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May 13, 2018

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Some people think that rock is dead.  

 

Two young bands, one from Canada, The Glorious Sons and the other from England, The Struts are out to prove those people wrong.  Both bands did just that Friday night at The House of Blues.

 

The Struts headlined the show and brought swagger, attitude and great rock music to a nearly sold-out House Of Blues audience on Friday night.

 

It is very obvious who has influenced lead singer Luke Spiller as he is one part Steven Tyler, one part Mick Jagger, one part David Bowie and several parts Freddie Mercury.  Not only does Spiller look like a combination of those artists, but he also dances and commands the stage like those iconic frontmen.

 

Not only that, but the man has a very similar vocal style to that of Freddie Mercury.  

 

Spiller and his bandmates guitarist Adam Slack, bassist Jed Elliott and drummer Gethin Davies proceeded to put on a no frills, old school, rock and roll show that was tons of fun.

 

The band kicked things off with “Put Your Hands Up” which got the crowd involved right away.  They stayed involved as Spiller danced, pranced and strutted his way around the stage while pointing to and making eye contact with several audience members.

 

Most of the set consisted of songs from their debut album Everybody Wants.  However, they did sprinkle their latest single “One Night Only” as well as a surprising cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark.”

 

Towards the end of the show Spiller asked, “Are you sweaty?  If you’re not, then you’re not doing it right!” He also noted that this was the best show that they've every played in Cleveland. The enthusiastic crowd ate it up.

 

The show ended with their best known songs “Put Your Money On Me” and encored with “Could Have Been Me” and “Where Did She Go.”

 

You can get your chance to see them later this summer as they have been announced as they're touring in support of the Foo Fighters at Blossom on July 25th.

 

Canadian rock band The Glorious Sons opened the show with a great set of their own brand of rock and roll.  

 

Fresh off their 2018 Juno Award for Rock Album Of The Year, The Glorious Sons played four songs from their award winning album Young Beauties and Fools including “Sawed Off Shotgun” and ‘My Poor Heart.”

 

Cleveland once again proved that this town knows great music as the audience sang along with almost every song; even though this band has only been on the scene for a little over five years.

The outfit played a great cover of the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter,” which was appropriate because this crew will be opening for The Stones later this summer in Europe.

 

“Everything Is Alright” was a huge sing-a-long as lead singer Brett Emmons let the audience sing the chorus throughout the entire song.

 

Their forty-minute set ended with “Kill The Lights.”

 

Do yourself a favor and check out both of these bands if you haven’t already.  

 

I’m sure this show will be on my Top Ten list at the end of the year.  

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan