Julian Casablancas was quite the Chatty Cathy last night during The Strokes’ headlining set at Just Like Heaven. The “Last Night” singer even went on to clown on James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. Watch the videos below.
“I’m a silly f*cking goose tonight,” shared the unfiltered frontman during one of several long rant sessions. On the eve of his 48th birthday, Casablancas sounded genuinely happy about his side chats. And judging by all the laughs and “ooooooohs,” the crowd was loving them. I mean, when you go to a Strokes show, you come for the music, but you never know which Jules you’re going to get.
Throughout The Strokes’ nostalgic indie rock set, Jules went on about how L.A. is his second home, then went on to share that nobody wants to play the Rose Bowl, calling it the “soon-to-be-abandoned Rose Bowl” because “no one wants to play there … no one wants to play with me anymore.”
Btw, no idea why he said that …
He then went on to share how he’s probably played his hit song “Someday” 20,000 times and how that word—”someday”—no longer has meaning to him anymore, and how he “feels like I’ve been f*cking that one up lately.”
“I don’t even know what I’m saying. I’m just making sounds. I’ve memorized the sounds.”
He also compared Just Like Heaven to Coachella, saying, “This is kind of like a better Coachella, to be honest … yeah, I said it.”
RELATED: Just Like Heaven is what Coachella Used To Be Like
Jules wrapped his delightful rant with a “newly introduced, very old secret intro of a medium-old song: ‘Life Is Simple in the Moonlight.’”
After that song, the silly f*cking goose took some swings at LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, calling the frontman the “Brett Favre of indie rock.”
Casablancas went on to point out that years ago, LCD Soundsystem/James Murphy announced they were “retiring” (2011). After a short five-year break, LCD returned to headlining music festivals (including Coachella) and performing on SNL. The band came back bigger than ever and hit the mainstream.
“What a pleasant surprise. I thought you retired 15 years ago … just kidding,” poked Jules.
He then doubled down, calling Murphy the “Brett Favre of indie rock.”
While the young Gen Z fans probably didn’t quite get all this retirement beef, and those of us who don’t keep up with football didn’t understand the Brett Favre reference, those who did were cracking up.
RELATED: Songs of a Generation: How The Strokes Helped Define Indie Rock With “Hard to Explain”
Because let’s be real: When LCD Soundsystem called it quits in 2011 and then came back just five years later, selling out shows, headlining festivals, and playing SNL—not once but twice—it left a sour taste in the mouths of many. Fans spent $100s of dollars on ticket scalpers (it was 2011; we weren’t yet paying in the thousands for resale) and on booking flights and hotels to get to New York.
Apparently, NFL quarterback Brett Favre announced his retirement three times over the course of three years, which greatly annoyed fans.
Julian then went on to playfully poke fun with:
“Yeah, announcing we’re retiring tonight to make it cooler when we play a show in two years.”
In 2017, Stereogum reported on a New York Times article where “James Murphy went on the record saying that, at least in part, his decision to temporarily end the band was an attempt to sell out MSG.”
In a new New York Times profile, Murphy talks about all his reasons for temporarily ending LCD Soundsystem: He didn’t want to start sucking, and he didn’t like the idea of following a normal career progression. But a Madison Square Garden show, was also a part of the reasoning;
Apparently, at LCD’s Madison Square Garden show (2011), which was booked far in advance, the venue didn’t think LCD could sell the show well.
“My theory was, if I make it our last show, we’ll sell it out in two weeks,” shared Murphy. The show sold out in minutes. “It wasn’t a total lark, but it was a bit larky,” he admitted. “But I like making decisions. I find it easy.”
