The Strokes at Madison Square Garden (4/1/11)

I have liked the band a lot since Is This It came out back when I was still in high school. Because of that it was a thrill to see them live because they are one of the bands I listened to when I was a teenager (and also because their music is great :P).

I got really lucky with my ticket to be sincere. When I went to Ticketmaster I didn’t like the seats I was getting at first (300 and 200 level tickets) but after some retries I got section 7 (fuck yeah!) and saying no to that ticket/seat would be stupid so I bought it right away! It was the first time I got a floor level seat at the MSG.

Now lets get into the concert itself… The first opening act was Devendra Banhart and to be sincere I didn’t like his music at all, but I have to admit the last song he played was pretty nice and also he seemed to be a cool fun guy. After that we got Elvis Costello!!!! A very nice and unexpected April fool’s “joke” but I’ll be sincere… since I don’t know the guy too much I didn’t recognize him and thought it was an actual April fool’s joke with the tech guys playing a short set because all the guys playing were old haha (and also because it was very fast and too loud). It got me thinking if it was actually Elvis Costello because I knew “Pump it up” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding”. I found out later that he was actually Elvis Costello when Julian Casablancas started talking about him and how he wished he entered the stage and sing (and he did).

After that and a brief break we finally got to see the main event of the evening: The Strokes themselves!
The setlist was as follows:

1. Is This It
2. Reptilia
3. Under Cover of Darkness
4. Hard To Explain
5. Last Nite
6. Life Is Simple in the Moonlight
7. Juicebox
8. Someday
9. You’re So Right
10. Under Control
11. You Only Live Once
12. New York City Cops
13. Games
14. What Ever Happened?
15. Taken for a Fool (with Elvis Costello)

Encore:
16. Ask Me Anything
17. The Modern Age
18. Gratisfaction
19. I Can’t Win
20. Take It Or Leave It

The crowd (as expected) was freaking crazy about the band and The Strokes really delivered. Julian’s voice is as good live as it is in studio, which is something that can’t be said about every rock singer out there. Julian was very playful and even got close to the crowd a bunch of times (or maybe just twice). The first time actually looked like he got kidnapped with mic in hand because the venue’s camera didn’t take a shoot of him during that song (which I don’t remember which one it was).

I also have to say that The Strokes really know how to put up a good show. They don’t limit themselves to just play well live. The lighting effects were really good, and when the disco ball was put on stage it was simply magic! And as a videogamer I really loved when they played “Someday” with all those old school videogames being shown on the background (Pong, Tetris, Pac-man, and Space Invaders) while they played. It was very nice to see Elvis Costello singing along with the band the song “Taken For a Fool” too.

I was very satisfied with the concert, and even though I liked the whole setlist my favorite moments of the concert were when the old songs from the first album were played, and also “Reptilia” :P. My only complain about the show would be the absence of the song “Machu Picchu” from the new album. I thought it was a no brainer to include it in the setlist since it is one of the highlights of Angles. Still, I was very satisfied with the show and I totally wish to get to see them again but with General Admission tickets closer to the stage because they got really lucky with Julian being really close to them.

 This is how close I was to the stage

Bad quality pictures here