songs, “Put Your Money On Me.”

The singer requested a volunteer to sing and dance on-stage with him and brought up a young girl, who seemed starstruck as she accompanied Spiller. With encouragement from the crowd, she hit each note and matched the vocalist with each move, earning cheers and clapping from the ecstatic audience.

Adam Slack, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, formed The Struts along with his bandmates in 2012 in Derby, England, according to their website.
Randy Matthew Plavajka | Contributing Photographer

As stage lights flashed and the band finished the final sing-a-long with a big rock ending, fans immediately started chanting “one more song” as loudly as they had been singing throughout the night.

Ending on a high note, The Struts retook the stage for an encore, concluding their performance with mega hits “Where Did She Go” and “Could Have Been Me,” the latter of which initially launched the band to stardom in the U.S. Spiller said nights like these were the reason the band performed and that the Syracuse fans had earned a top spot for one of the best crowds they’d ever seen.

The Struts were supported by the Los Angeles-based band Badflower, who recently released a single of their own, “Ghost.” The band’s next stops on tour include a number of dates as the opening act for the Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden, PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and Boston’s Fenway Park, as well as a nearby solo show at Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls, New York, on July 24.

Published on July 17, 2018 at 11:15 pm

Contact Randy: rmplavaj@syr.edu