The Strokes got a big lift yesterday (Aug. 8) during their headlining set at Outside Lands in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, as the New York-reared band welcomed U.K. pop star Charli xcx for a version of “Take It or Leave It” from the band’s 2001 debut album, Is This It.
“We’ve got a special little guest. A big guest. Well, a superstar,” Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas said by way of introduction before noting that both his band and Charli xcx released new albums on the same day in late July. “We had a great battle. You defeated us. Your new queen of everything: Charli xcx!”
At the end of the song, Casablancas again reminded the audience, “yep, she won. She won by a lot.” Indeed, Charli’x Music, Fashion, Film (Atlantic) debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 but slipped to No. 34 in its second week, while the Strokes’ Reality Awaits (RCA/Cult) opened at No. 13 and fell out of the top 50 the following frame.
Charli xcx, who headlined Outside Lands the prior evening, begins a fall North American arena tour Sept. 11 in Philadelphia and has dates on the books through Oct. 23 in Las Vegas. After years of varying levels of onstage activity, the Strokes will be on the road through Dec. 5 at Brazil’s Primavera Sound Sao Paulo and will finish the year having played their most shows in a 12-month period since 2006.