The Struts Gave What Everybody Wants at Brooklyn Paramount

 

This past April, the Struts announced a massive 40+ date North American tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the British band’s debut album, Everybody Wants. The tour, which began on July 31 in Toronto, Canada, marks both a decade since the album’s original release and the Struts’ first-ever U.S. performances. The 2025 tour’s New York City date, originally scheduled as a return to the Rooftop at Pier 17, was relocated to Brooklyn Paramount on August 22.

That a new tour was announced so soon after a 2024 tour of the states and additional dates in Florida earlier in 2025 was not a surprise, since the Struts have lived almost constantly on the road since forming in 2012. That the Struts would play only songs from its catalog was also not a surprise in that the band has not introduced a batch new music since the release of its fourth album, Pretty Vicious, in November 2023. The questions that the fans puzzled over was which version of Everybody Wants the band would perform in concert. The Struts originally released an 11-song album in 2014, and then in 2016 re-released a 13-song album using the same title but with several different songs. (In 2017, the band re-re-released in Japan an 18-song version of the re-release, so performing that version live might be a discussion for another day.)

Clearly, the musicians, and perhaps the fans, preferred the 2016 re-release. That is the set that the Struts performed from start to finish at Brooklyn Paramount. The band started the set with two later fan favorites, “Primadonna Like Me” and “Body Talks,” before launching into the 13 songs from Everybody Wants. The encore has changed from city to city, but in Brooklyn it consisted of “One Night Only” and “Pretty Vicious.” Curiously, the Struts did not perform its newest single, "Talk Too Much."

Lead singer Luke Spiller, guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott and drummer Gethin Davies seem to love the stage. This was evident from the enthusiasm with which each player performed. From the moment that the four musicians assumed their positions, they were explosive. As he bolted back and forth across the edge of the stage to engage the fans, Spiller brilliantly executed an impressively expansive vocal range, a feat not commonly accomplished by less-athletic entertainers. Slack enhanced the songs by playing a vast treasury of melodic licks on his guitars. Elliott and Davies were kinetic, doing what they could do visually and musically to drive the music and enthuse the audience.

The problem with playing an album sequentially is that the record companies strategically front-load the collections with the potential radio hits at the beginning. Many of the later songs had fallen off the Struts’ concert set lists over the years, demanding that the musicians re-learn the songs prior to the tour. Hence, even when the Struts’ show turned to less familiar songs, the musicians masterfully kept the music alive with colorful stage activity and electrifying musicianship.

Let us not ignore the elephant in the room. Yes, the Struts put on a very exciting rock and roll show every time the band plays live. Nevertheless, the most fascinating feature is how remarkably close the band sounds like Queen. The similarities in the Struts and Queen’s vocal stylings, song composition and musical arrangements are utterly uncanny.

Like Queen in the 1980s, the Struts should be one of the world’s most popular rock bands in the 21st century. We do not offer a reasonable explanation for the slow-building success except that the Struts perhaps lost momentum by releasing only four albums over its 13 years. The band needs to return to the recording studio soon.

Setlist

1. Primadonna Like Me

2. Body Talks

Everybody Wants

3. Roll Up

4. Could Have Been Me

5. Kiss This

6. Put Your Money on Me

7. Mary Go Round

8. Dirty Sexy Money

9. The Ol' Switcheroo

10. She Makes Me Feel

11. Young Stars

12. Black Swan

13. These Times Are Changing

14. Only Just a Call Away

15. Where Did She Go

Encore

16. One Night Only

17. Pretty Vicious

Related Articles

The Struts at the Rooftop at Pier 17 (2023)

The Struts at Irving Plaza (2021)

The Struts at the Rooftop at Pier 17 (2019)

The Struts at Irving Plaza (2016)

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The Manhattan Beat reports on New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.

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