Bad Nerves
Bobby Nerves (Bird) (vocals) / Will Power (Phillipson) (guitar) / George Berry (guitar) / Jon Poulton (bass) / Sam Thompson (drums & percussion)
This was to be a night’s entertainment recommended to me by my old friend Rob Mellor, with whom I met up at the venue. First up was a band that I had never heard of but who are apparently quite well known on the gig circuit.
According to Discogs, “Bad Nerves are a 5-piece Powerpop-Rock’n’Roll band from East London. The bastard child of a Ramones/Strokes one night stand, they play ferociously fast distorted pop songs, with melodies that hook so deep, even the most skilled lobotomist would struggle to scrape them out.” Probably their own publicity, and I’d say that it sums them up quite perfectly.
This was a much younger audience than I had seen at Rock City before and by the time that the band took to the stage at 7pm it was already quite hot and sweaty (it was 29 degrees outside, so that was not too much of a surprise).
What followed was almost thirty minutes of power pop and Ramones-style punk without the style of that band. Nothing lasted longer than three minutes – it was all extremely frantic stuff. And, sadly, I couldn’t hear a single word either sung or spoken so I have absolutely no idea of any song names (Setlist.fm to the rescue, then! 😉 ).
And so to the acid test – did I enjoy them? Sadly, no. It was all just too loud and punk for me. I did try to like them and I have to admit that by the end of their short set they were beginning to show signs that they might eventually pull something off. The packed audience certainly shouted their appreciation as the set wound up and were very generous with their applause. But, no – ultimately they were not my cup of tea.
They had, however, done their job of warming up the assembled throng in anticipation of the main men…
Setlist: Don’t Stop; Baby Drummer; Palace; Terminal Boy; Radio Punk; Electric 88; USA; Can’t Be Mine; Mad Mind; Dreaming
The Struts
Luke Spiller (vocals) / Adam Slack (guitars) / Jed Elliott (bass) / Gethin Davies (drums & percussion)
The Struts, on the other hand, were a totally different kettle of fish!
Although completely unknown to me, their official publicity reads, “Formed in Derby England in 2012 and bursting onto the scene with “Could Have Been Me”, they have since released three albums (including collaborations with heavy hitters like Robbie Williams, Kesha, Tom Morello, and Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Phil Collen), earned the No. 1 spot on the Spotify Viral Top 50, appeared on shows like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, garnered more than 850M on–demand streams and sold out shows across the globe. Praised for their onstage swagger and musicianship, they have opened for The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and Guns N’ Roses, played major festivals like Lollapalooza and Governors Ball as well as headlined their own world–wide tours. Now signed to Big Machine Label Group, the mesmerising rockers have released their new anthem–rocker single, “Fallin’ With Me.”
In a more recent statement (3rd July), singer Spiller said, “Finally we are returning to the UK and Europe! We can’t wait to play you some new material and a new show we’ve been putting together for the last year.”
With the packed crowd suitably warmed-up by Bad Nerves, The Struts appeared at 8:15 to tumultuous applause and cheering. Now, I know that I haven’t been an avid visitor to the venue over the years, but I can safely say that I have never seen the place more rammed and anywhere near as vociferous as it was last night. There was no room to move on the dance-floor and the balcony was packed to the rafters too as Luke Spiller bounced onto the stage, the last of the band, and they kicked off with ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ to the obvious delight of their assembled fans.
The next 105 minutes were joyous (for the most part – more later!) Hit after hit spewed forth and the call and response nature of the songs fully engaged the crowd. With a new album – ‘Pretty Vicious’ – due out in November you would be excused for thinking that they might push a few of the songs from it but it appears that only the one, ‘Too Good At Raising Hell’ , made it to this set but that was probably because it has already seen release as a single and was clearly known to the crowd.
And Spiller certainly lived up to his billing as far as influences were concerned – he could easily have been any or all of Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler and Justin Hawkins. I’d also peg him as Austin Powers with his regular, “Yeah baby!” calls to his adoring crowd. Pouting, clapping, cajoling and encouraging, Spiller pranced about the stage conducting the entire performance, not that much encouragement was needed as he had the audience within the palm of his hands from the very outset.
As I’ve said, I was blissfully unaware as to the content of their music and yet this proud dyed-in-the-wool prog and heavy prog fan was swept up in the maelstrom that was their show. Catchy hooks, singalong choruses and downright fun were the order of the day. The only time that I didn’t join in was when the crowd was asked to bend down and then jump to order – this creaky old back can’t quite cope with that nowadays!
The highlights were too many to list here; let’s just say that they far outweighed the weaker moments. The latter were the slower numbers; the cover of the Lorde song, ‘Royals’, and the duet (although not tonight) with Paris Jackson on ‘Low Key In Love’ dragged (for me, anyway). And was I the only one there to think that the electric piano was woefully out of tune by the time that the encore of ‘Fire’ rolled around? That sounded positively awful although it could just have been that I had never heard it before so didn’t know how it should sound. Anyway, these were but minor gripes on a night when The Struts certainly on top form and, despite haling from Derby and the ensuing boos that resulted whenever that city was mentioned, won over Nottingham Rock City at a canter.
But don’t you go thinking that this was a one-man show, because it most certainly wasn’t. Adam Slack on guitar proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is still a call for screaming rock guitar solos, while the rhythm section of Gethin Davies on drums and Jed Elliott on bass kept the tunes rumbling along with a menacing growl. And let’s not forget that Elliott also represents eye-candy for the young female element in the audience – that was very obvious indeed from where I was standing!
So, all in all, a hugely successful evening for band and adoring fans. And I’d guess that I wasn’t the only convert there; indeed, many there were surrounding me who, when asked by Spiller, raised their hand to signify that this was their virgin Struts gig. But more importantly, would I go and see them again? Hell yeah, baby! 🙂 🎶🎵🎸🤟
There’s also an independent review here from Rock News.
Setlist: Dirty Sexy Money; Body Talks; Fallin’ With Me; Too Good At Raising Hell; Kiss This; Primadonna Like Me; All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go; In Love With A Camera; One Night Only; Mary Go Round; Low Key In Love; Royals; Guitar solo; Wild Child; Pretty Vicious; I Do It So Well; Where Did She Go; Put Your Money On Me; Encore: Fire; Could Have Been Me
Gigs'n'Stuff 