The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

The Struts' Chicago Halloween Show Thrilled & Brought Oasis Back From The Dead

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 1, 2017 4:23PM

The Struts may be from the U.K., but sometimes it feels like they've made Chicago their home base. During Monday night's Halloween set, singer Luke Spiller told the crowd that at their start they couldn't get any love in their home country, and it wasn't until they set sail for the States that they started to thrive. We're not ones to take too much credit, but we were onboard at the get-go. And, at the end of Monday's show, we marveled at the new converts, since literally every single person at the sold out show at Bottom Lounge was 100 percent into every second of the show. And we are not exaggerating that point.

Perhaps the most striking thing about The Struts is that they are all incredibly young, yet channel a muse that feels like rock and/or roll legend. When they hit the stage there's an actual electricity, and even when Spiller asks the crowd to wave their hands, or all get down on the floor (which they do!) it feels like the first time a band has asked that question. We've seen a lot of Struts shows, and can attest that they somehow pull this off, every single time.

The Struts are an aural throwback, to be sure. But they are also a band for the new millennium, as they adopt all the trappings of stadium excess while leaving behind the exclusionary aspect that bands in that mold often adopt.

Monday's show included plenty of shout outs to the Chicago crowd, many of which were rooted in genuine appreciation that this landlocked global city was one of the first to embrace the band's message. But it also included a rarity, a one night only transformation of the band into Gin And Tonic (arguably the best Oasis tribute band in the land). The notion of bands dressing up as other bands is a familiar practice in Chicago—and one could argue we pretty much invented it with the decades long run of Halloween shows at Double Door that grew out of a single drunken evening—and while it's now become somewhat cliche, once in a while an act comes along that provides an actual thrill. We'd argue Monday night was the closest anyone will get to seeing Oasis actually play again.

The Struts are wrapping up their tour, and then working on completing their next album. If recent single "One Night Only" and the new track they previewed at the show "Primadonna Like Me" are any indication, it's gonna be amazing.