The truth is, on the cusp of the 20th and 21st centuries, you’d have been hard-pressed to find many people outside of the 212 area code talking much about a New York City rock “scene.” But when the Strokes emerged in late 2000 to play a pair of dates at the Mercury Lounge and the Bowery Ballroom, it touched off a period during which it often seemed that few could talk about anything else. Coupling stateside word-of-mouth with UK fandom stoked by NME’s weekly need to go into complete apoplexy over a band no one had ever heard of, the Strokes soon became something of a lightning rod, summoning acclaim and backlash in equal measure and in extremis. Music bloggers were sent in to mitigate the nonsensical frenzy of hyping and hating, but they only ended up making the problem much, much worse. In fact, things have gotten so bad now that Axl Rose is actually convinced that hanging out at Misshapes will somehow make his songs better. The sad fact is, he’s probably right.

Throughout it all, the Strokes have managed to persist, surviving not only the smack talk that comes from being top-of-the-heap, but also producer woes, the requisite chemical dependencies, internecine conflicts, the nation’s two-week flirtation with electroclash, and the dangers that arise from having to work in close proximity to Drew Barrymore. But one demon they’ve never been able to quite banish is their own aesthetic restlessness. Having staked their claim with a sound that straddled the then-emerging garage-rock and neo-new wave trendlets, the band has been struggling to decide whether to embrace that style or run away from it.

Their third album, First Impressions Of Earth, marks the Strokes’ first decisive move away from their trademarked sound. At least in part. While plenty of tunes from Impressions would fit right alongside the previous two records, there’s an equal dose of tracks that are more brash and melodramatic than anything they’d done previously. And while critical reviews of Impressions have been decidedly mixed, the band has nevertheless found success on tour, selling out dates and bringing the rock. That success continued last night at D.A.R. Constitution Hall, as the Strokes performed a loud and raucous set to the sustained delight of an incredibly vocal crowd.

Emerging to some pre-recorded music and bright, flashing lights that seem to have requisitioned from the set of Coldplay’s “Speed of Sound” video, the Strokes took the stage and launched into the scrawling “Heart In A Cage,” bringing the crowd emphatically to their feet. And while the second song, the enervating and curiously chosen “Red Light” dampened the initial energy a bit, the band brought it right back with an aggressive performance of Impressions’ first single, “Juicebox.” The kids sure loved their “Juicebox,” and it’s safe to say that a few of their chaperones did as well.

Songs from the new album got a thorough workout, for better (“You Only Live Twice”) or for worse (“Vision of Division”). But as the show went on, a sizable helping of tunes from the Strokes’ debut, Is This It, found their way into the mix. It was perhaps this combined approach, to both reach back and look forward with equal enthusiasm, that succeeded in uniting the support of all the fans in the Hall. The audience roiled ecstatically with a cheering approval that rarely abated during the show.

It certainly helped that the band respects the audience enough to be one of the most sickeningly well-rehearsed acts on the road — on that regard, the Strokes simply put a good many bands to shame. These road-tested chops are critical for the band to do what they do best, which is to begin with a giddily lockstep foundation provided by drummer Fabrizio Moretti — who frankly made his job look easy last night — and bassist Nikolai Fraiture for guitarists Albert Hammond, Jr. and Nick Valensi to bob and weave between. When all those interlocking parts are coming together, it’s tough not enjoying the band’s work. It was a pity that the cavernous hall and the low-end lean of the sound mix swallowed so many of Valensi’s more subliminal melodies, but when his looping, sticky arpeggios came to the front, they simply soared.

For his part, leather-clad lead singer Julian Casablancas wrapped himself around the mike stand most of the evening, summoning dark and throaty vocals. While some of the newer material calls for Casablancas to take his voice to that tension spot between singing and howling, it was demonstrated last night that he’s absolutely at his best on songs like “The End Has No End” and “Soma,” where his languorous intonation seems to outright defy the band's forward momentum, creating somehow a vibrant pocket for something relaxed to live amid the flurry and din. Casablancas wasn’t much of the stage banterer, however. Mumbling as if his mouth couldn’t keep up with his mind, he frequently thanked the audience, at one point offering a sort of shout-out to someone in the front wearing a DC United shirt: “I don’t know…Freddy Adu, I guess.”

In fact, the only major lowlight of the show was the one occasion Casablancas ceded control of the mike to someone else. That was when show opener Sean Na Na a.k.a. Har Mar Superstar ambled out on stage to open up a juicebox of his own labeled “Capri SUCK,” which he then proceeded to drizzle all over the song “Under Control.” It was a splendiferously asstastic moment, every bit as awful as you might imagine. It’s worth mentioning, however, that sighting Har Mar and the Strokes on the same stage in New York City does bring you one step closer to winning the typical round of Lower East Side Bingo.

Luckily, the band recovered quickly, reeling off a well-played quartet of songs from Is This It, including a bracing version of “Soma.” And while the band had all night long not really shown they were much for the whole concept of “moving around the stage,” that all changed at the conclusion of “Vision of Division,” at which point Casablancas got down into the audience, making his way to the center of the Hall to sing “Reptilia” while surrounded by the fans. The crowd went absolutely bananas at that point, with people running from all quarters down the center and perpendicular aisles to get where the action was.

After making his way back to the stage and re-collecting his microphone cord, the band bounded offstage briefly, only to return for a bristling encore of “New York City Cops,” “Is This It,” and the snarling “Take It Or Leave It.” The show concluded with Moretti coming to the forestage to call someone out of the crowd — not Sam Endicott of The Bravery, who was reported to have been in attendance — but some happy looking dude who Moretti said was a classmate from the second grade. Happy Dude said a few words, then, by the sound of things, proceeded to break an expensive concert microphone as he bounced off stage. And with that, the crowd shuffled out of the Hall to the tune of “Could You Be Loved?” with big wide smiles on recently rocked faces.

SET LIST:
Heart In A Cage
Red Light
Juicebox
The End Has No End
You Only Live Once
12:51
Ize Of The World
Trying Your Luck
Electricityscape
Someday
Alone, Together
Under Control
Last Nite
Hard To Explain
Soma
Barely Legal
Ask Me Anything
Vision of Division
Reptilia

ENCORE:
NYC Cops
Is This It?
Take It Or Leave It

Photos by DCist Chris Snyder