Fans of The Strokes have expressed online concerns over the well-being of frontman Julian Casablancas following his performance at Scotland’s TRNSMT festival last night (9 July).
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Fans commented on his “worrying” behavior on stage, saying they felt he needed an “intervention” claiming he appeared to be heavily intoxicated.
One fan said he fears he “just witnessed the end of The Strokes,” with “Casablancas really looking like it needed help.” The fan added that “the man looked uncomfortable”.
Some fans commented that Casablancas didn’t hide his “dislike” for the audience after saying he preferred “Barrowlands” and after referring to the audience as “Glasgow Children’s Choir”. Others also spoke about the poor sound quality of the gig and wondered if that could have been a factor in the performance.
The Strokes declined to comment NME turned to a spokesman for an answer.
As a long time Strokes fan, I was genuinely concerned for Julian’s well being at tonight’s TRNSMT.
— Lisa Taylor (@LisaTaylorVol) July 10, 2022
Might be an unpopular opinion, sorry but my god The Strokes were awful at TRNSMT tonight.
Julian is borderline like Shane McGowan and needs an intervention. Worst frontman performance I’ve ever seen.
Sound issues aside, there was no stage presence, just a bit boring.#TRNSMT
— G (@OneManChatting) July 9, 2022
Sounds like an exaggeration, but I think we just witnessed the end of The Strokes. The end of this set was hard to see, Casablancas really looks like he needs some help. They sounded fine, but the man looked ill #trnsmt
— Rex (@AlexBoxteles) July 9, 2022
I’m glad someone said so….the rambling between songs was just weird and awkward!!
I know he said he had a cold but the fixation on how the crowd would react when they had sound issues themselves was a bit OTT too!
— T (@trickness) July 9, 2022
TRNSMT was interesting… The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas didn’t bother to hide his disdain for the crowd (he called them the Glasgow Children’s Choir and said he’d rather be at the Barrowlands) and to be fair most people clearly weren’t because of the melodies there. Ah great.
— Laura Webster (@LauraEWebsterr) July 9, 2022
It was almost as if the punches would rather have been somewhere else than on the main stage at trnsmt 😅
— k (@kfrw_) July 9, 2022
The Strokes should be embarrassed at this excuse for a headlining gig @TRNSMTfest – zero energy, awful setlist and hitting the audience with gems like ‘Glasgow Childrens Choir’ and ‘next time we’re going to the Barrowlands’ – waited 15 years to see them live just to get this!
— Alex Kane 💙💛 (@Beacon_Dev) July 9, 2022
Earlier this week, Casablancas responded to criticism following The Strokes’ performance at the Roskilde Festival. According to setlist.fm, their set started half an hour behind schedule and fans commented that it contained “a lot of unpredictable and endless banter from Casablancas”.
In a now-deleted post shared to Instagram, Casablancas responded to rumors that he was heavily intoxicated during his performance.
“I’m not on Twitter enough to know what a confused fan is thinking or pretending to know,” he wrote, “but I’m fine…as far as I know…people have been asking me weird questions.” [sic] – ahh the stupid side of social media… Lame-Os run around so hard and free.”
At the band’s show on Friday (July 8) in Lytham, many fans also commented on Casablanca’s behavior, particularly when he brought a fan on stage for an extended part of the set.
After bringing the woman onto the stage, Casablancas quipped that he’ll walk off the stage and “take a punch.” The woman then sang “Ode To The Mets” (which originally appeared on The Strokes 2020 album The New Abnormal) for every six minutes in Casablancas’ place.
The Strokes are currently touring as support for The New Abnormal. Review of their set at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, NME said Casablancas performed with “feverish energy” and his “amazing demeanor still persists.” [left] Space for an impressive musical performance,” stating that “the power of the set” was “undeniable” and that the setlist was “a celebration of the old and the new.” [band’s] Most Contagious Hits”.