The Strokes announce warm-up shows before Austin City Limits, sparking new album speculation
The Strokes have announced intimate Austin City Limits warm-up gigs in Las Vegas and Austin.
Indie rock legends The Strokes have announced two warm-up shows ahead of their headline performance at this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival.
The annual two-weekend event will take place from October 3 - 5 and October 10 - 12 at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.
The band revealed on Instagram that they will perform at the Chelsea Theater in Las Vegas on September 17, followed by a show at the Abraham Chavez Theatre in El Paso on October 1.
The announcement was met with excitement from fans, as The Strokes’ last live performance took place over a year ago, on March 8, 2024, in Chicago.
The news has also reignited speculation about a new album - their first since the Grammy-winning The New Abnormal (2020).
“Now drop the album,” read one of the top comments under their Instagram post.
Back in 2023, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. confirmed in an interview with NME that the band had been working on new material with producer Rick Rubin in Costa Rica. The collaboration was first mentioned by the studio wizard during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2022.
Hammond Jr. said: “I think he was just so excited about where we recorded.
“But I don’t know what to say about it - I don’t have any information on it. It’s not like it’s happening and I’m hiding something. We went and did a bunch of recording. It could come out a year or two years from now - it’s an unknown amount of time when it’ll be finished but, yes, we are working on another record.”
Frontman Julian Casablancas also addressed the rumours in a post on his own Instagram, saying the band was indeed working together again, but very far from releasing new material.
While the band members have stayed relatively quiet about the progress of the new album, the announcement of new live dates after a long period of inactivity has reignited fans’ hopes.
