Everybody Wants
Live at House of Blues San Diego
October 14th, 2025 Review by Bruce R Kilgour
The Struts are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first LP “Everybody Wants,” and the UK rockers brought their high-energy show to San Diego, along with Los Angeles’ Dirty Honey, for a fast-paced, guitar-fueled, rock and roll party at the House of Blues.
The sold-out venue was packed with enthusiastic fans of both bands, but The Struts faithful were clearly here to celebrate. San Diego was the last stop of the 40-city tour, and there were visible signs of joy combined with nervous exhaustion exhibited by all of the eight musicians throughout the evening.
San Diego, California
October 4th, 2025
Dirty Honey, led by charismatic singer Marc LaBelle, hit the stage running with the two-song punch of “Gypsy” and “California Dreamin’,” both from their 2021 self-titled debut LP. The third song, “Heartbreaker,” is where the set shifted into high gear.
The track from their 2019 EP (also self-titled) highlights the gritty, bluesy riffs of guitarist John Notto, and the crowd was fully engaged. A new unrecorded song, “Too Good at Being Bad,” was next and LaBelle’s smirking and playful delivery was a throwback to the Sunset Strip glory days.
Two more songs from the first album were next, with both “Another Last Time” and “The Wire” showcasing the solid rhythm section of bassist Justin Smolian and drummer Jaydon Bean (the band’s “new” drummer, who joined in 2023).
“Don’t Put Out the Fire” was one of only two tracks played from Dirty Honey’s second LP “Can’t Find the Brakes,” and this song brought LaBelle into the audience, where he performed from atop a chair to the delighted crowd.
The roar of approval when the band launched into “When I’m Gone” was as big as expected; this track was their huge breakthrough 2019 hit. Another new song followed, and the set wrapped up with the raucous “Rolling 7’s” (also from their debut EP). Dirty Honey certainly upheld their reputation as one of this generation’s great rock and roll bands.
Hitting the stage with the songs “Primadonna Like Me” and “Body Talks,” from The Struts’ second album, “Young & Dangerous,” singer Luke Spiller and company immediately had command of the crowded venue. Addressing the audience, Spiller then announced that we were there to celebrate “Everybody Wants.”
Spiller has always been a frontman that engages personally with his fans and asked those up front who had seen The Struts on their first tour in 2015 / 2016 (there were many).
Launching into album openers “Roll Up” and “Could Have Been Me,” the packed crowd sang along with every word, which would continue throughout the evening. The risk of playing “Everybody Wants” sequentially is that the 2016 album front-loaded its four big hits to start the LP, so “Kiss This” and “Put Your Money On Me” followed to a huge response.
Next up was the slower ballad “Mary Go Round” on which Spiller played an acoustic guitar and proved that he can sing with quiet emotion in addition to loud theatrics; this song showed just how strong the album “Everybody Wants” is overall. “Dirty Sexy Money” brought the crowd back into high energy mode, with bassist Jed Elliot and drummer Gethin Davies filling the room with arena level rhythms. By playing the whole record front to back on this tour, The Struts are bringing back songs that haven’t been on the set list since 2016.
With “The Ol’ Switcheroo” and “She Makes Me Feel,” the hall was transformed into a sweaty dance pit. Following “The Ol’ Switcheroo,” Spiller told us that he hadn’t had a drink during the tour, and we should “all meet him at the Irish pub around the corner and buy him a pint” after the show. After “She Makes Me Feel,” Spiller pointed out that there were two versions of their first album, and we were hearing the songs in the order of the re-worked second release. He added that the original UK version “didn’t do fuck-all,” and that thanks to the United States fans, The Struts became the band they are today.
With Spiller taking a seat at his piano (adorned with a Freddie Mercury Funko Pop), they played the beautiful “Young Stars,” which hadn’t been performed prior to this tour since 2019. He ended this song by holding an exceptionally long note that was met with loud applause.
Next, everyone but guitarist Adam Slack left the stage, and we were treated to an elegant three-minute guitar solo. Slack is certainly one of the most talented lead guitarists to emerge in the last decade. The solo led seamlessly into “Black Swan,” which Spiller followed with a comment regarding his surprise at the audience’s familiarity with the tune, as it also has been rarely played since 2016.
“These Times Are Changing” was next, and Spiller preceded the song with a brief history of their journey from obscurity to success that they enjoyed 10 years ago.
The ballad “Only Just a Call Away” was next and saw Spiller return to the piano one last time before the knockout punch of “Where Did She Go,” which had the whole crowd swaying their arms along with their beloved lead singer.
The Struts are one of the few young outfits that understand that rock and roll should be messy, loud, and fun. They are carrying the glam tradition with style and grace, and the loyal fans at House of Blues knew that this would be the last Struts show for a while. The band will be taking a break from the road to write new material, and as Spiller said, “work on the next 10 years!”
SHOW PHOTO GALLERY
by Greg Vitalich Photography
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SID 251016 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
