A luminous pink beast loomed ominously out of the darkness as an excitedly chattering, invite-only crowd entered the giant Romanesque archway.
But this was not the annual Barney convention, nor indeed was it Paris Hilton having a girly day. It’s often said that the truth is more farfetched than fiction and here is a case-in-point because what was presented before us was in fact a giant pink dinosaur. Or at least the giant skeleton of a Diplodocus illuminated pink by some very clever lighting guys.
This was more than your average flea-bitten gig venue that could easily be confused with a public convenience. Expectations could not fail to be anything but high.
The Natural History Museum had been wisely chosen by those clever folk over at T-Mobile to host their latest in their series of Street Gigs. Venues previously employed in this ingenious scheme include a kebab shop in Dalston and the A38 ring road bridge in Birmingham. (I think with giant pink dinosaur I had the best deal here!)
As one would expect the Strokes had “the look” all sorted, they were after all, wearing skinny jeans when the rest of us were still tentative exploring the exciting possibilities of the boot cut.
As the first sounds issued from the amps and the fragile looking Diplodocus tail shook in time with the relentless beat of Fab’s drums, the tone was magnificently set for the nights performance. The Strokes were going to rock in a way this building had previously only encountered geologically.
Kicking off with “The End Has No End,” which though excellently executed, introduced the enduring theme of the night: no matter how well they performed the newer songs, there was no hiding the superiority of the tracks from their first album, “Is This It?”
The set list consisted of a mix of tracks from all three of their albums performed with equal gusto but the band themselves wisely recognised their former glory as eight of their nineteen track set came from their acclaimed debut album.
“The Modern Age” was a standout track, conveying more urgency in its live state despite being of a slower pace to the recorded version; this produced a fabulously desperate and downright dirty sound. In comparison newer tracks, such as the new Single “You Only Live Once,” sounded bland.
The main advantage the Strokes have gained over time is to become master craftsmen in the art of live performance. Audience members are willingly taken on a journey where they are introduced to new songs, but then swiftly reassured when a few older ones are cleverly thrown into the mix, thus moving forward but still giving the fans what they came to hear. I would say categorically that all of their tracks both old and new gain much from the energy of their live show.
They let it all rip with a splendid finale consisting of the appropriately named “Reptilia” followed by “NYC Cops” and ending with the raw energy and arrogance of “Take It Or Leave It.” The boys should be proud to say they put on the live show that truly made the dinosaur rock.
