Exclusive: The Strokes - Festival Hall - Melbourne

By Sean Lynch
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It was a case of 'The Spoiled Little Rich Boys' come good as US Rock outfit, The Strokes, hit one of Melbourne's worst and most over used venues - the decrepit Festival Hall.

Fresh from a critical and public following their much maligned softmore album Room On Fire, The Strokes returned to Melbourne for the first time in almost two years to peddle their wares and a few songs from their third effort First Impressions of Earth. 

Having being hailed "the saviours of rock" at the beginning of the new millennium - reinvigorating the Garage Rock genre with their debut Is This It - this New York outfit consisting of front man Julian Casablancas, lead guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. along with bassist Nikolai Fraiture and Drew Barrymore's beau Fabrizio Moretti on drums set about blowing the roof off the proverbial Melbourne dump.

In some of the coldest weather Melbourne's seen in some time, the line up for positioning began just after 3pm (with doors not scheduled to open until 7:50pm). Amongst the throngs of die hards, tight pants and fourteen year old girls posing unconvincingly as grown women - the energy was very much present and at full throttle.

The thing about Strokes fans, in my experience, is that they are as obsessed as any other band groupies you are likely to find. Case in point - my regular gig going buddy that is my girlfriend of two years - who upon The Strokes previous tour proceeded to take off her top in the pouring rain in order to get front man Julian Casablancas to sign it. This of course led to a "hello kiss" as well as her and her friends being invited back to the Big Day Out Tour after party which saw the likes of Jet, The Black Eyed Peas and The Living End making the most of their rock 'n' roll lifestyle. This of course occurred prior to the beginning of our relationship - and I have been informed on good authority that no shenanigans took place. Needless to say that I made sure her t-shirt was firmly stapled on this time around.

Upon entering the Hall just after 7pm, the obligatory "sprint to the stage" left many casualties in it's path. For when it comes to poll positions in GA, it literally is every man for themselves. Those who were unlucky enough to trip over upon entry were left with fourth row back, and of course, laughed at for their lack of co-ordination.

The support band, whose name evades me, was one of the more entertaining support acts I've seen in a long time. Actually, I'll rephrase that - the audience heckling the support act was one of the more entertaining tthings I've seen in some time. Sadly, along with some fantastic bands that have stemmed from the genre which The Strokes have spawned including Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon and The Red Riders - they have also spawned a legion of try hard wanks. Had I never seen this 4-piece in the flesh and simply heard them on the radio - I may have been talking quite highly of them with many of the songs echoing Youth Group and Oasis. But when the first thing one can yell at a band is "Why is Dr. Who playing guitar?", followed by a rather bony guitarist taking off his shirt - leaving only a pair of suspenders to cover his nipples - after just one song, the only thing to be decided is "You guys are a bunch of wanks".

Authentic Setlist taken from the Festivall Hall Stage.	Courtesy: Richard Machuca

Thankfully, it wasn't long until the band everyone was waiting for casually and confidently rolled onto the stage. The roar was nothing short of defeaning, something I haven't experienced since catching Oasis earlier this year - although even then, the roar was more of a 35 year old male grunt. With an explosive opening guitar riff of "Juiceboxx", the standard was set for one of the most impressive displays of rock personality in the music scene today.

Casablancas was superb. Seamlessly mixing a raw sincerity for the songs (his use of puppy dog eyes at times even tempted me to take my shirt off in the rain) as well as an animal ability to scream lyrics with gusto. The entire band seemed to be in awe of the crowds response, with sheepish smiles often breaking through the stone faced rock personas which generally detatched the band from the audience. In fact, it was these moments which made the show more enjoyable - they wanted to be there, the crowd wanted to be there.

The hits were mixed and matched with album secrets - from the all in sing along of "Last Night" to the pure audience energy jumping to "Reptilia" and even a welcome change of pace with Casablanca's rendition of "Take A Walk On The Wild Side". Some massive sounds and an a general good all round vibe made what could have been a "hurry up and finish" cold Sunday night gig into one of the most enjoyable nights of of the year.

Set-List: 3.5 out of 5 
In fairness, I'm not completely familiar with the entire Strokes back catalouge. Thankfully, a large number of songs from Room On Fire (even featuring a golden performance of "12:51", a song which Casablanca's has tried to distance himself from for the last few years) and First Impressions of Earth (the guitar during "Ize of the World" was phenomenal) got a good seeing to. Despite some over distortion of sound towards the end (it took a couple of minutes to even figure out what song was being played due to all the sound melting into each other) the speakers held up quite well, while other highlights included "The End has No End", "You Only Live Twice" and the sensational "Heart In A Cage". All in all, a great mix of the new and old which kept the audience energy up for the entire set.

Lighting & Visual: 3 out of 5
For those sitting in the stands, your view may have been considerably different. However, from up the front, everything went fine! Some fantastic lighting through Moretti's clear drum kit as well as a good mix of red/black and strobe lighting made for good visuals (as well as regularly lighting up the crowd). 

A special mention must be made of what is becoming a regular occurrence as well: Bad B-Grade Celeb sightings. Of course, the more obscure. the better - and it doesn't get better than a couple of Neighbors actors. Including "Stingray's Brother" and of course "The Student who slept with Libby Kennedy that made her leave Ramsay Street" (who actually scored a drumstick at the shows end).

Overall: 80%