November 23, 2005 12:55

The Strokes play secret gig in Australia

NME.COM has the first report from their show in Sydney

Photo Gallery: The Strokes
Photo: Pieter M Van Hattem

The Strokes have just come offstage in Sydney, playing an intimate show to just 800 fans and industry guests at the city’s Gaelic Club (November 23).

Hundreds of fans – including Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher – crowded into the small venue to watch the band play a one-off show in support of their upcoming third album, ’First Impressions Of Earth’.

Despite signs outside stores selling the exclusive tickets yesterday saying that the band would play only new songs, the 17-song set featured tracks including ’New York City Cops’ and ’Reptilia’.

During the hour-long show, singer Julian Casablancas kept repeating that he was “fucking blind”, at one stage pouring a drink over his head and doing push-ups. But he praised locals who’d lined up for tickets, saying; “God bless you. Australians are really good people. I mean that!”

Fans who attended the gig had nothing but praise for the new tracks showcased during the set.

“They’re really great live,” Maria, 18, told NME.COM. “All the leaked tracks sound even better. ’15 Minutes’ sounds really sloppy (on record), but it’s almost like it was meant to be heard live. It sounds really fresh.”

The set list in full was:[b]

‘Heart In A Cage’
‘On The Other Side’
‘Electricityscape’
‘Red Light’
‘Hawaii’
‘15 Minutes’
‘Juicebox’
‘Evening Sun’
‘Hard To Explain’
‘NYC Cops’
‘The End Has No End’
‘You Only Live Once’
‘Vision Of Division’
‘Last Nite’
‘Reptilia’
‘What Ever Happened?’
‘Take It Or Leave It’