The Strokes, Hyde Park

In the early ‘00s an artfully dishevelled bunch of New York coolguys rose to prominence as The Strokes. Their first album, Is This It (2001), launched a garage rock revival and songs like ‘Last Nite’, “Is This It”, “Someday” and “Barely Legal” were suddenly everywhere. The band deftly married melody and disaffection, drawing from a longstanding tradition of New York rock that stretches back to bands like The Velvet Underground and Television.
Short and to the point though their tracks were, the Strokes’ song-writing was outstanding. Guitarist Nick Valensi’s riffs were unignorable and energising. Singer Julian Casablacas’ grown-up yet raucous yells set hearts aflutter all over the world.
The band followed up with a further three albums, Room On Fire in 2003, First Impressions of Earth in 2006 and Angles in 2011. Since then, The Strokes have navigated a rather uneasy path. The band splintered into several solo projects, none of which reached the dizzy heights of their noughties acclaim.
To the delight of London fans, though, the band have announced that they will headline Hyde Park this summer. With a new album’s worth of material, as well as old classics, under their belt, this is exciting stuff.
Joined by Beck and Future Islands, this is our favourite BST Festival line up so far. Get booking.