This was my first time at Birmingham Institute, and I have to say, it’s a pretty nice venue. You walk in past the merch booths, go up the stairs and the stage and main area is on the first floor(2nd for the Americans reading this). There is a balcony area on the second floor however that is all reserved seating and I wasn’t able to go up there. The venue has a capacity of 1,500 so it’s around the same size as The Rave which can hold 1,800 where I saw Silversun Pickups earlier this year.
The opener was James Bruner out of Nashville, Tennessee. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him as I first learned about him after seeing a post from Barns Courtney about him opening. His set started out fairly mellow with “When I’m Down.” With this first impression I thought it was gonna be a fairly calm set. Oh how wrong I was. He then went into “Bad News.” A much more energetic song with some definite influence from his current home of Nashville. He followed “Bad News” with another laid back song “Heart a Flame.” You can see pictures from those first three songs in the live music gallery here
After listening to him online and then later watching him live, I would not be surprised to see him headlining shows in the next year or two. The stage presence and power was on par with many headlining acts that I’ve seen.
After a short break Barns Courtney was due to come on. If this is your first time hearing about him, then good, you still get to hear his music for the first time. Personal favourites would have to be “Kicks,” “Fire,” and “National Treasure” which is a song off of his newest album.
Barns’ set started with Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” playing, which was fitting as I can’t imagine he does anything he really doesn’t want to do. By the end of the first three songs, he had been climbing on the speakers, hanging the microphone cord from his mouth, and just going crazy on stage. His energy and stage presence is absolutely immense.
Last up, we get to our headliner: The Struts. I understand where the name came from. Luke Spiller(Lead Singer) has an absolute way with the stage. He’s been compared to Freddie Mercury countless times and I absolutely understand why. He has the stage presence, even a similar look. If you’ve never heard of them, check out their song “Could Have Been Me.” I remember hearing that all over the radio about 10 years ago.
I honestly don’t think that Luke stopped moving at all on stage. Even when just talking to the crowd, he kept moving. Towards the end of their set he even stepped off the stage and was moving around crowd just having a blast. This is a guy who loves what he does and is good at it. They wrapped up their set with the song “Could Have Been Me” which has been a personal favourite of mine since hearing it on the radio years ago. Overall a fantastic set.
While I could sit here and compare Barns Courtney and Luke Spiller’s style’s on stage, the obvious thing here is they are absolutely similar. This show with James Bruner, Barns Courtney, and The Struts was so energetic and an absolutely fantastic time. They all have similar styles albeit with their own touches that make them unique. The three of them still have a few shows left in Europe such as Prague, Zurich, and Milan.