THE STROKES, Cerebral Ballzy -
Capitol Theater, Porchester NY - May 31, 2014
by Layne Montgomery
Photos by Dan Bracaglia
Getting tickets to see the Strokes in the small (for them)
Capitol Theatre was not easy, but I was determined. I put
more effort into getting seats than I have for almost anything
since the last time I saw the Strokes, three years ago.
My love for the Strokes is deep,
weird, and stronger than most familial bonds. I could go
on, but I'll spare you.
So I was stoked. I went with my girlfriend (who was due
to leave for the summer the next day), we left early, got
on the wrong train, but still got decent spots in the pit.
Then, Cerebral Ballzy came on. I know they're on Strokes'
frontman Julian Casablancas' label, so I may be missing
something, but they sounded truly terrible. A week before,
I'd seen Guided by Voices with my father at the Bowery Ballroom.
They had an opener called Atomic Forces, all middle-aged
men sloppily playing weird, long, barely melodic prog with
a man on theremin for most of the set. We agreed that in
our combined years of show-going, it was the worst opening
act we'd ever seen. If only Dad could've seen Cerebral Ballzy!
The singer sang like his tongue was out the whole time,
doing his best mic-hugging Julian Casablancas impression
and introducing every single song (spoilers: most were "about
New York") over boring pseudo-metal-punk. That kind
of music does not sound good in big theatres, so I should
probably give them the benefit of the doubt but I'm not
going to (my time is precious and they already wasted a
lot of it.)
Finally, the Strokes. I forgot that they're kinda boring
live. They're tight but don't move around much (although
my friends and I observed that guitarists Albert and Nick
were way more mobile then the last time we saw them), and
Julian flubs lyrics. The Tumblr teen girls may love it,
and admittedly it's charming the first time, but it does
give off a bit of an air of him not caring. (With another
solo record due this year, that's expected.) That being
said, there were a lot of looks of love between him and
Albert, and it was adorable.
So I'm going to blame Cerebral Ballzy for my being underwhelmed
by the Strokes. That, combined with my girlfriend's immintent
departure, dampened my mood for what should have been one
of the best sets I've seen in my life. Or, I wasn't drunk
enough. Perhaps, I've outgrown the Strokes, or maybe they
had an off-night.
Nah, it's all Cerebral Ballzy's fault. Of note: The Strokes
played some deep cuts including new songs from their last
record Comedown Machine, plus rarely aired oldies
"Razorblade" and "Automatic Stop." These
got me dancing. However, a lack of "Juicebox"
and "Under Cover of Darkness" in the set is unforgivable,
especially when they only played a one song encore.
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