THE STROKES - Festival Hall, Melbourne 30/07/2010

Written by Sean Sebastian 
                                                   


“Melbourne. You guys are fucking loud and crazy, do ya know that?” 

image via: http://musicfeeds.com.au/

Their first show in Melbourne since 2006, The Strokes emerged to the pounding (and assumedly sardonic use of the) drums of We Will Rock You and 5000 manic fans. They opened with New York City Cops and the crowd instantly recognizes it from the first chord. And that’s the most startling dynamic one comes to noticing standing amidst an audience of The Strokes fans:  they have to be one of the most avid and zealous fan bases  the last decade. As the concert went on, the crowd never let up. A cheer for every track went up before the first bar is finished, whether it be the upbeat bass line of Last Nite, the clean, palm-muted rhythm of You Only Live Once, or even the Pete Townsend-esque opening chords to Soma. And it wasn’t only the rowdy drunks present in every mosh, it was also the 40-year-old mothers of younger fans (evidently fans themselves) and the clean-cut inner city twenty-somethings and even the likes of MasterChef star, Matt Preston. So I come to writing this review with some caution, lest a gang of fundamentalist fans send me a letter bomb.

That being said, there honestly is not much you can criticise in a Strokes live set. They come out decked in their rock star gear, Casablancas with the usual leather jacket and Hammond Jr. in an 80’s looking white suit. And they play perfectly on every track, highlights of which being Hammond Jr’s furious, hammer-on-filled solo to Vision of Division and Casablancas ripping through Juicebox, “You’re so cold.” But if there was one thing that degrades their performance, it would be their lack of energy. Fraiture and Valensi simply rock back and forth, their faces stony. Casablancas leans heavily on his mic stand for nearly the entire set and never strays far from it. Hammond Jr. was the only redeeming member with his head-banging, bouncing and smiling happily about the stage. 


I overheard a couple talking after the show was over,

“How’d you like it?”

“Yeah, it was really great. Kinda just seemed like they were doing a job though.”

That sums it up perfectly.