The Strokes Bring Indie Rock Starpower to Cleveland: Review

On Friday night, lightning-shaped strobes electrified the stage at Blossom Music Center, as The Strokes’s Reality Awaits world tour commenced one of the venue’s most anticipated headlining acts of the season. A spectrum of colorful backlighting engulfed the group to near silhouettes while a cool and collected crowd swayed along to snazzy guitar riffs. Beers were held high, and for much of the show, there was barely a phone in sight.

The show was the band’s largest gig ever played in Northeast Ohio, and its first since a concert at the Agora 20 years ago.

The Strokes are so back.

But really, The Strokes never left, aside from a five-year hiatus ahead of its 2011 album, Angles, and a gap between its current rollout of singles and its 2020 album, The New Abnormal, which warranted less touring and more one-off festival sets. The New York City collective’s easygoing sound has always existed as indie music has driven itself forward.

The “indie” genre has turned itself into quite the dictionary over the past couple decades, and The Strokes are one of the bylines. The band has sustained an edgy, unfussy ‘90s groove all the way into the 2020s and stamped itself onto other long haulers like the Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, the Killers and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Lead singer Julian Casablancas, with a name straight out of a movie, leans into his cinematic pedigree with timeless vocals that many peers have found inspiration in.

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Many Strokes albums have proven just as timeless. This year, the band’s debut, Is This It, turns 25. First Impressions Of Earth turns 20, and Angles turns 15. Bits of these iconic early releases made their way into the setlist, but the Reality Awaits tour is ultimately in support of its namesake album, set to drop on July 24. The record’s lead singles, “Going Shopping” and “Falling out of Love,” lean more pop than previous Strokes music, and Casablancas abandons his usual cadence for an experimental and slightly divisive use of autotune.

It mostly works, as old tunes flowed seamlessly through the two new tracks during the evening’s performance, and the crowd never slowed down its praise. But The Strokes's guitar-forward, garage-tinged urgency was foolproof, showcased through the roar of classics like “Ize of the World” and “Bad Decisions.” Clear fan-favorites like “Ode to the Mets” and “The Adults Are Talking” revitalized an already saturated stage, and 2003's “Reptilia,” famous for its appearance in the Guitar Hero video games, capped the show with intense rave energy and a radical swagger that made a four-song encore somehow feel miniscule.

The Strokes’s Reality Awaits Tour

Blossom Music Center, June 19, 2026 Setlist: 

1. "Ize of the World"

2. "Killing Lies"

3. "Hard to Explain"

4. "Going Shopping"

5. "Juicebox"

6. "Someday"

7. "Heart in a Cage"

8. "Ode to the Mets"

9. "Bad Decisions"

10. "Take It or Leave It"

11. "Falling out of Love"

12. "One Way Trigger"

13. "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight"

14. "You Only Live Once"

15. "Gratisfaction"

16. "The Adults Are Talking"

17. "Last Nite"

18. "Reptilia"

Encore:

19. "Selfless"

20. "Happy Ending"

21. "Call It Fate, Call It Karma"

22. "What Ever Happened?"

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