Critic's evaluation
They are not so well known in Brazil yet. Travelling from one side of the Atlantic to the other, the English of The Struts landed for the first time in Brazil for a presentation at Lollapalooza 2019. The result was that the organizers got it right.
The show was the third on April 7, 19 at the Budweiser Stage, preceding only Greta Van Fleet and headliner Kendrick Lamar. Exactly 4:05 p.m., marked on the clock, Luke Spiller, Adam Slack, Jed Elliot and Gethin Davies took to the stage to start The Struts debut show in the country.
At first the general public gets a fright, it's true. Luke Spiller, a vocalist who immediately showed himself to be irreverent and theatrical, arrives at the end of the stage with a scandalous outfit in warm colours. His acts on stage referred to the late former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver vocalist, Scott Weiland, with the sum of the vitality and youth of his 30s.
After a while, those who didn't know the band began to like it and Primadonna Like Me, the song chosen to open the performance, worked very well in this regard. What actually happened is that the mistrust about who this band The Struts was ended with the arrival of the chorus. His gum excerpt "Do you wanna, do you wanna be a primadonna like me tonight" caught the audience in a good way and made the vocalist have the company of the audience's echo.
Running from one side of the stage to the other and throwing his hair back, Luke Spiller proved to be a complete frontman from start to finish. He put the audience in the palm of his hand. There wasn't a song the band played that he couldn't make the audience jump and sing at least the chorus. And that's what happened with Body Talks, a track composed alongside pop singer Ke$ha.
The first highlight of the show was with hard rocker Kiss This. Adam Slack's initial riff led even the most unsuspecting to do the famous headbanging, even unconsciously. The track was still Spiller's peak of euphoria, who called the audience to sing along, ran from one side to the other, threw his hair back and sides, and smiled uncontrollably.
The dancer In Love With a Camera came next, bringing a disgracefully hilarious Spiller with her dances supported by the microphone rack. Laughing aside, the music was as theatrical as possible with the vocalist's faces and mouths and the musicians' individual performances.
Continuing the dancing session came Fire (Part 1) and Dirty Sexy Money. The audience, as in contagion effect, clapped the beat of the song from beginning to end, as Spiller commanded. The interesting thing in the middle of the audience that was beginning to crowd to hear the newcomers was the presence of a kangaroo and an inflatable llama that were shaken up and down by a person from the crowd.
With a clear influence of Queen's style of composition, the almost epic One Night Only came next. Its contagious refrain influenced the audience to sing in unison word for word together with Spiller. But, as in a herd effect, all the arms in the audience waved from one side to the other, following the rhythm of the music. When back to the breathtaking verses, the involuntary headbanging was the one taking care of the audience.
On the set list there was also the cover of Dancing in The Dark, by Bruce Springsteen, with a totally different costume. More theatrical and more immersed in rock. From then on, the bite that would close the performance of The Struts began.
The first was Put Your Money on Me, equally dancing that In Love With a Camera, Fire (Part 1) and Dirty Sexy Money. However, the track had the addendum of a chorus even more gum and that was easily bought by the audience, who sang together and at full lungs "I bet your body's so sweet (oh yeah) / So roll your dice with my feet (oh yeah) / Well when and where our eyes meet (oh yeah) / You've got that hand I can't beat (oh yeah)".
The same happened with Where Did She Go, the next song. The audience sang along with Spiller the piece "Oh oh oh, where did she go?", pulling out smiles of approval from the whole group.
And it was with Could Have Been Me that the triumphal closing of The Struts took place at Lollapalooza Brazil 2019. In a subtly epic way, with the massive participation of the audience and with a clear warning of the probable return of the group to Brazil.
In general, The Struts surprised by defending the flag of glam rock, currently without much representation in the universe of rock. In view of the performative and sound quality that the group exhales, it can be said that the genre has taken its breath and youthfulness to continue in the market.
