REVIEW: Dirty Heads, The Struts, lovelytheband @ House of Blues 12/03

By Jarrad Levy

I think the best way to start this review is to say that this was one of the strangest nights of music I have ever experienced. Lovelytheband, the Struts, and Dirty Heads all stem from such dramatically different genres of music that there was no reason for them to play a show together besides the fact that Boston’s Alt 92.9 radio station clearly tried to book three artists who have a smidgen of buzz and happened to be available. To be fair, the concert was not bad—far from it—but because of the radically different bands, the crowd did not overly support any one of them.

I cannot say enough about how much I disliked lovelytheband. This was the first time I ever heard any music from them whatsoever, and while it was not aggressively awful by any means, it was so offensively generic that I was on my phone for the majority of their set. The band sounds like they are halfway between sounding like the 1975 and Arctic Monkeys, and yet do not come remotely close to being the slightest bit as enjoyable as either, and I don’t even like the 1975.

The band opened with the only more-than-decent song in their setlist, “make you feel pretty.” The lyrics were unbelievably basic and uninteresting, with immature vocabulary and lyrical content. The rest of their set was comprised of pop rock filler which I would have confused with just about any other pop rock band from the last five years.

I feel like I’m, being a little mean to lovekytheband. I did not hate their music, it was listenable, but the band had no charisma, the songs were basic, and I really just wanted to see the other two bands on the bill.

The Struts were everything lovelytheband was not. Upon arriving on stage, lead singer, Luke Spiller, was dancing like a madman with unbelievable vigor. The band opened with a single from their newly released album, YOUNG&DANGEROUS, called “Primadona Like Me.” Not even three quarters of the way through the song, Spiller’s infectious energy had penetrated the crowd with the vast majority clapping along with him and shaking their hips.

The set continued with more well known songs by the band like “Body Talks,” “One Night Only,” and “Could Have Been Me.” I love this band and have listened to both of their released albums enough to know the words of most of their songs. Thus, I have to say that I am a bit disappointed that this setlist was simply a condensed version of their set from when I saw them in September, only adding one song from their new album that has released since. I understand the decision to play their most popular songs, as the crowd was so diverse and only about a third actually attended to see them, but I really enjoyed the new album and was excited to hopefully hear songs like “Somebody New” and “Ashes (Part 2).”

While I would have loved to see newer and lesser known songs by the band, I cannot complain since they are so talented. Their music is what I like to call “modern classic rock.” I sincerely believe that their music is what Queen would sound like had they originated in the 21st century: with screeching guitar, bombastic drums, a fantastic lead singer, and the implementation of synthesizers.

Like with the Struts, I was already a fan of Dirty Heads before seeing them at Miracle on Lansdowne Street. Also like the Struts, the band sounded fantastic live. The only thing is that they thematically did not come close to fitting into the tone set by the Struts due to them being a rap and reggae hybrid. Additionally, frontman Dirty J did not have nearly the amount of stage presence that Spiller did in the previous set. While Spiller was encouraging the crowd to jump, clap along, and dance, J did little but sing and rap. While there is nothing particularly wrong with this, I was so exhausted from the Struts’ set that music alone was not going to re-energize me.

As I said though, the band sounded fantastic. Dirty Heads were able to do something that few artists are able to do: add to their songs in their live renditions. The music felt so much more exciting and lively than on their albums. They opened up with crowd favorite “Medusa” and continued to play crowd pleaser after crowd pleaser. This bothered me less than when the Struts pulled the same act, because Dirty Heads have so much more music to pull from to play at a live show. The band also got the only encore of the night, which included their relatively new hit, “Vacation.”

Overall, I really enjoyed myself at Alt 92.9’s Miracle on Lansdowne Street. While the dramatic genre changes throughout the night were stark, and lovelytheband bored me for half an hour, two of the three bands were fantastic live and I would absolutely recommend seeing both of them live next time they tour. Let’s just hope they’re not doing it together.