I had forgotten how annoying this venue can be, with a foyer/bar that is far too small to accomodate even a fraction of the venue's capacity - which means horrendous queues at the bar, people unable to move anywhere, and general annoyance. The venue was designed to be a proper theatre, with civilised people sitting down - not for a gig with thousands of people standing up and drinking.
The first band on were the 747s, who were not very good at all. Sometimes you see a band in a support slot, and really wonder how they got the gig. Apparently, the Strokes themselves often pick their support bands. To imagine them listening to the 747s, and thinking "this lot are good, let's have them support us on tour" is, well frankly impossible to imagine. One for the "avoid in future" list, for definite.
The 747s were followed by Adam Green, somebody that I'd never seen solo before, despite owning various songs, and having seen his previous band The Moldy Peaches on several occasions a few years ago. He showed up on stage wearing a suit and pork pie hat, and so looked very unfortunately like a New York version of Pete Doherty - not something to aspire to. His set was one large in-joke - if you were familiar with his music, you'd possibly have enjoyed it (although even that was a 50-50 shout). If you weren't in on the joke, you would have most probably hated every minute of his set. It was unlikely to have won him any fans that he didn't have already.
After Adam Green, and whilst waiting for The Strokes, I found myself standing next to Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, who looked suitably intoxicated. I did a double take at first, wondering if it was him - then reaslised that nobody else in the world looks quite like that.
The Strokes came on and played the third different opening song of my 3 visits to see them on this tour. They seemed to be really enjoying the gig, and immediately proclaimed the venue their favourite venue in London (they obviously hadn't tried to buy a beer there).
They were full of praise for UK crowds, and really seemed to be loving every minute of this one. That makes a huge difference to how enjoyable a gig is, if its obvious that the band are loving it as well. As with Arctic Monkeys the previous night, we were treated to a band on top form and having fun.Amazingly, for only the second time ever, they even played a cover. I was there the last time they did this, at Alexandra Palace in 2003, after Joe Strummer's death, where they covered The Clash's Clampdown, and it sounded amazing. They did say then that it was the only cover they'd ever play, but I'll forgive them the lie!! Tonight, they introduced the cover as being of another New York band, The Ramones. They ploughed into Life's A Gas, and those of us that love The Ramones went wild. It again sounded incredible as The Strokes lent their big guitar sound to an already great song.
The other surprise of the evening was that they played even more tracks from the debut album, adding Alone Together to the 9 that have been aired on previous dates. So, only one track from their first album wasn't played, and as the gig went on, it was relying more and more on the old classics.A version of Ask Me Anything with Nick Valensi on keyboards was the final treat of the gig - so there were 3 things that you don't often see at a Strokes gig. A special gig all round, a great live band at the top of their form, and clearly enjoying the ride. This show eclipsed the Brighton show for sound, energy and pure novelty value, I'm already looking forward to their return to the UK in the summer. There aren't too many bands that you can see 3 times in a month, not get at all bored, and see 3 substantially different setlists as well. Oasis take note!!
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