I had been semi-boycotting going to any CMJ shows this year because after going to Iceland Airwaves (which I still have yet to finished writing about), I had my fill of concert-going to last me a few months. So you can imagine how un-excited I was to break that streak when I found out that Albert Hammond Jr. (guitarist for The Strokes) would be doing a warm-up show to his solo UK tour at Mercury Lounge here in NYC on Friday night.
Although I hated to break my boycott, I figured I wouldn’t be allowed to continue to have a website called “The Modern Age” if I didn’t head out to the show.
Surprisingly enough, Mercury was running pretty much on time, so Albert hit the stage with “101″ “In Transit” around 12 midnight to a packed house–sprinkled with the usual suspects like bandmates Julian Casablancas and Nikolai Fraiture, girlfriend Catherine Pierce, Steve Aoki, and Adam Green all on hand to support him. The crowd was really enthusiastic, and upbeat. Albert and his backing band sounded pretty good, his blend of Beatles/ Beach Boys/ The Jam-influenced music rang true and you could tell how serious and heartfelt Albert felt about being able to perform his solo music.
After his 30-minute set was over the vibe reminded me that of the early years of The Strokes. Albert was packing up his own gear and talking to kids standing at the front of the stage. The other band members hung back by the bar, talking, chatting, and saying hello to old friends.
You can catch him next weekend at Maxwell’s.
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Damn I’m jealous
cant wait to see him when he hits london
I miss the old Strokes….
you must have been standing right next to me. i guess i was one of the kids he was talking to in the front! great photo!
you have any more pics of the show/crowd? :O
i’m pretty sure they opened with obstinate not 101.
Did he play any songs that were not from the album? Like a cover or anything?
‘Obstinate” was never the name, the song that’s called Obstinate is actually called “In Transit” the second song on the album.
he played a guided by voices cover
What was the GBV song he played? There was a song he played about 4 songs into his set that didn’t sound familiar, and I’m assuming that was the cover. I couldn’t make out the words, but the song sounded amazing and I’d love to hear the original version…
is that julian with a guitar?
No – not Julian, although he was watching from the crowd…
What was the GBV song? mmm I’m really curious, they’re one of my favourites.
…Probaby played “yours to keep”…considering its the title of his album in all
No – it was more upbeat and harder rocking than “Yours To Keep.” It kind of sounded like 2 songs in one, if that makes any sense? Whatever is was, it sounded amazing and I need to find it. GBV just has so many effing songs to go through!
aww…I wish I could have been there – I had this end of the season cross country party the underclassmen threw for me…thanks for reporting on the show!
-Amy
the GBV cover was “Postal Blowfish”
i wanted my strokes back!
i want my strokes back!
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