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The Strokes turn Sant Jordi into a jolt of electric shocks
Sharp guitars and elastic bass drove a night of nervous energy at Sant Jordi. The Strokes played songs from their early albums and their latest release at their only Spanish date on the world tour.
The audience stayed on their feet for ninety minutes at the only Spanish concert of the tour.
Sharp riffs and a bouncing bass set the pace from the very first bars. The stands at Sant Jordi stayed standing from start to finish, as the crowd reunited with a band that, more than twenty years after bursting onto the scene, still knows how to send electric shocks.
It was ninety minutes of fast-paced rock and a packed venue from the moment tickets went on sale.
A veteran band that still sounds urgent
In the venue were people who were twenty when The Strokes broke through, and many who were around fifteen at the time. Fewer were the age of Julian Casablancas, who is nearing fifty, like his bandmates. The band hadn’t released an album in six years, and this was the only Spanish date on their world tour.
Nick Valensi is not taking part in the tour. On guitar, he was replaced by Steve Schiltz, efficient and close to the group. The stage, dark and bathed in reds and purples, barely allowed the faces to be seen. Casablancas kept his sunglasses and a long black trench coat; white sideburns peeked out beneath them. His voice sounded listless, at times apathetic and blurred by autotune.
Nikolai Fraiture did make himself seen in an orange sweatshirt. He rested his bass on the lighting stand and chatted with the audience, while Casablancas wandered the stage and mumbled comments. The others wrung every note from their instruments.
A setlist that moves around
The stripped-back setup doesn’t tie effects to songs and allows the setlist to change order each night. The group usually repeats the opener at two consecutive concerts; in Barcelona, they opened with Tyrants Of The Mellow Moon. Things really caught fire with Reptilia, and the guitars chased each other for the rest of the concert like Coyote y Correcaminos or Team Rocket y Pikachu.
Hard To Explain buried the vocals under the guitars. Dine N’Dash, the second track from the new album, steered the night towards post-punk, and in Soma Casablancas dropped the register. Lonely In The Future played with autotune until Casablancas said, “Hola, muchas grasias,” this time without the effect. The crowd responded to The Adults Are Talking; the bass moved forward with a James Bond chase feel.
Heart In A Cage kept the energy up with insistent picking. Garage rock raced ahead: six songs came from the first album and five from the latest. Among these was Going Shopping, a critique of consumerism with an easy-buy sound, like gum at the supermarket checkout.
Sant Jordi wanted more
Later, the bassist called for noise with hip-hop gestures and Someday delivered. Last Nite added its Tamla-style soul. Phones lit up to demand encores and New York City Cops kicked off that round. Sant Jordi was “enrampada” and Casablancas gave it his all.
Threat Of A Joy made the melody shine among sharp guitars. Ode To The Mets left a melancholy hum before the band headed backstage. For the finale, they returned with Selfless; some couples smiled at each other during the ballad. The concert ended after ninety minutes, twenty-five years after that revolution.