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| The Strokes Birmingham Academy 24.02.02 Tonight the Birmingham academy is full of leather, styled haircuts and Converse all-stars, but hey this is Birmingham not New York. Thousands of eagerly awaiting fans, some old, some new, some just there because it’s cool to be, surround the bar. Queuing for alcohol seems to be most peoples priority while Euro band Stereo Total let rip on stage with crazy techno / rock / hum humming bang banging lets shout random German phrases goes ahead. After everyone’s state of confusion passes the band get unfairly boo'ed off the stage....... confused, I was?! After a long wait and a whole Ramones album later the lights go down and we are treated to 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Fab, joined by Nickolai, Albert and Nick stumble on stage seconds later Julian arrives only to be described as a shape in a drape. These five young Americans know the meaning of rock 'n' roll and tonight’s show kicks off with new song 'Meet Me In The Bathroom', now its 1970 and the crowd are immediately up for a night not to forget. "Give it up for Stereo Total, those guys fuckin’ rock" says Julian. The set continues with ‘Soma’, ‘The Modern Age’, ‘Alone Together’ and another new song 'Ze Newie'. By this stage Albert has grabbed hold of the show single handily pouncing around like a child trapped in his bedroom. Nick’s arrogance shines above while producing an extra-exaggerated solo on 'New York City Cops' and these guys aren't the most important guitar band around? The set draws to a close with the climactic chorus of 'Barely Legal' and album opener 'Is This It' and we now see why people say it has 'balls' when played live.... "We had to call off this show when Fab broke his hand, now we're back, thanks for stickin around" says Julian just before finishing the show with ‘Last Nite’ (which gets the biggest cheer) and ‘Take It Or Leave It’. The lights turn on and the crowd are left standing there. Everyone’s hot and everyone’s wet but the Strokes have achieved what they set out to do, maybe there is a bright future for rock 'n' roll after all. Chris Wise. |