The Strokes at Co-Op Live Manchester (October 2026) Live review

When The Strokes released Reality Awaits back in July (our review here) it instantly became the Marmite album of the year, with opinions divided mainly due to consistent use of Autotune on Julian Casablancas’ vocals. Now that the dust has settled many of the naysayers have relinquished their initial feelings with revisionist feelings from fans conceding it is very much a grower.

Despite The Strokes having reasonably strong links to Scotland over the years, four appearances at T in the Park and two main stage slots at Glasgow Green (Gig on the Green in 2002 and TRNSMT in 2022 respectively), along with notable shows at the Barras and Braehead Arena, this year’s tour didn’t feature any Scottish dates. Not to be put off by such an oversight I duly remedied this by getting in tickets for their Manchester show.

Co-op Live, the newest and largest indoor venue in the UK, played host tonight with the sold-out show bringing a staggering 23,500 souls to see New York’s finest. As the clock struck 9pm the natives were becoming restless but finally the band took to the stage, fifteen minutes later, bursting into ‘Lonely in the Future’, all is forgiven for the apparent lateness as the crowd gleefully embrace the opening riffs.

Julian Casablancas, much like the band in general, are hugely unpredictable live; some shows pass with next to no interaction in-between songs.  Tonight he seems keen to rouse the crowd with some chatter, ‘Manchester I can’t see coz I’m wearing sunglasses but you all sound great’ he exclaims however with little back from the audience he declares ‘wow tough fucking crowd’ before turning to drummer Fab Moretti, ‘fucking hideous let’s play some songs’. It’s a curious exchange with a mixed response of dismay while others saw it as sarcasm.

Misguided words aside tonight’s set was flawless from start to finish, a perfectly curated journey through the bands mighty back catalogue with classics like ‘Hard to Explain’, ‘Reptilia’ and ‘Someday’ raising the roof. On-stage lighting and super 8 style video footage on the screen gave a retro, sci-fi feel to proceedings while Casablancas cuts the figure of an elusive rock star with his shades and long trench coat seeming like a means to avoid the spotlight.

Prior to tonight’s show The Strokes gig in Newcastle, the previous night, ended in chaos with the proposed encore not going ahead and the audience bitterly disappointed. The band blamed the curfew while the venue countered this to be untrue. This created a level of anxiety in the crowd tonight however as bassist Nikolai Fraiture introduces the anthem ‘Last Nite’ he offers reassuring words ‘What the fuck is up Manchester! This is the biggest show we’ve played on this tour; do you want an encore? This is our last song, wink wink and you might know it.’ ‘Know it’ is an understatement as the standing section of the impressive Co-op arena becomes a massive indie-dancefloor.

True enough, the band do provide not one encore but two as they sign out the night in style, with two standout dazzling performances of ‘Ode to the Mets’ and ‘Selfless’. Both tracks featured on 2020’s The New Abnormal and serve as a reminder that the band’s more recent output is up there with their best.

Photos by Olive Zagacki  @olive.grace.0