The early reviews are in and The Strokes were triumphant this evening at Madison Square Garden.
New songs — Games, Call Me Back — were played, as well as fan favorites Juicebox, Reptilia and Take It Or Leave It. The Strokes even dusted off Ask Me Anything. Elvis Costello, the show’s surprise opener, also came out and sang the chorus of Taken For A Fool, allowing Julian to show off his glow-in-the-dark boots to the sell-out crowd.
There will certainly be a ton of videos and reviews to come in over night and I’ll try to post those of the best quality. But for now, here’s a fan video of Julian jumping into the crowd during Juicebox.
So, for those who were there: How was the show? What were your personal highlights? What did you see that the hardcore fans would be interested in? Most importantly, which songs sounded the best?
Long live The Strokes.
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
Looked amazing!
<3
I wish I could've been there!
This is all too amazing. I can’t even imagine what it must’ve been like to be there!! Elvis Costello?? Very cool. Julian is such a tease with his tweets! Seems like the energy was great. Can’t wait to see these glow in the dark shoes peeps are tweeting about. Looks like Rich was having a blast trying to keep Julian from killing himself in the Juicebox vid!
oh, duh. his shoes make an appearance in the vid! i was too busy watching what was most likely his buttcrack hanging out. Those pants are soo low.
OMG IT WAS EPICCC
I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW
but on a more serious note….the strokes performed games and ask me anything
there was a nice surprise opening act from ELVIS COSTELLO….and he also decided to perform taken for a fool with jules
julian was in quite the good mood today…he went into the pit and sang YOLO (f i remember correctly)
Perfection.
@Steph — shit, I didn’t see any of that. I’ve got to watch again.
i should also add that my friend pinched julian’s nose and stroked his hair gently when he went down into the pit…im very jealous of him
Wishing they will play a NYC set at the end of the tour that I can actually afford… Please, guys’?
toooooooooooooooo short my eyes need more!!!
I’m still happy cause I met Julian in Vegas, but I wish I could’ve gone to this!
@Eric- Rich couldn’t reach to pull JC’s pants up this time!! Rich, when JC’s crack is hanging out, you’re not doing your job!! (not that anyone minds.)
@Andres- pinched his nose?? wow, i would never have the balls to do that! that’s so funny! annnd i’m gonna stop commenting now. sorry.
Anybody upfront see if Albert was pissed when Julian joked about how “Last Night” is a terrible song? I saw him throw up his arms but couldn’t tell if it was in good spirits or not. Nikolai has never moved like he did tonight. He ended “Take it or Leave it” headbanging on the drum riser!
setlist? Thanks to Just A Reptilian from HTE
Is This It
Reptilia
Under Cover of Darkness
Hard to Explain
Last Nite
Juicebox
Someday
You’re So Right
Under Control
You Only Live Once
New York City Cops
Games )
Whatever Happened
Taken For A Fool (with guest ELVIS COSTELLO!!!!!)
————–
Ask Me Anything (Guitar version)
Modern Age
Gratisfaction
I Can’t Win
Take It or Leave It
I feel so pathetic because I just binged on Skittles all night while the best band in the world played what sounds like an insanely amazing show. C’monnn guys US tour US tour US tour US tour…..
why they didn’t played 12:51? or the end has no end? awwww but that was an amazing setlist btw
Literally just got back from MSG now…. It was the greatest nite of my life
I started to tear up during hard to explain and everything was just perfect on all levels!! The disco ball during under control was surreal and the Elvis Costello “prank” was fantastic! I’ve never heard a more beautiful version of the modern age and last nite was hilarious! Julian started singing when it was Biko aid turn to come in at the beginning and he was like “oh that’s not right! Shit…” also he completely screwed up the beginning of I can’t win bit it was hilarious and the rest of the song was amazing! Oh and Jules also let us know that he is “slow… I’m kinda slow… But I can also be QUICK!!”
And Albert is a kickass beast on the synths/switching to guitar during games
By far the best nite of my life
i’ve been a hardcore strokes fan for years and i couldn’t be more happy that this was my first time seeing the band! there were so many highlights for me, opening the show with ‘is this it’ is something i’ve dreamed of seeing. loved that they played ‘games’ and the disco ball was a great effect especially during ‘the modern age’. my two personal favorites of the night were ‘NYC Cops’ and the closer ‘take it or leave it’, i nearly lost my voice belting that one out.
this is my favorite band. this night changed my life.
long live the strokes!
@Carolyn
bahaha I know how you feel
*quiet sob*
come to toronto please? (the strokes, not carolyn)
They also played LISITM
I’ve met Julian in 2002 after they played a show and was extremely happy from that moment on. he took my magenta sharpie pen and was signing autographs for other fans. When I saw Julian on his solo tour he held my hand for 10 seconds so my life is already made. So jealous of the MSG show and wished I had my passport in time because I would have flown from the West Coast of Canada! He never lets me down.
Wow amazing setlist!
Can’t wait to see more vids!
“Life Is Simple In The Moonlight” was played in between “Last Night” & Juicebox”
tourist, how exactly did you get so meet julian in vegas? i’m so jelous, i was there.
they also played Life is simple
Seriously, it was the best concert I’ve ever been too, and I went to quite a few…
I saw Fab, Julian, Nikolai and Nick before when they got there for the soundcheck and they looked incredibly cool and relaxed for a band about to play to a sold out MSG!
I think the important thing is that they looked genuinely happy during the show, they kept talking to each other between songs, smiling to each other during the songs (and smiling to the crowd, I laughed with Albert both times Julian went down in the pit and Richard went crazy unrolling cables to follow him), Albert and Nick hugged at the end of Ask Me Anything.
I was lucky to have early entry ticket so I was up close at the front row, right in front of Albie and Jules (I have some crazy videos, I’ll post them when I get back to France on Monday) so I could really see their faces and how happy they looked.
They were all on top of their game, Julian’s voice was incredible, forget about Undercover on SNL, the end of Gratisfaction is really high-pitched but he killed it, with Albert and Nick backing him on the chorus. He messed up the lyrics several times and said he’d better follow us, and made jokes about it. He talked and joked a lot between songs, at one point he was drinking and spilled half of whatever he was drinking on him, and he said he had “drinking problems”. I don’t know if he said that on purpose, but then he quickly added he now understood why Johnny Cash always wore black, so you couldn’t see the stains.
Games and Gratisfaction sounded AMAZING, Albert on keyboards was so funny dancing.
Other highlights : the quieter songs were really moving, the slowed-down version of Under Control, Ask Me anything and Life is Simple gave me chills. And the more agressive ones (You’re so right, Juicebox) were so powerful, we were all blown away…
And of course, COSTELLO!!!!!! What an incredible moment….
I can’t find words, this really was one of happiest day of my life, meeting them in the afternoon and then being able to attend such a fantastic concert in such good conditions… Nothing will ever beat that!
And Nick really killed it, his solos were flamboyant, rockstar style! (except at one point he almost fell when he tried to climb on top of a speaker for one of his solo)
They all killed it, they were all just freakin amazing. Every song sounds 100000000000000x better live, and now Games is a favorite for me. I was sitting at the nose bleed section, so when Elvis Costello came up after Devandra Banhart, I thought it was just a band with similar vocalists hahaha. Best concert, my favorite artists, thats all there is to say. Julian wasn’t wearing sunglasses and his sober awkwardness in between songs is hilarious. I love how the overhead screens initially had the camera on Albert whenever Nick soloed or Nick whenever Albert soloed hahaha.
This concert made my life semi-complete haha, I’ve been dreaming for it for a long time. They sound amazing.
The show was amazing me and my friend kept moving closer and closer for better seats until I lost her , when I was looking for her I spotted a band in the crowd you guys mightve heard of called Arctic Monkeys! itook a picture with them real quick and talked about The Strokes show. Modern Age, LISITM, You Only Live Once and TIOLT were my highlights! Amazing show =D
The show was absolutely perfect. Julian was joking around so much and he was really into the crowd (especially when he joked about how they should have torn him apart when he was in the pit). Even after the Jimy Fallon perfomance, I didn’t know how I felt about YSR, but seeing it live is completely different. The song has so much energy and it was amazing. I was screaming my heart out on every song even when I thought I was the only one on songs like Life is Simple and Gratisfaction.
Just a quick question to those who got GA tickets. When exactly were you guys able to buy your tickets? Please let me know, thank you!
@isabella
“why they didn’t played 12:51? or the end has no end?”
They haven’t been playing those songs since coming back in 2010. Even when they played four shows on Conan O’Brien to promote Room On Fire, they didn’t play them. I remember reading 12:51 wasn’t originally supposed to be the lead single. So I think The Strokes realize those aren’t the best songs on that album.
It was a GREAT and LOUD show.
Jules used the stage and the CROWD to his full advantage.
He looked wasted from NYCC ’til the end (that’s NOT water he was drinking from those red cups) but DID NOT affect his performance.
All that said, what’s NOT being addressed is they played for only an hour and 25 minutes, encore included. For $68 a pop in front of a SOLD OUT hometown crowd @ MSG they should’ve done more. I know curfew is @ 11pm b/c of union rules and 3 bands played, and it took over 20 minutes for the crew to setup their stage, but in that case, they should’ve managed their time better. Just sayin’ and NOT to get on an anti-Strokes bandwagon. Getting back to union rules, I’m going to LCD tonight @ MSG they’ve said they’re playing a 3 hour set which means they’re playing to midnight. Can’t see how that’s going happen. If they do, they’ll be fined but it’s supposedly their last show so I don’t think they care.
The fact that the show was FOOKIN’ ACE and LOUD with an adoring crowd and positive reviews has overshadowed that fact. I guess I should be grateful that my tix was a birthday gift though I feel bad for my friend who paid $134 for both of ours.
@Jimmy
General rule of thumb concerning buying GA tickets is that they always go first during the pre-sale/public on-sale. Or, they can also go LAST if space on the floor was added, or they overestimated how many seats could fit on the floor.
I have loved The Strokes for years. None of my friends really know who they are, despite my hundreds of attempts to get them to listen to their music, so I brought along just my best friend and not a large group of obnoxious teenagers who would rather be listening to Katy Perry. At 16 years old we were definitely some of the youngest people there, but it was fine. The concert itself was absolutely amazing. I would have loved it if they sang The End Has No End but everything else was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more. I’ve said almost 50 times now to anyone that will listen that I can now die happy. I’ve recently been worried that I would never have a chance to go see The Strokes if they broke up, but despite all of the negative press they’ve been getting that makes it seem as though they hate each other, they looked like it was on of the best nights of their lives too. Elvis Costello was obviously just an added bonus that made it an even better night than I had originally thought possible. Just being part of the crowd of a sold-out MSG show was so incredibly amazing and it’ll be something that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.
They tore out my ass and painted the walls of MSG with it.
with the strokes great success and selling sold out tickets, they are capable of bring the economy back up!
Thanks Davey. Th presale was completely bugged or me so I was curious. Did anyone get GA tickets with the AmEx presale? That’s when I got mine and it was still in the arena. I had the time of my life but I felt like I belonged with the energy of the pit rathe than some people who actually left before take it or leave it up in the stands.
There are no bad seats in MSG. And those beers were pretty huge.
The Strokes were brilliant last night. I have seen them through the years and they just get better and better. The only bad thing is that I cannot see them again tonight. I’m still buzzing from that show and know I will be for many days to come.
Julian saying, “I have a drinking problem that’s why I always wear leather…it doesn’t stain” was definitely one of my favorite quotes of the night. Also, seeing someone try to pull him back into the crowd at the end of take it or leave it. You could tell people didn’t like games or gratisfaction as much, lots of sitting down and lack of energy compared to the vibrancy and really love for the strokes you could feel for every other song.
IT WAS FANTASTIC
@daveyB:
I was at the Vegas show at the Cosmopolitan, and I paid $180 for my reserved seating ticket…they were 2 hours later than expected,played for 75 minutes, and I couldn’t really see the band
*But you know, it was still one of the best nights of my life! I would do it again in a heartbeat!
And the Strokes dominate live…cannot wait to see them again!
When I got there Devandra something or other was opening and nobody was interested ….so much for that….then Elvis Costello came out and half the audience was asking who it was but then figured it was so much better than the band before who sounded like they were strangling a cat….of course Elvis is very well known in these parts but it was hard to figure out it was him until he actually sang with Julian…..As for The Strokes, they were amazing, sang with minimal interruptions, the disco ball was awesome, the classic PAC Man and other video games dancing around were also very cool…and as far as union goes….when Prince was in MSG a few months back, he played until 12:30 so fine or no fine, they should have stayed a little longer…..everyone around me was jumping up and down to Take It or Leave It and suddenly the lights come up and we were all left wanting more……nonetheless, It was worth the money as they sang almost every favorite song….
I was at the show, and the boys put on a pretty kick ass concert. The garden was a rockin friday nite. But am I the only who thought that the opening band was pretty decent? The audience was awesome, Julian being in the audience was even more awesomer (so jealous of those near him), and Elvis of course rocked, and the set list was banging (from what I remember). I have loved the Strokes for a few years now and this was my first time seeing them, wish it couldve been better and longer, and there were a few malfunctions by Julian, but otherwise, one hell of a show, can’t wait to see them again.
Opening band actually cannot be considered decent in a Strokes contest at MSG venue. It’s probably good for some teenager girls more into pop music. They act, move and sing as gays all the time. This is not a racist comment, please see some videos for confirmation.
I was there and it was the best night of my life. I’ve been hooked on The Strokes since I heard one of their songs two years ago and have been listening to them ever since. They are by far my favorite band and MSG was my first concert seeing them. I brought along my sister because she is as in love with The Strokes as I am, unlike my top-40 loving friends. We were some of the youngest people there, but it was AMAZING. Julian in the pit twice made me want to go and jump in myself. I am jealous of all of you who met him/were near him. How do you get tickets that allow you in early?? I would have died if I could have been in the front row. What websites can you get tickets in advance that are really good. My seats were decent. Favorite song of the show was definitely a tie between Take It Or Leave It, Is This It, and Someday. Nothing really compared to those, especially the energy of the audience during all of those songs. BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!!!!!