Franz Ferdinand aside, Saturday for me has been short on the kind of large scale memorable moments that define events like these and as for The Strokes, we all know that their backs are perceived to be up against some wall or other. A good performance is needed.
Whatever the problems, though, it takes only the opening chords of second song ‘Last Nite’ to reassure you that everything is going to be all right. Quite frankly, they’re far better than we could have ever imagined. Yes, the old problem of every song sounding virtually the same is still there, but tonight they burst with an energy that the studio recordings only ever hinted at. Crucially too, the stuff from that occasionally maligned second album sounds just as good as the first – ‘Whatever Happened?’, ‘Automatic Stop’ and a gorgeous ‘Under Control’ are equal highlights alongside blistering versions of ‘Hard To Explain’ and ‘New York City Cops’.
The band are cool yet not detached, Nick Valensi prowling the stage gracefully while Albert Hammond waves sweetly to the crowd. In fact the only fly in the ointment is Julian Casablancas, who becomes visibly more worse for wear as the show continues, his between song chat descending into demented ramble. It’s all more than a little embarrassing and when his ‘there’s lots of beautiful girls here, what happened?’ remark draws boos from the crowd, you fear that this could develop into the kind of farce that marred their last Olympia show. Another half hour and it probably would have but as it is, the band carry their errant frontman in a sprint to the end that includes a cracking version of The Clash’s ‘Clampdown’ and ensures that, at last, the first day of Oxegen gives us something to talk about aside from the rain.
[picture by Roger Woolman]