Julian Casablancas
London, HMV Forum

Well, The Fly has caught Julian Casablancas live a couple of times now – with his usual Strokes lot, of course – and he never seemed to be having much fun. But tonight he’s like a changed dreamboat, erm we mean man, as he stumbles onstage all smiles and gawky cool in trademark leather jacket and sneakers, and proceeds to leap and bound around during opener ‘11th Dimension’, diving into the crowd and hi-five-ing the front row repeatedly. And while dodgy sound puts a bit of a dampener on his vocal performance, it doesn’t stop his debut London solo show from feeling a bit special as excitement ripples around us throughout and various celeb scenesters wander nonchalantly back and forth from the bar. Of course ‘Phrazes For The Young’ already sounds a bit Strokes-ish, but live these insanely catchy bolshy pop songs sound even more so… not that we can hear anyone complaining as the crowd scream every word back at Casablancas and hungrily grab at his clothes every time he comes near. Tracks like ‘River Of Brake Lights’, ‘Out Of The Blue’ and ‘Left And Right In The Dark’ sound immense and thrillingly urgent, and a rendition of the New Yorker’s festive treat ‘I Wish It Was Christmas Today’ is unexpected and lots of fun, but it’s the ballads that really come to the fore tonight. The encore of ‘Ludlow Street’ with its skew-whiff solo and finale ‘Glass’ are both quite magical, and a stripped down, keyboard-driven ‘I’ll Try Anything Once’ (an alternative version of The Strokes’ ‘You Only Live Once’) has people in absolute hysterics around us, out-roaring both backing musician and singer. Julian, it’s been an absolute pleasure, come back soon. And bring the boys…

Camilla Pia