Later! With Jules: Julian Casablancas, Gota Kallare, Stockholm

“Julian!!!”

“Yes, that’s my name. Don’t wear it out.”

Julian Casablancas, lead singer of The Strokes, is out in full force and on the ‘cool’ offensive tonight in Stockholm. Sporting a sexy haircut, skinny jeans, sneakers and tight leather jacket with military-style buttons on its arms, he looks every inch the rock star that launched a ‘thousand’ modern indie bands and wrote the definitive NME album of the decade. Currently on tour with a live band featuring synths and, not one, but two percussion kits, Jules gets straight down to business with the country lilt and ode to the drunken days of ‘olde’ ‘Ludlow Street’. From slurs of “Everything seems to go wrong when I stop drinking” to pulling heartstrings with “While I surrendered my ego, you fed yours/All my fantasies died when you said yours”, he lovingly channels the spirit of another famous JC, Johnny Cash, through the medium of Joey Ramone. He continues to woo the audience with his razor-blade charm on the Strokesy ‘Out Of The Blue’, whose chorus of ‘Woahs’ soar like ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ against an electricityscape of guitars and a jangly rhythm. A prime example of Casablancas’ self-confessed desire to make “underground” ideas “mainstream”, the song tells a hedonistic tale of “going to hell in a leather jacket”, one which the singer wears well in between songs, mumbling “Thanks” before knocking back a few gulps of a see-through substance (albeit it probably ‘mineral water’) and shouting “What the fuck is up Stockholm?”

The first half then culminates with recent single ‘11th Dimension’ and ‘I’ll Try Anything Once’, the former including a brightly-coloured synth instrumental break, which, while a fun and thrilling slice of 80s pop, is an indirect reminder of ‘absent friends’, as Jules seems a little lost in his attempts to feed off his touring band. Cue the mid-set “anti-climax” that is the demo of Track 1 from ‘First Impressions of Earth’, executed in lounge-style, with the “Shut Me Up/I’ll calm down/And I’ll get along with you” refrain being chanted so loudly that Jules calls it “the best singing of the tour so far” – a sign that despite the intervening solo years, the love of all things Strokes is still strong.

The second half remains equally eclectic, with Casablancas “sweetening the air” with a Bside ‘30 Minute Boyfriend’, whose introductory bassline could challenge The Killers’ ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’ to a tight shirted fistfight and the frantic ‘River Of Brakelights’, which rattles along like the soundtrack to the deadly Robotnik levels in Sonic the Hedgehog. These more gritty numbers allow some rock n roll showmanship to seep through the mesh of synthesiser, as Jules aggressively casts his microphone to the floor and turns his back to the audience before adopting a moody Stuart Sutcliffe sidestage pose – for pure rock n roll effect only, of course.

Whilst the show seemed to have peaked early on with the single and Strokes ‘cover’, perhaps the standout moment could be Julian’s late transition to Prom King crooner mode with the 50s-tinted ‘Four Chords Of The Apocalypse’. Though “I’ll take you shopping/I’ll take you -da-aa-aa-nc-ncing too” might be delivered by a man with sandpaper in his throat, the performance is so cathartic and voice so smouldering that Casablancas could be an indie ‘Elvis’, with every girl in the audience melting into a hysterical mess on the moshpit floor.

Rounding off the evening with a final encore including up-coming festive single, ‘I Wish It Was Christmas Today’, it seems, based on tonight’s showcase, that our Lord JC will be leaving this decade exactly the way he came in: with a bang and as a breath of new life in a flagging guitar scene. If you’re after an edgy performance by a male indie artist with bundles of attitude and effortless NY ‘cool’ - Strokes or no Strokes - This Is It.