One cool thing about the Strokes' current tour promoting their upcoming album Reality Awaits: the opening act is Hamilton Leithauser, former frontman for their fellow New York rock revival heroes the Walkmen. Tuesday at Boston's TD Garden, they welcomed Leithauser to the stage for a spin through a Walkmen classic.
The song in question was "Heaven," the title track from the group's 2012 swan song. (Real Walkmen and Stereogum heads will remember the epic profile we published about the end of the band the following year.) I would have expected them to pull out "The Rat" or some other early Walkmen jam from the era when the bands were ruling the same Lower Manhattan streets. But despite its later vintage, "Heaven" is one of the Strokes-ier songs from the Walkmen catalog, and seeing him sing it in Julian Casablancas' stead makes all kinds of sense.
Watch the performance below.
I'm still upset I missed the Walkmen's reunion tour.
