should probably consider London home turf by now. After all, the city took the New Yorkers to its heart before anywhere else, sparking a global indie revolution in the process. The band’s past few visits, however, haven’t been without incident – two All Points East headliners marred by poor sound and vocal crowd disquiet stand out.

Yet tonight the band feel like they’re in their element. The O2 is an area they can marshall and control, while a wave of nostalgia has been met by two – count ‘em! – back to back albums that contain work which more than hold their own against the group’s illustrious past.

With a set list perfectly balanced between old and new, tonight is a night to fully re-embrace The Strokes. Vivid, confident, and fired up, it’s a performance for the ages, a joyous rekindling of old fires and fresh flames.

Material from recent album ‘Reality Awaits’ sounds genuinely thrilling, with ‘Going Shopping’ fully deserving of packed out arena status. The well-paced set shows off the band’s strengths – the noise intro on ‘New York City Cops’ helps add extra life to a well-worn favourite, and a bolshy, muscular ‘Reptilia’ erupts with joy.

At times, there’s a similar feeling to – fans acting in service of the songs, and re-discovering the powerful memories associated with them. It’s also a hell of a party, with Julian Casablancas clearly relishing every minute of it. Joking with the crowd as they shout requests, he reveals that each team they hear a request The Strokes refuse to play it. “We feed on your rage,” he smiles, “like the Hulk”.

It’s not perfect, but then nothing truly inspirational ever is – the slips let the humanity shine through, and The Strokes have always thrived on a certain scuzzy nature to their sound. Closing with a languid, drawn out ‘Is This It?’ they leave on a cataclysmic ‘Ode To The Mets’. Insouciant cool from the New York masters, this is perhaps the best Strokes performance London has seen in a decade.