Strokes Concert

Well I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the Strokes on January 9 at the Loft. The Loft, for those who don't know, is a VERY small venue in midtown Atlanta located above the Earl. http://www.theloftatl.com/. Capacity is about 500. That's right, 500. Love em or hate em the Strokes could probably sell out venues that hold between 6,000 and 10,000 and I got a chance to see them at the Loft with 499 other lucky individuals.

One such individual was my friend Mike (see right). Mike is one of the few people I know in the Atlanta area who shares my taste in music so we see a lot of shows together.

I have been to the Loft one time previously when I saw Pinback. Those who don't know about Pinback should do themselves a favor and go out and buy Blue Screen Life and Summer in Abaddon. At that concert I got the nifty T-shirt I am wearing in this pic.

How did I get tickets you ask? Well the answer to that question is simple:

Don't f---ing worry about it.

This was my first time seeing the Strokes. I had tickets to see them on their first major tour back in 2002 at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, but as fate would have it I didn't get a chance to see them at that concert.

Blossom is an outdoor venue with a small covered area. Capacity is about 13,500. The ticket was Dashboard Confessionals, the Strokes, and Weezer. Not exactly your typical lineup but I didn't care; I wanted to see the Strokes. Unfortunately, they cancelled THE DAY OF the concert. I didn't find out until my friend picked me up on the way to the concert. He told me they cancelled and I was positive he was kidding.

He wasn't.

Let's continue on this tangent here because I have something to say about Weezer that the entire world should know: they are a bunch of fruitcakes who couldn't put on a concert good enough to entertain the kids coming off the short bus.

Allow me to further explain. On the day of the concert in Cleveland I heard that the Strokes cancelled but I figured why not just go to the concert anyway. I'm afraid to admit that I enjoy Buddy Holly and the Sweater Song as much as the next guy, so I figured why not go see Weezer and Dashboard?

So we get to the concert and the guy from Dashboard is, surprise surprise, on stage whining (i.e. singing) about some girl who probably dumped him because he's a pansy. Then he continued to do so for another 45 minutes in his various other "songs." I like some EMO type bands, but everyone has their limitations.

So on comes Weezer. They play most of their hits. Nothing about their performance is spectacular or even noteworthy, but the popularity of their songs drives the show. I'm trying to get into it and its almost working. They finish their set and head underneath (the bands exit below the stage at Blossom). We all know they are coming out for an encore so everyone sticks around to applaud. Sure enough, they come out for the encore, play 2-3 songs and head back down.

Now here's the part that gets interesting. They are back underneath but the crowd is going WILD. People are shouting, clapping, and hollering. I'm shouting, clapping, and hollering. It was a HUGE ovation. No one was going anywhere. I started thinking maybe they would come out for a second encore. After a while I became POSITIVE there would be a second encore; I hadn't heard a more worthy call for one in my life (usually b/c the venue will turn on the lights and tell everyone to get out).

Sure enough, out they came!! The place went NUTS. 13,000 people cheering. The big Weezer "W" is flashing behind the stage. I was actually excited to hear them play another song or two, as they hadn't played a few songs I wanted to hear (Hashpipe comes to mind). The band puts on their instruments and gets ready to rock.

Then, suddenly and inexplicably, they take off their instruments, raise their arms in the air, and walk back underneath the stage. Silence. No second encore. Nothing.

At first I was thinking, what in the f--- was that all about? Was that some kind of tribute to Weezer, conducted by none other than the band members themselves? How f---ing lame is that?! I was so disappointed I quickly began to BOO what I had just seen. I was probably BOOing for a good five minutes while the rest of the crowd left. I was yelling so loud and incessantly that I did not notice that my friends had left with the rest of the crowd. With my friends went my ride. My cell did not work in that field so I was f---ed.

Stranded.

THAT is why Weezer is a bunch of fruitcakes.

So, back to the show at hand, which is a much better topic.

The show started at about 9. They were a good half hour late. They could have been nine hours late and I'm sure I wouldn't have budged.

The Loft wasn't exactly designed to host bands. Its more of a bar that happened to have some extra space to put a stage. Thus, when the Strokes came in, they didn't appear from backstage or anything because backstage is basically a curtain hung to the left of the stage. Instead, they started walking in from right behind us and walked through the crowd to get to the stage.

When they got to the stage they just picked up their instruments and exploded into Juicebox, the new single from their new album, First Impressions of Earth. Great song to start with as enough of the crowd was familiar with the song to get into it, and it is a little more up-tempo than the rest of their new album. The crowd was pumped.

They followed with a few songs from the new album, one of which was Razorblades. The new album definitely takes the band into a new direction. It has more of a feel of the song 12:51 off their second album, which has more of a lounge act sound, than the garage/retro rock of their first album. Critics will be unimpressed and their fan base will weaken because of it. So it goes when you are the most hyped band of your generation.

Given that they were playing mainly new stuff, I began thinking it might be simply a promotion of the new album and that we would put up with it because we got to see them in such a small venue. These notions went out the window as they busted out with Barely Legal, an underrated song from their first album.

There is nothing spectacular about their on-stage antics. They just played their instruments and moved around a little bit. Of course, this may have been due to the extremely small stage. They do, however, sound good live. The energy in their songs carries the crowd and the concert.

After they played a few songs from the first and second albums Julian (the lead singer) grabs the microphone and say "F--- it, I love Atlanta....f--- it....." and then the band broke into the opening guitar riff of Last Night and the place absolutely exploded. People started jumping around and going crazy. It was awesome.

Before we could catch our breath they came right back with Hard to Explain, a personal favorite. At that point Mike and I looked at eachother and shouted something to the tune of "I can't f---ing believe we are here right now!!"

Is there a better two song sequence on an album than Last Night and Hard to Explain on the Stroke's first album, Is this it? I'm not sure that there is. I would argue that Heavy Metal Drummer and I'm the Man who Loves you from Wilco's epic album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot could be up there, but in my opinion the Strokes take it on this one.

The Strokes finished up strong. They played most of my favorite songs from their first and second albums New York City Cops, Someday, Soma, and The End has no End. They ended the show (one encore) with Take it or Leave it.

Definitely one of the best concerts I've seen in the past year or so. Right now I'd say it ranks #2 right now behind Bloc Party and in front of Coldplay on my list.