It was March the 23rd. A Tuesday. Pouring outside. My father, disabled from the night before accidentally cutting himself washing the dishes, begrudgingly takes me and my brother to Providence.
When my brother, Justin, and I got out of the car at the Providence Place mall at 5 P.M., it suddenly kicked in that when the doors opened at Lupo's at the Roxy at eight o' clock; only three hours away, I'd be seeing my idol Julian Casablancas rocking out. The feeling of anticipation was of a euphoric bliss and uber-nervousness, because this is what I wanted to become. I wanted to become that hipster indie kid listening to Felix Da Housecat in the back of my science class and seeing The Strokes' front man on a rainy school night. This night was an expected taste.
After eating 2nd-rate Chinese food from the mall (which ran me eight bucks, by the way) and walking around Border's, we decided to finally just walk over to Lupo's. It was 7 PM, and I was stoked. Only 6 college students were waiting in line; all in the rain. Luckily, I had an umbrella. Also, we also had entertainment. A production bus in front of Lupo's was for a pilot called something like " Night of Darkness". The scrambling crew was interesting enough to stop shuddering in the paralyzingly cold rain.
It's not 7 anymore, it's not 8, and the Lupo's workers are just letting us in. Of course, I got searched, and the just ran into the dance floor. There was no one, and I was right at the front row. I looked up, and saw that where I was standing was within reach of where Julian's mic would be. My stoke level was through the roof.
The opening act, a synth-dream of a band from Providence called "Triangle Forest" rocked the place. They were fantastic. I suggest you look for them on Myspace. During this, and the wait for the show, I got to do what is one of my favorite things at concerts: becoming friends with the people around you. Lets just say by the time Julian came on, I was 6 feet away from my brother and I was dancing with other people.
Okay. Here it is.
Julian came out around 10-ish. He came almost stumbling out singing one of my favorites from his new solo album, "Phrazes for the Young", "Ludlow St.". I knew every word, and Julian, a foot above my face could see it. I kinda felt special and apart of everything having that knowledge of who this was and what he represented.
The whole night turned into a blur of me screaming out to him and him walking around the stage singing these blissful songs of random long-notes. I swear I almost shit myself when the baseline for "Hard to Explain"--one of The Strokes' finest songs. And when this night couldn't get any better, I shot my hand out and yelled "Julian! You're my idol!". He did the best thing I could ever ask for: a nod and a genuine handshake. I was in heaven. How often do you get to shake one of your idols hands? "Yeah, I wrote that shit, I can play it" he said when he was through with the anthem.
Other covers from the Strokes and all his new, original solo stuff were absolutely terrific. With a sticker and a shirt from merchchandise, and that nod and my hand in which I went home and sprawled all over my "Is This It" record, I will always remember my night with Mr. Casablancas.
At the very end of the video, you see him nod and shake someones hand. That hand then shoots up into the air. Yeah, that's mine.
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