By Samuel Rubenfeld

The lights went out; the band started playing, and the fans forgot to care.

A travesty, no doubt, but this was the reception The Eagles of Death Metal received opening for The Strokes at Hammerstein Ballroom on March 3.

A hooky garage pop act with a love for the swagger of 50’s rockabilly, the band was good at recreating the sound found on their album Peace Love Death Metal.

They also added some more solos and lead breaks to make them more interesting. Yet the fans would have none of it. In between songs, lead singer Jesse Hughes shouted, “Let’s hear it for rock!” but got nothing more than a smattering of sarcastic jeers from the crowd.

After a grueling 40-minute intermission, The Strokes took to the stage. This time, the crowd was fully into it.

The set was blistering; featuring an array of the band’s music from their first album Is This It to the new release First Impressions of Earth.

The highlights of the set included the eruption of noise that complimented “Ize of the World” and the somber “Ask Me Anything.”

On the latter, Julian Casablancas sang accompanied only by rhythm guitarist Albert Hammond on keyboard. The band also played many tracks off their previous albums with a cleaner sound than on their records.

Tracks like “Hard to Explain” and “Last Nite” had a resonance the band has never achieved. Rather than sounding muddled, the music was refreshing and still kept the integrity of the original.

At the end of the show the band performed a three-song encore. These songs were even more powerful than the entire main set.