The Strokes and Regina Spektor teamed last night (Aug. 19) in New York for their first performance of their 2004 b-side “Modern Girls and Old Fashion Men” in 20 years. The track had not been played since a 2003 gig at New York’s the Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
“It only took 20 years, but look who showed up,” Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas said before unveiling the track at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens. “They love you, kid.” Spektor, who rose to prominence in New York roughly coincident with the Strokes, called them “my favorite band in my favorite city.”
“Modern Girls and Old Fashion Men” is the b-side to the Strokes’ song “Reptilia” from their 2003 sophomore album Room on Fire. It had not been played in 16 years before being dusted off at the band’s 2019 New Year’s Eve concert at New York’s Barclays Center, with opening act Mac Demarco covering Spektor’s parts that night. Weyes Blood joined the Strokes for a recent performance of “Modern Girls” at Red Rocks outside Denver.
Other rarities performed last night at Forest Hills included the live debuts of “15 Minutes” from 2005’s First Impressions of Earth and “Why Are Sundays So Depressing” from the 2020 album The New Abnormal.
As for Spektor, the Russian-born, New York-raised performer is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her album Soviet Kitsch with a new vinyl repress. She will stage her own New York homecoming show Aug. 24 at New York’s Central Park SummerStage.
