San Francisco – Shit got loud at the Regency Ballroom as Julian Casablancas and his new band, The Voidz, descended upon an eager crowd. Casablancas, who is best known as the lead singer for the indie rock band, The Strokes, released his first album as a solo artist back in 2009 with Phrazes for the Young. After another couple of Strokes albums, he released another album a few months ago with his new band The Voidz, entitled Tyranny.
After an opening set by New Zealand’s Connan Mockasin, the crowd waited patiently for Julian and his band of five musicians to arrive. They came on a little after 9:15 PM, and the crowd went nuts. The cameramen in the pit beside me thumped their fists on the edge of the stage with enthusiasm as the band stepped onstage amidst minimal light, and girls screamed throughout the entirety of the set, echoing off the high ceilings and wrap-around balcony that encircles the main ballroom floor.
The band’s set consisted mostly of songs from the recent release, with a few “covers” thrown in (not so much covers as different versions of his own songs with the Strokes and as a solo artist). They played ten of the new album’s twelve tracks, opening with the trippy, slightly diminished tones of “Xerox” before barreling into the thrashing sounds of “Father Electricity” and “M.utally A.ssured D.estruction,” both of which set up the main sound for the rest of the set. Other Tyranny highlights that were performed included “Take Me in Your Army,” “Crunch Punch,” “Business Dog,” and—my personal favorite from the album—“Where No Eagles Fly,” which is a formidable, meandering track that brought Casablancas’ screaming-vocals game to a fever pitch.
Throughout the entire set, Casablancas remained at the front, but in almost complete darkness, while his band behind him played as canvas to a whirling colorful display of ever-changing lights and strobes (which made it very difficult for an inexperienced photographer such as myself to photograph him). It was almost as if Casablancas wanted to focus the attention on his band, rather than playing up his own celebrity. Nonetheless, he was quite interactive with the fans towards the front of the stage, as he pranced along the stage, on the edge in front of the monitors, much to the delight of the girls directly behind the barricade.
The Voidz broke up the main set with a few of the aforementioned “covers,” including heavier renditions of the Strokes’ song “Ize of the World” and his solo track “River of Brakelights,” the only song from Phrazes for the Young the band played. They also whipped out a particularly intense version of the Daft Punk track “Instant Crush,” which appears on their latest album Random Access Memories and features Casablancas on vocals. This came four songs in, and while I heard that they might pull that one out, I did not expect it quite so early. (I am also told that they remarked that this would be the last time they would play it live.)
Video courtesy of Evergig – See below
After closing their main set with the Tyranny track “Dare I Care” (which included a tease of the Phrazes song “11th Dimension, which was a mean trick), Casablancas came onstage for the encore and performed the lovely “I’ll Try Anything Once,” an early stripped-down version of “You Only Live Once,” which is the opener to the Strokes’ third album. After thunderous applause, the band rejoined him and they went right into “Johan von Bronx,” another Tyranny track. They then left the stage once more, only to be coaxed back onstage for “Human Sadness,” a sprawling, eruptive eleven-minute opus that served as a perfect finale.
The Voidz’ sound is much heavier and louder than any of Casablancas’ previous projects, and Tyranny itself is a grand departure from any Strokes album or his solo release. Sirius XMU DJ Jenny Eliscu admitted that she didn’t quite “get” the new album…until she saw them live, at which point the whole project made a lot more sense. I must say I agree, mostly because the Voidz put on such an intense and powerful performance. So if you’re having trouble with the album, their live performance brings everything together perfectly.
Be sure to catch one of Julian Casablancas + The Voidz’ remaining shows.
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Corey Bell
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