The Strokes Serve Up ALL the Energy at Just Like Heaven
There's a reason The Strokes closing out Just Like Heaven Festival felt less like a booking decision and more like an inevitability. This is the band that basically invented the sound the entire festival is built around, and from the second Julian Casablancas ambled up to the mic and the band launched into "Lonely in the Future," it was clear Pasadena was about to get the full, unfiltered version of one of rock's most influential live acts.
The set leaned hard into deep cuts and beloved favorites alike, and that balance is what made it sing. "Hard to Explain" and "Juicebox" landed early and hit exactly as hard as you'd hope, guitars from Steve Schiltz and Albert Hammond Jr. weaving those signature interlocking riffs with an effortlessness that still sounds like nobody else in rock. "Reptilia" detonated the crowd the way it always has, and "Automatic Stop" gave the whole field a moment to sway together before the pace picked back up. The rhythm section of Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti held everything together with a looseness that never once slipped, proof that two decades on, this band still plays like it's got something to prove.
What stood out most was how present Casablancas was. He wasn't just fronting the band, he was working the whole stage, leaning into the mic stand, trading glances with Valensi mid-solo, clearly having fun with a crowd that knew every word. And then came the moment that made this performance genuinely historic: The Strokes debuted "Going to Babble On" live for the very first time during the encore, a gift to the Pasadena crowd that turned an already great set into one fans will be talking about for years. They closed the night with "Selfless," a quieter, more reflective note to end on that let the emotion of the day settle in before the lights came up.
The production leaned minimal and let the songs do the talking, sharp lighting cues punctuating the bigger choruses without ever overwhelming the band itself. Around the stage, the crowd stretched back further than almost any other set of the day, a sea of denim jackets and vintage band tees, everyone locked in from the first chord to the last. It's rare to see a crowd that size stay that engaged for a full eighty minutes, but The Strokes have built a catalog deep enough, and a stage presence charismatic enough, to earn that kind of attention.
Watching The Strokes tear through a set like this is a reminder of exactly why they're still one of the most vital live bands working today. If they're anywhere near you on this run, go — and if you were lucky enough to catch that "Going to Babble On" debut in Pasadena, you already know how special this one was.
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