Flashback: The Strokes Break Out ‘New York City Cops’ at Comeback Gig

Anticipation for the Strokes’ 2010 headlining gig at England’s Isle of Wight was extremely high. The New York band had been completely off the grid for the last four years, during which time guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. dealt with a horrific heroin addiction and frontman Julian Casablancas confronted his longstanding drinking problem and launched an ill-fated tour in support of his solo LP Phrazes for the Young. 

‘Is This It?’ and 99 more amazing debut albums

It was beginning to look like the band might be gone for good just before they announced a tour of European festivals. It was slated to begin at the Isle of Wight on June 12th, though they wound up playing a club in London two nights earlier that week. Still, the reaction from the crowd at Isle of Wight when they walked onstage and burst into “New York City Cops” was absolutely euphoric. The Strokes’ debut Is This It came out less than a decade earlier, but there were still feelings of intense nostalgia in the air.  

The band played eight of the 11 songs from Is This It that night as well as nine from First Impressions of Earth and Room on Fire. They may have agreed to the tour due to financial considerations, but the shows were still sensational. They played a handful of American festivals later that year as the group finished work on its long-awaited fourth album Angles, which finally came out in March 2011. 

The Strokes haven’t played a single note together in public since wrapping up their Angels tour in November  2011, though they did release their fifth album Comedown Machine in March 2013. The NYC band didn’t promote it with any interviews or appearances, and it was widely viewed as a contract-fulfilling project. They are supposedly working on a new album right now and they’re slated to play Governor’s Ball in New York in June, though it seems like most members remain tightly focused on their solo careers.