STROKES at Auditorium Shore Stage at SXSW. Rating: NNNN
The sun was setting at the SXSW free concert grounds alongside Lady Bird Lake, as hundreds of fans raced through the gates before the Strokes were set to take the stage.
With an audience that festival organizers estimate at 10,000, the metal barriers swung close due to capacity at around 8 pm. However, incoming fans were still crowding the entrance and getting increasingly agitated when told stand back and keep cool.
“Don’t you remember what happened at Tahrir Square?” yelled a man from the stirring crowd.
Not quite the Egyptian revolution, but there was plenty of open defiance. Fans started jumping the fences and hopping gates while event staff and police scrambled to keep control. If only Julian Casablancas knew the trouble he was causing.
Then again the Strokes frontman would probably just shrug. His affected cool demeanour was on full display that night as the New York combo played a robust headline set of favourites and new cuts from the forthcoming Angles.
Although it’s been five years since their last album and even more years since they emphatically claimed the new rock mantle, the band locked in and commanded the stage like only true rock stars can. A sparkling Austin skyline backdrop certainly helped their cause.
New York City Cops, Take It or Leave It and even Juicebox from the much-maligned First Impression album all received huge ovations, while new a tune like Taken For a Fool felt like a surefire entry to the Strokes’ arsenal of enduring hits.
A fence-jumping worthy show if there ever was one.
