ARTS The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 17, 2006 - 11A The Strokes 'punch clock in Detroit By Kimberly Chou Daily Arts Writer A purportedly sober Julian Casablancas and The Strokes brought a mixed bag to Detroit's State Theater Thursday night: a set of old stand- bys mixed with heavier material from their latest album, First Impressions of Earth. The band presented the coach-class Strokes package - an always-solid rhythm section, gui- tars that were a mix between child's play and C~ourtesy of Disney Wait till they get to Avenue D, then it really gets messy. Wild' embodies showy solos, Casablancas swallowing his vowels and slurring his consonants like a minor-stroke victim - and the crowd devoured it. It was just another night on the job for The Strokes, but The Strokes Thursday State Theater Detroit Disney's artistic fall By Sarah Schwartz Daily Arts Writer it was certainly one hell of a night for the eager Detroit audience. Forget those who think it'd be nice for the band to change up its set list or give the understated Nikolai Fraiture a sizeable bass solo. The Strokes couldn't care less. As a band, they're never quite unpredictable, but neither does it seem like they spend hours in the studio poring over the same track or dream- ing about future concept albums. But The Strokes still have a firm grip on their fans (take, for example, the number of sold-out shows prior to the Detroit date). Thursday saw more than enough impressionable Midwestern girls who still find their silver-spoon-delinquent, Big Apple image rather exotic. Before the show, the ticket holders waiting outside the State represented a slice of Detroit nightlife: the baby Ashlee Simpson clones, the embarrassing 20-somethings wearing studded belts and "ROCK CITY" t-shirts, the handful of , beefcakes in backward caps more suited to jos- tling each other outside Rick's than on a corner of Woodward Avenue. Showtime at the State was absurdly early. The Strokes ambled onstage a little after 9 p.m., launching into their new single "Heart In a Cage." Restless after the opening band, the crowd had prematurely cheered at every lighting change for the previous hour. They jumped on the dark, buzzy number driv- en by bits of bittersweet guitar - part spacey melotron, part Czerny piano exercise - courtesy of Valensi and his low-slung Epiphone. Both Fraiture and the dapper-dressed Ham- mond played their instruments high and tight, pressed up against their chests. Under the the- ater's chrysanthemum-patterned ceiling, both the enthralled crowd and the intense, arcade lighting TOMMASO Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas gets to steppin' at the ban's show Thursday night. operated at full strength. Kids on the main floor went wild. Crowd surfing commenced, and even ticket holders in the balcony were dancing. "Heart In a Cage" was positively raucous, but the band suddenly went through a sulky five- minute funk after the song's conclusion. Throughout the set, despite the lively crowd reaction to the heavier, up-tempo howlers, there were brief moments when The Strokes and the audience did not connect. A stripped-down duo of Casablancas on vocals and Valensi on electric keys during the lulling "Ask Me Anything" brought down the venue's intensity level after the drunkenly familiar "Last Nite." "Just me and Nick," Casablancas drawled, introducing the song. "Just the two of us, building castles in the sky," he chuckled. Casablancas's Bill Withers sampling was a little more off-put- ting than endearing, but most simply shrugged it off and waited for "Ask" to end. For the most part, The Strokes recovered after dead spots with songs like the throaty, visceral "Juicebox." One of the strongest First Impres- sions tracks, when it's performed live it's the brightest sign that the Strokes are growing musi- cally. Propelled by a sinister Peter Gunn bass rhythm, the band noisily stormed through "Juice- box." Casablancas did a few awkward-white-guy dance moves in between verses, still looking effortlessly cool. After all, the Casablancas motif essentially created "the super model;" you would expect the hipster progeny to at least cut a romantic figure in a zippered leather jacket and Reebok high-tops. Not surprisingly, the Strokes covered their bigger hits, including "12:51" and the aforemen- tioned "Last Nite." The band even pulled "Is This It?" from the vault for its short encore. But their renditions of earlier songs, reflected the heavier, darker tone of their new material, especially the climactic "Reptilia." On stage, such steps toward maturity shone through the simplified, Cars-esque "You Only Live Once" and the dark-pop grandeur of "Ele- tricityscape." So maybe the Strokes are going through the motions. It doesn't matter, really. Thursday night's audience didn't mind. The band didn't mind. For an already successful rock band that wavers between carefree and careless, it should have been enough. Dear Disney: What's happened to us? What hap- pened to our relationship? There was a time when I would anx- iously await the The Wild animated mov- At the Showcase ies you released, and Quality 16 happily spending Ds my money to see a new fairy tale come vividly to life. You took me to faraway placesa and brought me monsters and princesses. You once made me believe silverware could sing and dance. So imagine my pure disappoint- ment after seeing "The Wild." The tale of Samson (Kiefer Sutherland, TV's "24"), the lion who must find his son in Africa, is suitably touch- ing. And comic relief is a necessity in every Disney movie, so James Belushi (TV's "According to Jim"), Eddie Izzard ("Ocean's Twelve") and Jane- ane Garofalo ("Wet Hot American Summer") work just fine as Samson's friends, coming along for the ride. But pampered zoo animals having to make it out in the jungle - this is "Mada- gascar" with a new logo. Samson goes all "Finding Nemo" when searching for his son. And how many times can "The Lion King" be referenced? Dis- ney, I've never seen you have to dig so deep into your own vault to come up with a storyline. It makes me so sad to see you this way. I knew something was wrong in the first 10 minutes when you brought out a wildebeest chase. A wildebeest chase? All coming down the moun- tain in exactly the same way and with exactly the same scenery from "The Lion King?" It's as if you got lazy and decided that recycling moments from one of your best films would make this one better, presuming we wouldn't remember. But we do remember, Disney: We remember everything. It didn't have to be like this. Pixar should be your go-to guys for 3-D animation. You paid them millions to stay with you. Enough said. The animals of "The Wild" look like stuffed toys with weirdly over- expressive eyes - a scary combina- tion for any child. Plus, Pixar is funny. I can only remember laughing twice during this film: when the crocodiles appeared doing fantastic impressions of New York cab drivers and at the wildebeest chorus line. Twice is not enough for one of your films. I'm sorry I have to say these things. I don't want it to end this way. You could just go back to 2-D animation and remind us of what we've been missing. Remind us why "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Little Mer- maid" and, yes, "The Lion King" are some of our favorite movies. Please, for the love of the seven-year-old inside all of us, go back to the lush animation that made you so great. Please, Disney, please. 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