The Strokes Play New Single "Lonely In The Future" Live in Full for the First Time in Tokyo

The Strokes headlined the first night of Summer Sonic Tokyo on Friday, August 14, at ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba, playing an 18-song set that opened with "Lonely In The Future," a track from their new album Reality Awaits. According to NME, it was the first time the band has performed the finished studio version of the song live in full — previously they'd only worked a shortened, improvised version into sets, including at Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival in South Korea in August 2023.

Full Summer Sonic Tokyo Setlist

1. "Lonely In The Future"
2. "Hard To Explain"
3. "Going Shopping"
4. "Juicebox"
5. "Someday"
6. "Dine N'Dash"
7. "Take It Or Leave It"
8. "Life Is Simple In The Moonlight"
9. "Reptilia"
10. "Threat Of Joy"
11. "Bad Decisions"
12. "Last Nite"
13. "One Way Trigger"
14. "What Ever Happened?"
15. "The Adults Are Talking"

Encore:

1. "You Only Live Once"
2. "Soma"
3. "Ode To The Mets"

Only three songs came from Reality Awaits — "Lonely In The Future," "Going Shopping," and "Dine N'Dash" — with the rest of the set drawing heavily on older material like "Reptilia," "Last Nite," and "Someday."

The New Album and Where the Tour Goes Next

"Lonely In The Future" is track three on Reality Awaits, the band's first new album in six years, following 2020's The New Abnormal. It came out last month, and NME gave it four stars, writing that a quarter-century into their career the band sounds "more alive."

At Outside Lands last weekend, Charli XCX made a surprise appearance to sing "Take It Or Leave It" with the band; her album Music, Fashion, Film was released the same day as Reality Awaits, and Julian Casablancas introduced her onstage as "the queen of album sales."

The band follows Tokyo with the Summer Sonic Osaka show on August 15, then continues the Reality Awaits world tour, arriving in the UK in October for two shows at The O2 in London plus dates in Newcastle and Manchester.