The Strokes live at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

“The world is either in your hand or at your throat” sings Julian Casablancas on ‘Razorblade’, as he casually assaults the microphone on the first night of The Strokes’ UK tour. This from a band who have seen plenty of both extremes. Tonight, half way through their 24 song set, they’ve caught the crowd in their mighty palm and locked their fists tight.
From the first chords of opener ‘Heart In A Cage’, it’s very clear that The Strokes are a band sitting firmly at the top of their game and refusing to budge. They’re tight, focused and blatantly loving every second of the 80-odd minutes they’re on stage for.
Julian, dressed in a black biker jacket and gleaming white trainers, sounds – while pretty over processed – better than ever; Nick Valensi sports a mane of hair to rival Robert Plant circa Led Zeppelin II and a guitar slung as low as is humanly (or should that be humanely?) possible. Fab, meanwhile, just sits on his drum riser, chain smoking throughout the entire show and effortlessly knocking out beats.
Songwise, ‘Juicebox’, souped up for the stage, is a much meatier affair than on record, while classics from Is This It, including ‘Last Nite’, ‘Someday’, ‘NYC Cops’ and ‘Hard To Explain’ are blasted out with the precision and accuracy of consummate pros. Closing the set with the storming ‘Reptilia’, the band return to the stage for a six song encore that descends into chaos with a roof-trembling ‘Take It Or Leave It’. If tonight’s gig is anything to go by, The Strokes have got the world right where they want it.