The Strokes play British Summer Time Hyde Park, 18 June 2015

by Lou · June 19, 2015

The Strokes kicked of the British Summer Time Hyde Park series of concerts last night (18 June 2015).

The crowd and the band could not have asked for better weather and there is something kind of special about seeing The Strokes just as the sun is setting. They played in similar circumstances in Hyde Park back in June 2006 and Julian joked about how he won’t go to the Park unless he is playing there.

A few weeks back Albert made a comment about how the Hyde Park show could be their last. It kind of bummed everyone out (myself included) but I’m happy to say that the BST gig made me feel a lot more optimistic about the future of The Strokes. Julian was clearly very happy, smiling all the time and bantering in the way that only he can – silly jokes and rambling. They seemed to be pretty taken back by the crowd and the beautiful setting of Hyde Park and really once again it made me think this band still have so much to give.

This was my 9th time seeing the band and honestly the experience never gets old. It has been five years since I last got to see them live, so I’m happy that I got to see some Comedown Machine and Angles songs because I didn’t have the opportunity before. I also got to experience it with some very lovely and cool people which always helps make a show special.

Highlights for me include Welcome To Japan – a song that seriously should have been a single. Vision of Division, damn this song is so great. Machu Picchu, another song that should have been a single so the wider public could experience it. Juicebox which was completely and utterly face melting. I would love them to play a show where they focused on some of their heavier songs.

This may have been one of the most intense crowds I’ve been in though, from the opening song which was the fairly relaxed Is This It, the crowd went absolutely wild. People were getting pulled out at a staggering rate. Thankfully it calmed down a little bit, but Julian made reference it being like the 90s with all the moshing going on. Apparently it was pretty intense at the Governors Ball show last year as well. So really if you are seeing them later in the year stay safe!

Overall it was a really great show, I’ve been lucky and never had a terrible experience seeing The Strokes live, even though they play less shows these days they seem to be tighter than ever musically and Julian’s vocals were great especially during the high notes of One Way Trigger. Â The Strokes may be a band that have always done things differently when it comes to marketing and touring but really they can really bring it live when they want to.

Setlist

01 Is This It
02 Barely Legal
03 Welcome to Japan
04 You Talk Way Too Much
05 Someday
06 Heart in a Cage
07 Hard to Explain
08 Automatic Stop
09 Vision of Division
10 Last Nite
11 Reptilia
12 Machu Picchu
13 Under Cover of Darkness
14 One Way Trigger
15 New York City Cops

Encore:

16 Juicebox
17 You Only Live Once
18 Take It or Leave It