On Tuesday evening, The Struts were joined by Dirty Honey in Pittsburgh, PA at the Roxian Theater for an evening dedicated to their debut album Everybody Wants which was released a decade ago this year.
In honor of the debut, the band performed the the album’s reissue in its entirety. As we learned during the show, the release actually had two versions, the British version, which didn’t see much success. Meanwhile, the US version, which later made a name for The Struts, and brought us favorites like “Could Have Been Me” and “Kiss This,” along with new songs including a cut entitled “These Times Are Changing” that marked a triumphant opportunity to open for the Rolling Stones and other pivotal moments in their early career.
The 2025 North American tour is slated to include over 40 dates in total, and will run through the end of September with upcoming stops on both the East and West Coast. The Pittsburgh show brought the band back to the Roxian Theater, which offers a mix of general admission standing room and reserved seating. But, patrons were naturally urged to rise from their seats the second that The Struts hit the stage.
Before we get to that, however, we need to highlight the supporting act on this run, Dirty Honey. They are an American rock band from Los Angeles with sounds from the 1970s and beyond that formed back in 2017. With influences like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and even Prince pouring into their soulful sound, the band brought their own loyal fanbase and caused quite the stir at the basement merch booth after their set.
Dirty Honey consists of singer Marc LaBelle, guitarist John Notto, bassist Justin Smolian, and drummer Jaydon Bean. They are currently on the road in support of their latest album Mayhem and Revelry Live. Highlights from the set included the groovy “When I’m Gone,” “Don’t Put Out the Fire,” and the finale of “Rolling 7s.” In fact, as their set closed out, frontman Marc LaBelle swapped his shirt for a Sidney Crosby captain jersey in support of our Pittsburgh Penguins, noting that he brought it from his own closet back in Los Angeles and had to bring it because he is indeed a Pittsburgh Penguins fan and he’d always wanted to wear a jersey on stage.
With a brief intermission, the stage was turned over quickly for The Struts who kicked off their set around 8:15 pm and instantly left me breathless as I raced around the the photo bit trying to stop the locomotive that is frontman Luke Spiller as he literally shook the stage jumping and dancing his way through the intro of “Primadona Like Me” and “Body Talk” from the Young & Dangerous album.
As we braced ourselves for “Roll Up”, which naturally would introduce the set from Everybody Wants the crowd response was beyond overwhelming to the point that the band actually took a pause to soak it all in. And, as the noise fueled the band even more, I took the opportunity to catching some of the always charismatic faces behind guitarist Adam Slack’s bouncing locks of hair, and to focus in on his signature Rock N Roll Relics guitar which is adorned in a sparkly Union Jack design.
While the songs on the set list were predictable, given the focus of the tour, the set was anything but that. There was an arrangement of “Could Have Been Me,” that came next, which was sped up in a way similar to how the band has been performing “We Will Rock You,” and an acoustic version of “Merry Go Round,” which brought the lights down low. We re-learned the melody of “She Makes Me Feel Like,” because anything short of full crowd participation is simply unacceptable at a show from The Struts, and we laughed along with the band as things went off kilter during a new piano arrangement of “One Night Only.”
Smiles were plentiful from bassist Jed Elliott as he grooved his way through the set and even joined in on acoustic guitar while Luke took a seat at the piano along with Funko Pop Freddie Mercury, and drummer Gethin Davies made himself seen each time he entered the stage and of course as his sticks flew overhead often to deliver the pounding beats that kept us all on our feet.
In sum, this was a typical show from The Struts. It was high energy, it was comical, and it was exhausting, and of course, fans young and old loved every minute of it, from the grey-haired grandmothers who were front-row warriors to the grade school children who were waiting for autographs by the bus at their first ever concert! Whether its’ at a drive-in (those sure were strange days) or a traditional theater, we will always be here for The Struts, and we can’t wait until next time!
Coverage by Editor and founder Kara Marie Uhrlen on 8/20/2025. All event photos © Kara Uhrlen and The Pure Rock Shop.
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