The Strokes

See. I don't think they DO have it in them to deliver an arena show. Many people would describe Casablancas & Co as charismatic, when all they've ever been is indie eye candy, which is not the same thing. I don't think they are a band who is able to 'project', so either they learn a whole lot about live shows from the likes of people who live breathe and eat arenas and stadiums, (rockers like like Jon Bon Jovi or Aerosmith, indie-ers like REM or Radiohead, or pop-ers like Justin and Christina perhaps??) or they play big shows that ring hollow.

I hate to be picky but Fab is the drummer - the other guitarist is Albert. Just thought you might want to change it.

I wrote a long series of musings about the Strokes under Neil's review of Room on Fire on this site, asically suggesting that pop life did not sit easily with Mr Julian and that the poor wee guy is full of beer n' depression n' some of the most nutritionally vacant food in the world if the above mugshot is anything to go by. The Queen's just left hospital after knee surgery and the removal of benign skin lesions from her face: one recommends her doctor to Mr Julian with a great deal of haste. Perhaps he's decided that it's dumb to carry on copying various garage acts, tussle with allegedly cool 80's influences and a bit of snotty 70's punk and that it's time to turn himself into a NYC facsimile of the King of Pop himself. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Elvis Casablancas. Just don't let him go for a shit alone.

I think it's telling that they started with 'Reptilia' as this is by far the bounciest, most energised track from Room on Fire. It seems like all the criticisms I gave it, that it was half-arsed, full of lyrical moaning throughout, and had no energy to it and a lack of really decent tunes is shown up even more live and is amplified by the band's seemingly can't won't don't give a fuck attitude.

And it's nice to see the Oxford Zodiac mentioned. It's been a long time since I cascaded down Cowley Road drunk. Let's just mention the Point too for old times sake.

..and the Jericho Tavern....(misty eyed...)

I don't agree with that review at all.

Sniff, the Jericho... I saw my first ever Oxford gig there.

Was really looking forward to seeing the Strokes in Cardiff. Spent 50 quid on tix for me and my daughter. We are long-standing fans of British Sea Power (I've seen them 6 times this year) so were delighted that they were support band. Have to say though that the Strokes were a big disappointment. They were extremely boring, played the songs note for note the same as the albums and gave the impression they didn't really want to be there. Maybe they were tired. My daughter and I walked out before the end of the show. Felt we were wasting our time there.

Above it all I find it fascinating that two people at the same gig can come away with two such utterly contrasting views. I went to both nights at a.p and was blown away (particularly on the friday) and the idea of walking out the end to me is just patently absurd. Moments like when the Modern Age segued into 12:51 and the sheer stagemanship of Albert climbing on the drum kit for a solo and Julian singing Take it or Leave it from a position on his back roughly four rows back being held a loft are what gigs are made of. Although largely the shows were a rendition of the album with little in the way of improvisation, I was impressed by how tightly the band played esp when the songs are so rigid in structure and tempo that it is no small feat of musicianship to pull it off. Listening to the radio 1 recording reinforced my opinion that it was a fantastic gig and I was not suffering from the drunken delusions of a big fan. As for Furry's persistent analysis of Casablancas' psyche and his imminent and unstoppable decline, well I just find that all a bit morbid and tasteless thanks. The guy is 25 years old and likes going out and having a good time and that hardly makes him Elvis or Henry VIII. In any case he's lost weight - I thought we'd lost him to the salad-dodgers but apparently not. I guess divergent opinions are part of the allure of music there are many factors which can make a gig hit the right buttons or flick the off-switch. Case in point: the worst gig I have ever seen was the Smashing Pumpkins on the first night of their final tour at Wembley Arena and the best gig I have ever seen was the Smashing Pumpkins on the second night of the same tour at the same place.

Nah. British Sea Power are boring. And "wacky"
"Oh, great. A giant bear. 5/5!"
Let's not forget that their music is dull. Dull dull dull.

Phew - well and truly justified re objectivity and subjectivity and need for a balance and I totally appreciate you need a bit objectivity to get the true picture (just look at some of the tosh listened to by the pill-popping madchester scene - overdose on 'subjectivity' and 'wow it's so amazing' made them unable to differentiate between what was good and what was tosh). I do think there is a lot to be said though for the theory that in a concert if you lose your sense of objectivity then it has been a successful performance (or a very unsuccessful one). I'm not being facetious but I am actually having a hard time understanding what you mean though by being 'objective' about music. You have to accept that any attempts to objectivity are contrived: music primarily impacts on emotion and therefore objectivity is precluded. The only sense in which it is possible is in the what I will call the muso sense (not meant as derogatorily in this instance), where the analysis of the music becomes by proxy and becomes an analysis of the music as it stands in time, by comparison, as part of the culture zeitgeist etc. I don't see anything wrong with that but you have to accept that when you start being objective about music, that is the point when it ceases to be about the music but more about its context. This is turning into a semantics discussion... You can be subjective and not lose the power of reason.

Glad you appreciate the smart alec nme observation - I wasn't being serious, just a little red rag for you. NME - Enemy. I confess I read it every week and I also have to say as you correctly point out I can't think of the last time I discovered a new band through it. Most bands I discover through word of mouth and occasionally I guess the radio but I listen to radio so rarely (usually using the little listening time I have to stick to cds I guess...). The Strokes was probably the last band NME got me into and I thank them for that, though as ever it's a double-edged sword. It does bug me the way NME champions bands in a self-congratulatory way and then turns the tide slightly a few years down the line with no reason besides 'trend' and desire to influence public opinion. It bugs me then when a band is in vogue they will slap 'THE STROKES' on the cover whenever they can. This summer took the biscuit - they put the band on the cover as a summer feature, and for the life of me I couldn't where the hell they were in the issue. There it was: a small paragraph detailing how the Strokes were playing a japanese festival. I mean that almost amounts to misrep and I wrote to nme saying it was a pretty lame stunt to play to sell copies but unsurprisingly it wasn't published. That is at the crux of nme: they are after the dollar and delivering a decent assessment of the alternative scene and still being profitable sadly is rather hard. As early pre-capital Xfm discovered to its sad demise/disfigurement. NME has about fifteen bands (max) on cover rotation and they know that as long as they do this they continue to support the marketed brand of the artist = popular appeal = £. Added to this is the fact that a lot of the writers are aware of their own personality as writers/wannabe-stars a little too much and the writing becomes as much about them and what they did with the band (how many articles are simply 'my six hour bender with 'The _____s'?) Articles are infused and stamped with the writer's ego more than any other journalism you will read. It would be interesting to see what would happen if the magazine became anonymous copy like the economist. At least you go some way to removing the ego. Added to this is they have dumbed the whole thing down with this new format (you might not have seen it if you haven't bought it for a while) but it's all-singing all dancing with little bite-sized articles and much more emphasis on visuals, less on substance. Not happy with it.

But as a bog read it's good. I like reading the reviews, read the articles about the bands I like, the letters are entertaining, and yes, the crossword is good. Their live reviews are a LOT worse than they used to be. Check their terrible coverage of the Radiohead and Strokes gigs for example, giving a little bit on each gig they did rather than a full review of one. Again, pleasing the masses.... They know that if someone walks into a newsagency and sees that the gig they were at is reviewed, ker-ching.... Crap, again. I don't think it's that bad and that sums up its 'competition'. It's got a corporate agenda and the mainstreaming of anything vaguely alternative is bound to be 'flawed'.

Olly, don’t be a prick. If I was being morbid and tasteless then I’d be doing what NME did with the Vines and marketing their lead singer as ‘the next Cobain’ on account of him possibly being a wee bit loco. I don’t want Julian to turn into another rock fuck-up, I want the wee kid who looked fucking great, sang fucking great and wrote fucking great songs. Right now we have someone who sounds miserable on record, looks half-arsed on stage, is frequently incoherent in many interviews and looked (at their gig in Toronto) like a piece of shit compared to how he used to look. I don’t want my rock stars dead, they make less music that way and that is a waste. My ‘persistent analysis’ of Julian has not been one of ambulance chaser, it’s been one of a guy who thought the first album was fantastic in every way, who considers Room on Fire to be one of the most disappointing follow-up albums of all-time and who worries that a fundamentally nice chap is not in the grandest of mental health. But what the hell eh, if Julian’s lost weight, then clearly everything’s all ticketyboo. That Richey Edwards is fine too, the weight loss helped him…

NME: nice to read when you want to fill in a few minutes.

The Strokes were a disgrace live up until the new album, despite Is This It being decent. Slowing down songs so they could flesh out their set? That's weak, but now, they're playing at the right speed and talking a load of shite between songs.
Bad photos exist of everyone. Poor.

those of you that enjoy slating The Strokes for all they do,wear,say etc. You should really count the amount of records you've sold recently and how many lives you've changed also.It's considered fahionable to like the strokes,but even more so to dislike them

I enjoy slating the Strokes for releasing a shoddy second album. I also enjoy praising the Strokes for releasing a great debut album. I also enjoy fishing, clay-pigeon shooting and peeling the labels from cans of citrus fruit.

well i have to say somthing the strokes are the fucking band so all u people who hate them are cocks