Pop Break Live: The Struts at Milkboy in Philadelphia for Budweiser’s “Live at The Dive” Concert Series
Photos: Cathy Poulton | Words: Wayne-Anthony P. Soltis
The Struts are one of the hottest happening acts out right now in the world of new rock. If you are late to the party, they recently finished an extensive tour with Foo Fighters — being dubbed “the best opening act we have ever had” by frontman Dave Grohl. They’ve also served as openers for other established rock titans The Rolling Stones, Mötley Crüe, Guns ‘N’ Roses and The Who.
Philadelphia cannot seem to get enough of the Brit rockers, selling out the TLA twice in the past two months in mere minutes. Of course when a dive bar show on my birthday was announced, it must have been a cruel joke, right? But it was not!
The Struts were announced as part of Bud Light’s “Live at the Dive” concert series, where a headlining band, that has outgrown an intimate dive bar setting, puts on a special show in one. The only way into these events is to win via local radio.
For this event, MilkBoy on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia was chosen and announced the morning of the show (which is actually a lovely two-story bar, restaurant and venue; not so much a “dive”). Miraculously, I must have had birthday magic on my side; making guest list, getting the radio station meet-n-greet with my favorite band and having a handful of my closest friends around me to ring in my 28th year.
Walking up to the concert hall on the second floor, guests were bombarded with wall-to-wall Struts/Bud Light posters and professionally shot portraits of each band member. There was not one sliver of wall uncovered. There was a retractable belt style barrier in place (which is unusual for MilkBoy) serving as a catwalk of sorts for the band to reach the stage, as well as to buffer a photo pit between the stage and crowd.
Radio 104.5’s DJ Reed Streets warmed us up for an hour with rock radio staples of the past decades before daily disc jockeys Jammmin’ Jessie and Amber Miller announced the main act.
The hour-long slot they were allotted for this one-off event was sure to be one for the books, despite the band being on their Body Talks Tour at the time of this show (which saw them do just over a two-hour set nightly and often back-to-back). The Struts got the crowd going wild straight-off with a banger from their latest record, “In Love With a Camera,” which saw frontman Luke Spiller striking poses and mock photographing the audience.
With the crowd already in the palm of his able hands, the lads followed up with the smash single “Body Talks,” getting everyone snapping their fingers to Jed Elliott’s dirty bass line and throwing their arms up on the “Ooh! Ooh!” callback choruses.
Drummer Gethin Davies then set a window-rattling backbeat to Spiller’s welcoming the crowd to the show. At the climax of said salutation, a blistering solo escaped guitarist Adam Slack’s Gibson Les Paul as Spiller busted out a series of well-choreographed solo moves, launching into rock radio staple, “Kiss This.” This was followed up by fun fan favorite, “Put Your Money on Me” before the band took a brief pause to make things a bit more interesting at this One Night Only show…
Earlier in the day, the band had sent a birthday greeting of sorts to me — WAPS — saying for this special occasion (my favorite band playing on my birthday in one of my favorite intimate venues), they would resurrect a b-side they do not play often per my request; “Matter of Time.” The song is a 2014 b-side exclusive to the UK digital release of “Kiss This,” and it was the first Struts song I had heard in full when I searched them on YouTube just over three years ago. I had seen the setlist from my vantage point and had my phone out, ready to record this rarity…I was not prepared to be called on stage, which is what happened shortly after I pressed RECORD. I handed the phone off to my best friend, instructing her to “KEEP FILMING.” What happened next was surreal, to say the least.
Luke let me introduce myself to the 160-some person audience, stating how dedicated of a fan I am and that it was my 46th time seeing the band (I was actually traveling to see them for the 47th, 48th and 49th time over the past week, hence the delay on this write-up). Then we discussed how “Matter of Time” is my most favorite Struts song and that I would be standing ON STAGE as they performed it, “a birthday serenade!” I thought. WRONG. Luke then announced I would be singing it with the band and with only a moment’s notice to digest it, the band launched into the song. “This is from Luke to WAPS!” Spiller exclaimed as we tackled the opening lines. I felt confident; I had my hand-clapping and stage-stomping timed in perfect unison with Spiller as we tore through the song. This was not intimidating, I have spent countless hours with these guys, singing along in the car, at concerts, even sharing the stage once before.
This was me hanging out with buddies at my birthday bash; Slack shredding, Gethin keeping good time, Jed playing that sweet bass line, Spiller and I working the crowd and feeding off each other simultaneously. When the time came for the second chorus, WE BOTH SANG THE WRONG LINE. Here is where my story ends, where I die of embarrassment, where I run off the stage like a complete fool, right? WRONG.
“We fucked that up, didn’t we? But it’s OK. We’re gonna keep going,” Luke cooly stated as I nodded in agreement, even laughing at ourselves. I have learned so much from this band, but the most important takeaway is to never be embarrassed and never give up. So we botched a line, who cares? Such a small percentage of the crowd knew the song, no one would have actually cared.
On Davies’ ending note, as the crowd was roaring in our sweat-drenched faces, Spiller lead everyone in “Happy Birthday to You,” where I felt like Will Ferrell’s screen character, Ricky Bobby; I DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MY HANDS. I wanted to avoid clapping and singing along because I thought it would look conceited. I was at a loss for what to do. There I was, on stage with my favorite band in all the land on my birthday and I just stood there like a dope.
Having a crowd of mostly strangers sing “Happy Birthday” to you will always be infinitely awkward to most situations in life (even messing up lyrics to your favorite song with your favorite band on-stage!). Spiller’s vibrato at the end of the ditty made the dedication well-worth my while and his chanting “Hip-hip, hooray!” with the crowd before excusing me with a “Thank you very much WAPS, we love you” was the cherry on top of this once in a lifetime experience.
Setlist:
In Love With a Camera
Body Talks
Kiss This
Put Your Money on Me
Matter of Time
Happy Birthday to You
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)
Jumpin’ Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones cover)
The Ol’ Switcheroo
Could Have Been Me
While I decompressed back in the front row surrounded by friends and their happy tears, The Struts kept things rolling on stage with their live staple of The Boss’s “Dancing in the Dark.” The band has been covering this for the better part of 2018 and pulling a lucky audience member on stage to be their Courteney Cox, like Springsteen does in the music video. The lucky fan at MilkBoy? EVERYONE. Luke actually came out into the crowd, having security retract the belt-style barrier and engage with a majority of the crowd, dancing through with some audience members as he approached the middle of the floor.
Next was arguably the most fun part of any Struts gig; a sing-a-long. Luke’s powerful pipes singing callbacks to the audience and having everyone repeat, extending the interval and intricacy each time. Joining his bandmates on stage after the in-crowd song and dance, the number culminated in a large dance party, Spiller holding the ending note on “daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark” for everything he had left.
A special treat was in store for MilkBoy next; after whipping the crowd into a frenzy with Springsteen, The Struts slowed it down significantly by surprising everyone with a sultry cover of Chris Isaak’s wicked game, Spiller sharing he feels it is one of the all-time greatest tracks from an American act. Slack’s smoldering guitar solo on this cut was a standout moment of the night, sending shivers down spines throughout the bar. Keeping with their string of covers, the boys busted out “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones next. They shared with the crowd this was a staple for them to play back when they were just starting out as a band in pubs in their native UK. The Struts nailed it of course, doing Jagger and the boys proud with their homage.
While my moment on stage felt like a hour in front of everyone, the band was actually rolling through their hour-long set at quite a rapid pace, as Spiller announced they would take a request next, straying from their setlist. “Did I hear “Mary Go Round?” he announced over the 160-person crowd, but was cut off by Jed, who stated he would rather keep it upbeat and not slow things down again.
“Alright, look. We don’t have the piano, as it wouldn’t fit the stage, so we can’t do “One Night Only,” we can’t do “Freak Like You,” can’t do “Ashes.” What do you wanna hear?” Spiller questioned again. After telling a front-rower “WE CAN’T DO TATLER IF WE DON’T HAVE THE FUCKING PIANO!” it came down to “Put Your Hands Up” and “The Ol’ Switcheroo,” of which the latter won in a crowd decision.
Before anyone realized, the ‘Live at the Dive’ show had reached its expiration (to be fair, I have stated it was an hour the entire time, but they played just over 40 minutes—it appeared as an hour on paper, but upon speaking with personnel afterward, they had an hour to play AND tear down their set up). While the night was too short in length, how often does anyone get the chance to see a booming band with less than 200 people in attendance for free?!
The Struts, ‘Live at the Dive’ event was of course, priceless. Their new material sounded amazing, the rarity took on an extra special meaning and with signature Struts twists, the covers took on lives of their own. Spiller’s final commands to the audience that evening came with their breakout hit and regular set closer, “Could Have Been Me,” wherein the crowd collectively switched from clapping in-time to applauding for more. And just like that, the band graciously bowed and had their Elvis moment; rushing offstage, into their rides, off to the next city in what has become known amongst fans as, “2018, the Year of The Struts.”
