liveHoBLasVegas

>The Strokes at The House of Blues in Las Vegas (01-30-02)
by Jen Shepard

Yay!!! So, I went to this show over a month ago now, but I remember everything quite clearly.

I'm from LA, and I'm 19, so I didn't even have the option of going to the San Diego show at 4th and B, cuz it was 21 and over, so me and my friend Courtney decided to take a roadtrip to Vegas, and see the boys who make me giddy and happy that rock & roll is still alive and well. We left on Wednesday morning, and drove the five and half hours to Vegas. That day we sort of hung around being tired, and went exploring the Strip at night. It was a lot of fun. We were high on the bright lights and the hot guys walking by. We couldn't gamble obviously, but hey! It was still fun. By the end of the night I was dead tired, and literally felt like my body was going to give up and I wouldn't be able to even make it to the show Thursday night! So, before I went to bed, I took some muscle relaxants and some Motrin, and in the morning I was feeling nice! Thursday was finally upon me, and I was going to see the mother fuckin' Strokes! But, the day was addled with bad luck. We had to take our car in to the shop, cuz of this awful grinding noise, and discovered we needed new brakes! It cost like a ton of money, and I was doing everything possible to cheer up my friend. In the end, I did. We went to Mandalay Bay where the show was gonna be, and took some varieties and then it was time for the show!

The first band, Longwave, was really kick-ass! They had a hot lead singer too. His name was Steve, or so he said. They played good tunes, and I was getting antsy as hell for The Strokes.

The second opening act, was this hilarious guy called Har Mar Superstar. I was laughing my ass off during his performance. He had good jokes, and dance moves. Woo-hoo! And then I saw him for the first time. Julian, sitting backstage drinking a Corona, smoking a cig, watching from the sidelines. I pointed him out to my friend, but she didn't really care. She likes Nick more. And then...

The lights go down again, and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is playing over the speakers. Every girl on the floor was dancing around singing Cindy Lauper, when the curtain opened, and there they stood. All five Strokes! I went nuts.

They opened it up with "The Modern Age", and the crowd went ape-shit. My friend left half-way through the song to find a place outside the pit. I however was not deterred. I go to rock shows all the time, and I have experience holding my own with the asshole guys pushing people around. All my attention was focused on staying front and middle, staring at Julian. I only took my eyes off him for Nick's fantastic solo, and then it was right back to Julian.

'Someday' was next, and it's one of my favorites, so I was pissed when the fucking crowd pushed me far back from the stage. It was insanely rowdy during that song, and I don't know why, It's slow-paced and like a little sad. Anyway, after the breakdown in the middle, when he sings 'And now my fears, they come to me in threes', I summoned all my energy, and plowed forward to the fucking front! YAY! And that's when I got the first look from Julian. I'll explain: I'm a tall girl, and fortunately that night, there were a lot of shorties in the crowd, so I towered above a lot of them which gave me an excellent view. I was also wearing a pink jacket, so I was you know a bit stand-outish that night. Anyway, somehow, Julian looked me right in the eyes when he was singing the end of the song, and I sang along with him, and it was so cool. After that, he locked eyes with me at least once during every other song. It was bliss.

'Ze Newie' was next, and it was the only song that night that I'd never heard before. So, I couldn't sing the words, but never-the-less I loved the song, and it was fun to dance around to. I figured out the 'I never needed anybody' part and that was nice.

Then it was 'NYC Cops'. Goddamn. One of the highlights for sure. The crowd went absolutely bonkers. Hehe, i said bonkers. Anywayz, it was awesome!

I don't want to bore you with a dumb tidbit on every song, so here's the rest of the set list: "Soma', 'Is This It', 'Alone, Together', 'Barely Legal', 'When It Started', 'Hard To Explain', 'Last Nite', 'Meet Me In The Bathroom', 'Trying Your Luck', and 'Take It Or Leave It'.

From 'Barely Legal' to 'Meet Me In the Bathroom' was my favorite portion of the show. I fucking adore 'Hard to Explain'. I almost burst with joy when they played it. Plus Jules kept looking at me! 'Trying Your Luck' was really cool too. Julian got down on the ground and lied there for most of the song. He also stared at me during the intro. Jealous? Huh? Yeah! I thought so! Sorry, I'm just being a dumb girl about it. I'm not really like that. Anywayz, by the time they closed the show with 'T.I.O.L.I.' I was the happiest girl in the world. It was the perfect finish.

Afterwards, walking on air in the casino, I was stopped by this cool chick wearing a dope dress, and three diamond studs through her lip. She told me I was the coolest one there, and I had the best clothes, and whatnot. I was floored. We talked about the show, and I said 'Thank you, thank you, thank you' and then we disappeared into the night. As we were driving by the back of HoB, I saw Julian come outside, but I was in a car, and there was a big locked gate between us, so I stayed in the car and listened to The Velvet Underground, and drove around thinking of the fabulous show.

I know I mentioned Julian a lot in that text, but I do appreciate every Stroke, especially Nick Valensi, the hottest Stroke. But, yeah, Each one is great as an individual, and collectively, well, we all know they kick fuckin' ass. Word up.

See yā all at Coachella, baby!