The Struts – Palace Theater – St. Paul MN – July 13th 2019

I have seen the Struts in concert before when they opened for Weezer at the Minnesota State Fair back in September 2016 for the Current’s “Music on-a-Stick” concert series. Back then i only knew one song “Could’ve Been Me” which is an amazing and inspirational song. I personally thought of this song as a great motivator to strive to do things i would only regret if I didn’t do them.  Fast forward to 2019 when I ended up seeing them for the 2nd time at the Palace Theater.

The opening band, Glorious Sons, set up the night with a very rockin’ set. They played their hit song “S.O.S.(Sawed Off Shotgun)” which the entire audience knew word to word. They also did a cover of the song by Fatboy Slim called “Praise You” which was surprising but in a great way.

The Struts put on a very, very high energy show. The lead singer and band co-founder, Luke Spiller, is like Freddie Mercury reincarnated. In fact, a lot of his outfits are made by Zandra Rhodes who made most of the outfits that Freddie Mercury wore. They started off the show with song “Primadona Like Me” and he lived up the to the bands’ moniker, strutting around (pun intended) like a pro who has been doing it for decades. For song after song they captured the zeitgeist of that era with a passion and energy I haven’t seen in awhile. The pace slowed a bit when Spiller sat down at the piano, but it was like a time machine to a by-gone era that I never thought I’d ever witness but luckily I now feel like I did. Later in the show, after the encore and the human fireworks (you’ll have to go to their show to find out what that is), they ended it with “Could’ve Been Me’ which really could be and should be an anthem for everyone everywhere who hesitates to take chances in life.

During the show Spiller said that the sold out show at the Palace was the largest audience they have ever had as a headliner and it truly was (which was confirmed by their tour manager Tommy whom I was lucky enough to talk to and whose birthday it was that night – they brought him a cake on stage and everyone sang happy birthday to him.) I was surprised at that though since I thought they had played bigger crowds than the Palace one. I found later after the show that they in fact had played bigger crowds before but it was when they were opening for bands like Foo Fighters, Rolling Stones, & Guns ‘n Roses and not headline those shows. However, tonight’s show is a good indicator on how good they are as a headlining act and a good preview of what they will be like when they headline stadium concerts one day, which I have no doubt that they will.

Review and photos by Todd Johnson.