The Strokes kicked off the final UK and Ireland leg of a sold out world tour in Glasgow's Barrowlands venue at the weekend.

New York's most hyped quintet were a totally different beast to the rather lame band that slouched their way through a dull Music Centre set last June. On Friday night's evidence, they've now finely honed their stagecraft on the road to become one of the most exhilarating and exciting live acts around.

The band were first informed of the imminent limited edition five track 'Hard to Explain' EP to be released in Ireland by Hot Press, as all five members of The Strokes spoke individually to Hot Press prior to going onstage.

"An Irish only what?" asked a puzzled lead singer Julian Casablancas. "Was 'Hard to Explain' not released in Ireland before? Sorry, I don't know anything about that." On hearing the news of the release, a thrilled Fab Moretti (drummer) exclaimed; "Thats awesome! I had no idea. I'm excited to see the artwork. Thats very interesting and cool."

The band included two very strong new songs in their set, 'Meet in the Bathroom' and 'Ze Newie' (provisional title). Both sounded like a much more romantic and gentler take on band's catchy rock sound. They also played their smash hit album Is This It in its entirety plus the 'Last Nite' b-side 'When it Started'.

The show was attended by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor plus many luminaries from Glasgow's famed indie rock community such as Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake. Tickets for the show were fetching prices of up to £150 sterling.

The Strokes play two nights in London's Brixton Academy this week prior to playing Dublin's Olympia on Easter Sunday. If they keep up the form they showed in Glasgow, this could well be one of the gigs of the year.

This week's Dublin date is the second last engagement of a mammoth world tour. Regarding immediate plans after the tour, Julian Casablancas said, "We're going to take a few months off and work on some new stuff." This could mean that rumours of an appearance at Witnness could prove to be unfounded.

"For the summer, I think we have to work on our new material because on the road it is very hard to create anything new," explained bassist Nikolai Fraiture. "So we're going to take some time off.

"We would like to do the festivals but I think that in the long term and in the long run it would hurt us more. Doing a festival is a lot of fun but it would be good to get back to a normal state of mind and way of life."

Setlist from Glasgow Barrowlands, Friday March 22, 2002:

'Meet Me In The Bathroom'

'The Modern Age'

'Someday'

'Ze Newie'

'New York City Cops'

'Soma'

'Hard To Explain'

'Is This It'

'When It Started'

'Barely Legal'

'Alone, Together'

'Trying Your Luck'

'Last Nite'

'Take It Or Leave It'