Fresh off their album sales battle — “She won. She won by a lot,” Julian Casablancas quipped — Friday night’s headliner at San Francisco fest makes surprise appearance during band’s Saturday set
The Strokes brought out surprise guest Charli XCX to perform “Take It or Leave It” during the band’s headlining set Saturday at the Outside Lands festival.
“We got a special little guest. A big guest. A superstar,” Julian Casablancas told the crowd before alluding to the fact that both artists released new albums — the Strokes’ Reality Awaits, Charli’s Music, Fashion, Film — on the same day in July.
“We had a great battle. Congratulations, you defeated us in the album sales. You’re new queen of everything, Charli XCX.” The group and the singer — who headlined the previous night at the San Francisco fest — then launched into the Is This It? closer:
“Charli motherfucking XCX,” Casablancas said after the surprise performance, circling back to their sales battle. “Yep, she won. She won by a lot.”
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Casablancas and Charli XCX previously collaborated when he joined her on a reworking of “Mean Girls” for her remix album Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat.
Charli is next scheduled to headline the U.K.’s Reading and Leeds festivals, while the Strokes will jet off to Japan next weekend for the Summer Sonic festivals in Tokyo and Osaka.
