The Struts and Barns Courtney Live at The NX, Newcastle

Where have all the great frontmen gone?   Back in the `70`s it seemed as though every band and their dog had a singer who oozed charisma yet now they seem to have all but disappeared.  Yet, wandering into the NX on a Friday evening in Newcastle that view might just have changed.

As part of a co-headlining tour, where the show closer alternated each night, The Struts and Barns Courtney seem to have cornered the market in flamboyance and showmanship.

The Struts at NX, Newcastle (Image: MICK BURGESS) First up was Barns Courtney, who was something of an unknown quantity to these ears.  Talk about making an immediate impression on hitting the stage to ‘Fun Never Ends’.  Never has a truer phrase been etched into a song as Courtney blazed away in a manic swirl of energy which never stopped.  Surely a sponsorship from one of the leading energy drinks beckons.

Recent single ‘Young In America’ jostled for a place alongside ‘Glitter and Gold’ and ‘Heartbreak Hallelujah’.

Courtney spent ‘Kicks’ on his back being held aloft by a thousand arms before standing in the middle of the crowd during set closer ‘Fire’ commanding them to sit down on the ground before leaping up on the count of three to a frenzy of screams, jumps and waving arms.  Incredible.

Barns Courtney (Image: MICK BURGESS) The bar was set very high for The Struts with the question hanging over them – could they match that or even come close?

Well, The Struts are masters of their art and in Luke Spiller have one of the most complete frontmen this side of the Millennium being a glitter-laced cocktail of Freddie Mercury and David Lee Roth with the swagger of Jagger and that`s quite something.

All of the flair and flamboyance however would count for absolutely nothing without songs and The Struts have them by the barrel load.

Sparkle encrusted Pop Rock with monster choruses with a nod to T-Rex Glam covered in huge hooks that grab you even on the first listen from the dandy ‘Primadonna Like Me’, the whoops and hollers of ‘Body Talk’ and the saucy pizzaz of ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ and ‘Kiss This’ had the crowd singing along loud and proud.

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Even the brand new, ‘Can`t Stop Talking’, not even recorded yet, had the crowd joining in after the first chorus – they are that infectious.

Even better were ‘Pretty Vicious’ with its moody Chris Issac-like delivery and the hypnotic ‘Better Love’ before ‘In Love With A Camera’ lead Spiller to implore the crowd to take out their phones and photograph their neighbour.

Spiller parted the crowd, jumped over the crash barrier and walked through their middle during ‘Put Your Money On Me’ before demanding that they stand statue still in absolute silence at which point you could hear a pin drop and on command, all hell broke loose as the party reached boiling point.  ‘Could Have Been Me’ closed the night in exuberant, sing-a-long style confirming The Struts as arguably the best live band to come out of the UK in years.