Julian Casablancas told a tough Manchester crowd he wasn't shy about The Strokes' reluctant stardom at Co-op Live, 20 years after their last city show. The frontman bluntly told the audience, “You guys are a tough f***ing crowd,” before muttering something disparaging to drummer Fab Morietti.
A Reluctant Return to Manchester
More than 20 years after the band last played Manchester, Casablancas' between-song patter suggested The Strokes might be happy to leave it another couple of decades before returning. But audience interaction was never really the point.
The band made no secret that the fame thrust upon them at the turn of the century was begrudgingly accepted. As currently-absent guitarist Nick Valensi once put it: "I would've been happy with that Guided by Voices indie level of success… No one at any point ever said, 'I want my song to be on the radio, or I want to sign to a major record label, I want to headline the Reading Festival.'"
Still Tight After All These Years
All of those things did happen at breathtaking speed. While The Strokes always seemed like a band forced to play catch-up with their stardom, those things happened for a reason. Casablancas' achingly cool NYC-aloofness was probably something to do with that.
On tonight's showing, The Strokes aren't afraid of what made them such a sensation in the 2000s. Their first album still forms the backbone of their set and it still sounds tremendous. They are impressively tight. Soma in particular sounds so urgent it could have been released yesterday. Someday, a pillar of The Strokes' oeuvre, prompted just one of many singalongs in the Co-op tonight.
Retro-Futurism and Auto-Tune
At points it's all disarmingly polished. The five-piece are backed by the Tron-like neon lights seen in the video for 2003's 12:51. Casablancas' auto-tuned vocals on newer tracks like Going Shopping or Tyrants of the Yellow Moon sound like a water-chugging data centre's impression of what rock and roll would sound like in 2026.
The frayed edges that remain are charming and welcome. Casablancas' shambolic patter between songs adds life, as does perhaps purposely tripping over lines in Reptilia and Someday.
Latest album, Reality Awaits, is not everyone's cup of tea, and there's a clear split in the crowd between those here to sing along to the guitar breaks in Reptilia and those who dig Dine n' Dash. The Co-op Live, though, is united by newer cuts from 2020's The New Abnormal - both The Adults Are Talking and Ode To The Mets are received rapturously.
In set-closer Last Nite – before two encores – Casablancas' voice hasn't lost any of its power. He sounds exceptional, and it is evidence that a love of auto-tune that emerged since an uber-processed appearance on Daft Punk's Instant Crush isn't a crutch. It's an aesthetic choice, and a sign of a band still doing exactly whatever they want.
