We’ve waited over 20 years for this moment.

When I say “we,” I mean me and thousands in Southeast Asia who have been fans of The Strokes since they debuted in 2001 with ‘Last Nite’ and ‘Is This It’. 

Heading into the band’s concert in Bangkok felt like a familiar scene as droves of millennials filled the outside of the Thunder Dome. Dressed in black or outfits reminiscent of the band’s signature looks, or The Strokes’ iconic logo tee (with a number of fans sporting shirts with the Thai version), herds of fans were either hanging out outside the venue – queueing for a drink, trying their luck at getting merch, or getting their wristbands and souvenir card, or waiting inside making sure to get the best spot in the room.

I made the decision to fly to Bangkok to catch the show as soon as the band revealed the dates of their solo concerts. They had previously announced festival stints in Southeast Asia, and I thought, I’ve waited this long, I better catch them in a solo show for a full set. Music fans from across the region had the same idea, as dozens of fans from Manila, Cebu, Davao, Singapore, Borneo, Phuket, and more were also in attendance for the concert.

Pre-show felt like hanging out at your local pub with fellow music fans, even if I barely knew anyone within a five-foot radius. The energy and vibe were the same as waiting for your favourite local artist to get onstage as you waited outside the bar with your friends. I found that while I wasn’t exactly in my hometown, it also didn’t feel completely foreign to me either. 

Over 5,000 fans filled the Thunder Dome for the VIJI Corp-helmed concert on 18 July 2023, all eager to relive their youth and nostalgic musical memories. Seeing The Strokes logo light up the stage felt like going back in time, to when we first discovered the band that would later inspire us to start bands ourselves or shape our musical tastes and preferences.

Cheers echoed across the arena as our teenage heroes Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond, Jr., Nick Valensi, Nikolai Fraiture, and Fab Moretti went onstage to take their places and launched into ‘The Modern Age.’ With minimal fanfare (and lighting haha), the band went straight into playing ‘Bad Decisions,’ one of the two “newer” songs on the setlist, and powered through the rest of the evening.

The night’s performance was just the right mix of hit singles and fan favourites from their discography, with the band even throwing in an unexpected and rare performance of ‘Life Is Simple In The Moonlight’. As the band blazed through song after song, fans sung along to riffs – a “spectacular moment” he was happy to finally share with thousands more, as Tilly Birds’ guitarist Billy told us, and revelled in finally hearing the live renditions of the songs we used to listen to on CDs and mp3 players.

SOS vocalist Roberto Seña revealed how he and drummer King Puentespina almost cried after hearing ‘Under Control,’ while Tilly Birds vocalist Third added that The Strokes sounded exactly like how they did on the record, but even better. Visual artist and DJ Natasha Hassan, who flew in from Singapore, divulged how she’s been a fan since she was eleven, and almost two decades later, “having gone through the stages of life – growing up, heartbreak, failure and many more,” she found that she resonated with their lyricism even more now, especially with songs like ‘Someday’ and ‘I'll Try Anything Once.”

Peter, a Thai fan holding up a sign that read “I wanna play drums for ‘Last Nite,’ Fab,” got his wish when the band asked him to come up onstage. Fab graciously lent his drum set to Peter to give him the chance of a lifetime, to play drums for The Strokes. Surprisingly calm and seemingly collected as he performed, he got everyone’s seal of approval as the entire arena erupted in cheers. He even got local musicians’ support; Tilly Birds’ Third told Bandwagon,“[Peter] was ON FIRE! He didn't let one beat slip through his fingers. We were cheering hard.” 

Other fans in the audience also knew they had one shot and took it. Aside from Peter’s dreams coming true, another drummer in the crowd also got what he wanted – drumsticks from Fab. Shaf, drummer of Borneo-based band Small Company, shared how he and his friends wrote a sign on a doughnut box (Thanks, Krispy Kreme), and how he and his wife screamed their lungs out for the coveted drumsticks until “suddenly, Fab came and gave it personally to me.” Music fan Sabrina also got a setlist and a guitar pick from guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr., after queuing up since 3 PM to get to the front row barricade. All their efforts proved worthy as she shared her favourite moment of the show with us: “The moment Julian looked at me?! [screams] OMG! I was literally in front of him.”

After playing their way through 15 songs – the band disappeared for the traditional clamour of the encore, while fans cheered and called on their favourite band to come back onstage. Armed with three more tracks – ‘Hard To Explain,’ ‘Automatic Stop,’ and the fitting closer, ‘Reptilia,’ – The Strokes stayed consistent until the end of the one-and-a-half-hour concert. It takes a certain kind of band to pull up into an arena of thousands and play as if it were a 300-capacity club show. 

While we stood in a venue full of thousands of people, it felt as if we were watching a show with all of our friends. It was familiar and comforting, almost like experiencing a rite of passage together. 

For Tilly Birds’ Billy, it “felt like I met my 16-year-old self again and we shared this special moment together.” The members of SOS (all avid fans of the indie rock legends, just check out the Filipino band’s debut single, ‘Dying To Meet You’), were, in Seña’s words, “losing their minds,” and were thinking, “Are we really here?” the whole time. “It was surreal, the energy just kept going. It was just nice to have another core memory with my chosen family,” he added.

Meanwhile, writer Cheekie Albay felt “a kinship with these guys” because they weren’t much older than her when the band first broke out. “I feel like I grew up with them. It was great seeing them now, older yet still able to rock the hell out — something I hope to also be able to say for myself!”

The Strokes concert proved to be more than just a show. It was a tick off the concert bucket list, a dream come true for our teenage selves. It became a reunion of sorts for old friends and a place to make new ones – whether intentional or not. I found myself standing right next to an old classmate from university (one I hadn’t seen in almost a decade), and running into band friends we met just the night before. It was “closure” for a certain chapter in Natasha’s life. It was all “the songs I loved when I was younger, when THEY were younger,” according to Cheekie. It was a musical time capsule that opened up to take us to certain places and moments in time.

In this time of doubt and uncertainty, it was comforting to know that while most things changed, some things remained the same – and that included The Strokes. Seña described it best when he said how he loved that The Strokes were a band that evolved but also stayed the same – in the best way possible. 

The Strokes weren’t there to entertain, or to put on a spectacle. As Cheekie had put it, the band “thundered onstage” with their “effortless energy,” and in all its simplicity and straightforwardness, “it was glorious”. The band still sounded great. With minimal small talk between the members, The Strokes played the songs that accompanied us while we were growing up, took us on a nostalgic trip, and reminded us why live music will forever be one of the best collective experiences one can ever have.

The Strokes Live in Bangkok 2023 setlist:

The Modern Age

Bad Decisions

Under Control

The Adults Are Talking.

Meet Me in the Bathroom

You Only Live Once

Life Is Simple in the Moonlight

Barely Legal

Juicebox

Is This It

Redlight

Someday

Welcome To Japan

Soma

Last Nite

Encore:

Hard To Explain

Automatic Stop

Reptilia