The Strokes / The White Stripes - New York Radio City Music Hall - 15/8/02
4/5
By: Joshua K
It's one of those nights. The Strokes and The White Stripes on the marquee of the legendary 6,000-seater Manhattan venue, Radio City Music Hall. Every hipster and wannabe is in a rock mood. But, what with such anticipation surrounding the event, can New York's finest and their special guests from the Motor City live up to all the deafening hype?
8:10pm: The auditorium is half-filled (but the basement bar is jammed). The lights go down, the stage becomes wholly dark and a squall of guitar-feedback fills the venue. Now we can see that it's Jack White, with Meg behind the drum kit. The feedback segues into 'When I Hear My Name' and we're off - careering into 'I Smell a Rat' and then their legendary rendition of 'Jolene' with nary a word spoken to the audience. As an opening salvo, it's pretty hard to beat and the volume is deafening. Yet, at the same time - let it be known - the quality is not up to the Stripes' usual sky-high standards.
Part of the problem is the spotty sound-mix - frankly awful at times - which soon after makes a ragged 'Hotel Yorba' almost unrecognizable, unfortunately ensuring the whole set to sound messy and under-rehearsed. Part of it is down to Jack over-emoting in an attempt to fill such a large hall (which he soon realizes he doesn't have to do). And another part of it is due a lack of connection to the audience. The only time this really occurs is later on, when a few people start to clap during the intro to 'We're Going to be Friends', and then stop. Jack laughs, assures us all that, 'Really, it's OK,' and the mass-rhythmic applause ensues.
Of course, their 55-minute set does have notable high points: the aforementioned '... Friends'; a mellifluous 'Rated X'; a blistering 'Union Forever' and 'Astro/Jack the Ripper'; 'Apple Blossom' and the closing 'Boll Weevil'... Objectively, though, it's just nowhere near as consistently awe-inspiring as previous shows - proving that greatness isn't a right, and is something that should be cherished the 95% of the time that The Stripes do achieve it.
9:50pm: The Strokes, on the other hand, have no such problem. The lights again vanish and the band march into view in single-file, to a hero's welcome. Julian sits, apologizes for 'f**king up his knee' and introduces 'The Way It Is', a well-paced new song that would fit squarely onto 'Is This It'. Following quickly are the crowd-pleasing likes of 'Someday' and 'Soma', matching the immediacy of the Stripes' opening blasts, but adding flawless performance and pristine sound.
The hometown crowd (plus celebrities including Beck) is already won over. But the boys are just getting started. 'The Modern Age', 'Last Nite' and 'Barely Legal' - sadly not played back-to-back as on the debut single (that would just be too much of a good thing, after all) - are lean and muscular, driven by Fab's precise drumming, and serve to remind us why we fell in love with them in the first place eighteen months ago. 'Take It or Leave It', meanwhile, inspires mass-dancing in the seats, while 'Is This It' itself is greeted with rapturous applause as Julian announces prior to its airing, 'Now we're going to slow it down for the ladies'. Virtually the full album gets featured, along with 'Meet Me in the Bathroom' and another new track, 'You Talk Way Too Much'; as played here, the latter song is very much an Oasis-style rocker, with Julian sneering the chorus in a fashion that would make Liam proud.
Slightly under an hour later, we're told: 'This is our last song, and we'd like to invite a friend to help us...' 'New York City Cops' kicks in, and out runs Jack White to take the solo - his screaming-guitar puncturing the track's claustrophobia with a sense of shrill urgency that has to be heard to be believed. As '... Cops' winds down, Meg joins everybody on stage, the bands hug and the lights go up. There's no encore, but The Strokes have already played every song they know - and how could such a finale be topped?
For all those heading off to Reading and Leeds this year to witness both groups in action - be warned: you're in for one hell of a treat.
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