(not) Hard to Explain
The Strokes' global comeback features first Houston stop in a decade
![Austin City Limits Festival ACL 2015 Weekend One Day Three The Strokes](https://houston.culturemap.com/media-library/austin-city-limits-festival-acl-2015-weekend-one-day-three-the-strokes.jpg?id=31502960&width=2000&height=1500&quality=65&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Indie rock kings The Strokes will make their triumphant return to Texas in May. The band will perform at Austin's Germania Insurance Amphitheater on May 9 and at Sugar Land's Smart Financial Centre on May 12. Tickets for both shows go on sale at 10 am on Friday, March 13.
By any measure, it has been some time since Texans have seen The Strokes. The NYC-based band headlined the Austin City Limits festival in 2015, but their last Houston performance appears to have taken place in 2006 as part of the First Impressions on Earth tour.
This new tour is part of a self-described "global comeback" for The Strokes. They'll release The New Abnormal, their first studio album in seven years, on April 10.
At the beginning of this century, The Strokes defined the quintessential American rock band. Is This It, their 2001 debut, paved the way forward for rock music after grunge had run its course and spawned a host of similar-sounding acts. The album earned wide acclaim, including being named one of the top albums of the '00s by Rolling Stone.
"Someday[s]" it can be "Hard to Explain" what makes songs like "12:51" and "Juicebox" so memorable, but for people of a certain age, something about The Strokes' sound just defines "The Modern Age."