Paul McNamee considers the strange dynamic of The Strokes, while Dermot Gault reviews the first in a series of free BBC invitation concerts.

The Strokes, Ulster Hall, Belfast

Paul McNamee

The great fear with The Strokes was that they would never repeat the glorious success of début album Is This It - that they would become a footnote in rock's ranging history rather than one of the major players.

But they banished that idea in the Ulster Hall. Here, they started the European leg of their Room On Fire tour and instantly reminded us why, when they emerged fully formed in 2001 the New York five-piece were the coolest, most exciting, proper rock 'n' roll band in a generation.

They strode onto the stage like men with important work to do. The Strokes have a reputation for aiming for perfection in rehearsals and an attention to detail that puts most others to shame. It showed immediately. Show opener and future single Reptilia was the money. It had the right balance of Strokes sneer and East Coast insouciance with which they made their name.

Though they worked through most of the new album, it was still the older tracks that had the most purchase. Last Nite is a classic that would be difficult to better and show-closer Take It Or Leave lifted the roof.

The pace was relentless. While parallels have been drawn between The Strokes and the art-rock of Television, they are closer to that other great New York band of brothers, The Ramones.

Like The Ramones, The Strokes are an impenetrable unit - it's one for all and all for one. But within that unit, there's a strange dynamic.

On one side of the stage were Albert and Fab, guitarist and drummer, both ferociously cool, both smoking throughout the gig and both a crash of fantastic big hair and smiles. On the other side, there were the two Nicks, on bass and lead guitar, stiff and unsmiling, leaving all the charisma to the hair twins, but absolutely essential to the Strokes engine.

And in the middle was Julian, the frontman and songwriter, looking troubled and perplexed, singing wonderfully-crafted but simple songs about alienation and sexual ambivalence. Between tracks, he heaved huge sighs and propped himself up against the drum riser, his back to the crowd. He looked like a beaten man rather than one heading out on a sold-out tour. It didn't sound like the brew for a great show, but it was utterly captivating.

This year, if you catch only one achingly hip, New York five-piece with a debt to The Ramones who could reasonably claim to be the greatest band in the world, make sure it's The Strokes.

London Winds, Elmwood Hall, Belfast

Dermot Gault

Beethoven - Duet for Clarinet and Bassoon No 1 in C. Clarinet Trio in B flat Op 11. Quintet for Piano and Wind Op 16

This concert was the first in a series of free BBC Invitation Concerts, devoted to Beethoven, which complements the Ulster Orchestra's current Beethoven symphony cycle. The Elmwood Hall made an agreeably intimate venue and the works chosen reminded us how much fine music Beethoven wrote in his early years in Vienna, when he was establishing himself as a piano virtuoso and simultaneously infusing a new boldness and vitality into the classical style.

A strong personality is evident even in the wind duet which apparently dates from his teenage years in Bonn. The positive, full-toned playing of Michael Collins, clarinet, familiar to audiences here from previous visits, and Robin O'Neill, bassoon, made a good case for the work.

The Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, where Michael Collins was joined by Thomas Carroll, cello, and Finghin Collins, piano, is nevertheless a richer and more distinctive piece, and the opening chromatically-inflected theme is an instantly memorable idea. Here too the playing was spontaneous, in places even impetuous, and well characterised, the players relishing the dramatically contrasted variations of the final movement.

The Quintet for piano and wind is not such an individual piece, despite the wealth of sonority provided by the scoring, but its slow movement included expressive solos for Marios Argiros, oboe, and Richard Watkins, horn.

The playing was excellent both individually and collectively, but special credit has to be given to Finghin Collins for integrating the virtuoso piano part, evidently written for Beethoven himself to play, with the ensemble.