{"id":485710,"date":"2026-05-15T08:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/485710\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T08:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:47:10","slug":"the-strokes-guitarist-nick-valensi-to-take-temporary-break-from-bands-2026-world-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/485710\/","title":{"rendered":"The Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi to take “temporary break” from band’s 2026 world tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Strokes<\/a>\u00a0have announced that guitarist Nick Valensi will be taking a \u201ctemporary break\u201d from the band\u2019s upcoming world tour.<\/p>\n

The New York indie greats are releasing their seventh studio album \u2018Reality Awaits<\/a>\u2019 on June 26 via Cult Records\/RCA (pre-order here<\/a>), and last month\u00a0they announced details of a tour that will take in dates in the UK, Europe, North\u00a0America\u00a0and Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yesterday (May 14), the band posted on their Instagram Stories to confirm that \u201cNick will be taking a temporary break from the scheduled tour, but we look forward to his return\u201d.<\/p>\n

They did not give a reason for his absence, but they did add that \u201cholding down the guitar in the meantime is our old friend Steve Schiltz, who many of you will remember from the early NY days\u201d.<\/p>\n

Schiltz was a close associate of The Strokes in the early 2000s and became the founder of the band Longwave, remembered for their early albums \u2018Endsongs\u2019 (2000) and \u2018The Strangest Things\u2019 (2003).<\/p>\n

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The Strokes\u2019 tour kicks off with their set at Bonnaroo on June 2, before taking them around the US\u00a0from June to September. Their European dates begin with a huge show at London\u2019s O2 on October 6, while they will also be playing in Newcastle,\u00a0Manchester\u00a0and Dublin later that month. It will be the band\u2019s first full\u00a0tour on British shores in 20 years.<\/p>\n

Find any remaining UK and European tickets\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and North American tickets\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The band\u00a0have\u00a0released two\u00a0tracks\u00a0from \u2018Reality Awaits\u2019 so far \u2013 the chic lead single \u2018Going Shopping<\/a>\u2019 and the slow-burning \u2018Falling Out\u00a0Of\u00a0Love<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

NME\u00a0gave\u00a0\u2018Going Shopping\u2019 a three-star review<\/a>\u00a0and described it as a song that \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel bold\u201d but also \u201cdoes avoid playing anything safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t definitively place its sound on any of The Strokes\u2019 previous six albums, but the lack of spirit and tenacity \u2013 save for a guitar solo at the end \u2013 is noticeable,\u201d the review read. \u201c\u2018If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0better than me you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have to judge me\u2019,\u00a0signs off Casablancas, with an imaginary raised eyebrow. But\u00a0perhaps even\u00a0he would admit that The Strokes are better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

They used their second Coachella set\u00a0to share a\u00a0politically-charged\u00a0montage calling out the CIA and the US government<\/a>, drawing attention to universities being destroyed in Iran and accusations involving the death of Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n