If there’s a useful takeaway from The Strokes’ recent set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival for independent artists like us, it’s not just that the closing portion of the set's projections were political — Julian Casablancas has a well-established track record of left-wing political activism going back 20 years — it’s how well it worked as a live moment.
And it made me think about a larger, more practical point: It’s okay to use the stage to say something. Say anything, actually. There's an argument to be made that the live stage might in fact be one of the last effective places left to do so.
I love this. This conservative troll from The Wall Street Journal called The Strokes "political trolls," which is exactly how you know your message is working, as is the message delivery system.
It's not about convincing everyone to cross over to your side, it's about asking where you'd rather be when you're communicating your values to your audience: on stage entertaining and interacting with people directly, or sitting behind a laptop in your condo?
Even Bruce Springsteen had to come out recently and tell reporters about his upcoming string of dates, that:
"This tour is going to be political."
As if The Boss needed to warn us. It's like, bring it on, Bruce!
Coachella’s also got a pretty deep history of statement-making moments, not always political, but cultural and contextual. Beyoncé’s 2018 performance reframed the stage as a celebration of Black culture and history, Childish Gambino embedded themes of violence and identity into his 2019 set, and Rage Against the Machine have always used festival stages (including their reunion at Coachella) as explicitly political platforms.
None of these were accidents, and they are almost always designed for scale — performances built with the understanding that Coachella isn’t just a concert, it’s a broadcast moment.
+Read more: "How Festivals Act as Artist Development Accelerators"
The Real Lesson From The Strokes
The takeaway isn’t “be political for the sake of it.”
The Strokes spent a lot of time and effort in building a visual thesis that depicts decades and decades of American imperialism and war-mongering using state-sanctioned violence as a narrative backdrop.
The takeaway for me is that The Strokes clearly understood the broadcast opportunity of this moment, and leaned in to the fact that the stage is a space where one's voice is not filtered by any gatekeeping algorithm or third party. It's a direct megaphone that reaches the ears of your community, as well as those outside it.
Even your most dedicated listeners are often encountering your work in fragmented ways on streaming platforms, and freely. Live performance flips that dynamic; it's an environment that demands undivided attention for an hour of time.
That’s an incredibly rare amount of control to have over a moment nowadays.
Permission and Perspective
There’s often an unspoken pressure on independent artists to “just play the songs,” especially early on. Don’t alienate the room. Don’t say the wrong thing. Keep it safe.
But that instinct can also flatten what makes live music compelling.
Most live music fans, if you ask them whether they'd prefer that their favorite bands "just shut up and play the hits" or create a challenging creative performance that felt one-of-a-kind, would likely choose the latter. Live music is always a space that breeds connection, as even the most grandiose theaters provide the intimacy and proximity of a shared space between artist and audience. Censoring the potential topics of conversation in that room would be a waste.
Artists must always give themselves permission to use the stage in order to:
- Deepen connection. Fans remember how you made them feel, not just what you played.
- Differentiate your show. In a crowded live ecosystem, personality stands out.
- Signal identity. What you say (or don’t say) tells the audience who you are, whether you like it or now.
It doesn’t have to be heavy-handed. It can be brief, personal, even imperfect. That’s part of what makes it land.
Because we live and operate at a time when platforms are increasingly mediated by algorithms, AI, and content saturation, the live stage remains one of the only spaces left where you own the narrative, you control the message, and you can create a moment that doesn’t rely on anyone else’s system for delivery.
The Strokes 2026 Tour Dates
JUN 12 — Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 2026
JUN 15 — Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
JUN 17 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
JUN 19 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
JUN 21 — Toronto, ON @ RBC Amphitheatre
JUN 23 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
JUN 26 — Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at Highmark Mann
JUN 27 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
JUL 12 — Richmond, VA @ Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront
JUL 14 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
JUL 15 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
JUL 17 — Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Insurance Amphitheater
JUL 19 — Saint Paul, MN @ Minnesota Yacht Club Festival 2026
JUL 22 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
JUL 23 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
AUG 08 — San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands
AUG 22 — Pasadena, CA @ Just Like Heaven 2026
AUG 25 — Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater
AUG 27 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
AUG 28 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena Garage
SEP 12 — Tampa, FL @ Benchmark International Arena
SEP 13 — Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Hollywood, FL
SEP 17 — Charlotte, NC @ Truliant Amphitheater
SEP 18 — Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees 2026
SEP 20 — Asbury Park, NJ @ Sea.Hear.Now 2026
OCT 06 — London, United Kingdom @ The O2
OCT 07 — London, United Kingdom @ The O2
OCT 11 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
OCT 13 — Düsseldorf, Germany @ PSD BANK DOME
OCT 15 — Berlin, Germany @ Uber Arena
OCT 17 — Bologna, Italy @ Unipol Arena
OCT 20 — Barcelona, Spain @ Palau Sant Jordi
OCT 22 — Paris, France @ Accor Arena
OCT 25 — Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom @ Utilita Arena Newcastle
OCT 26 — Manchester, United Kingdom @ Co-op Live
OCT 28 — Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena
