Tomorrow night, The Strokes walk back into Studio 8H. On Saturday, November 7, they are the musical guest on Saturday Night Live — their fifth time in that slot — hosted by content creator Druski. The show airs at 11:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 p.m. CT / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC, simulcast on Peacock.
A world-touring band has about three days to shrink a stadium show into two songs on a television stage, with no second take.
Five visits, twenty-four years
Their first appearance was January 19, 2002 — “Last Nite” and “Hard to Explain,” months after Is This It. They came back in January 2006 (“Juicebox,” “You Only Live Once”), in March 2011 (“Under the Cover of Darkness,” “Life Is Simple in the Moonlight”), and most recently on Halloween night 2020, alongside host John Mulaney, playing “The Adults Are Talking” and “Bad Decisions” from The New Abnormal — the album that won the Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2021.
What we know, and what we don’t
What we know: the date, the host, the slot, and the band — Julian Casablancas on vocals, Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi on guitars, Nikolai Fraiture on bass, Fabrizio Moretti on drums — touring behind their seventh studio album, Reality Awaits, released in July 2026.
What we don’t know: the two songs — not announced as of Friday. The reasonable expectation, and only an expectation, is that both come from Reality Awaits, the record the tour is built around. We will update this post once the songs are confirmed.
How an SNL week actually works
A musical guest’s SNL week runs roughly like this: the band arrives midweek and works the two songs with the show’s audio crew in Studio 8H, the show’s home since 1975. Arrangements get rebuilt for television — arena levels rebalanced for a broadcast mix, stadium guitar tones tamed for a small room — and the band blocks where each member stands so the cameras can find them. Then a dress rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, then the real thing at 11:30. Two songs, two chances, no overdubs.
For The Strokes, that compression is the whole challenge: five people playing loud and tight together, with nowhere to hide a missed cue on live television.
The rig to listen for
The Strokes’ twin-guitar sound is one of the most documented rigs in rock — and the SNL stage is a good place to hear how little of it they need.
Nick Valensi’s lead guitar is a 1995 Epiphone Riviera he got from Hammond Jr. when the band formed in 1999 — a guitar he has called “the best guitar Gibson never made.” He swapped the humbuckers for two P-94 pickups; that bright, cutting bite became his lead tone and the basis for Epiphone’s Nick Valensi Signature Riviera. Grade: Confirmed — Valensi on record.
Albert Hammond Jr. plays a 1985 reissue of a ’70s Fender Stratocaster, bought around the same time because, as he put it, he “looked cool wearing it.” He has rarely played anything else since; Fender now makes an Olympic White signature version with his custom switching. Grade: Confirmed — Hammond Jr. on record.
The amps are where it gets interesting. Through the early 2000s both guitarists ran near-identical Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12s. On the band’s last SNL appearance, in 2020, Valensi was reported running a Roland JC-120 with a Magnatone Stereo Twilighter — a cleaner setup that suits a television mix. Hammond Jr. runs a Blackstar Artist 30 and added a Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb around 2019. Grade: Reported — from Mixdown’s gear rundown, not confirmed for this week’s show. What they plug in tomorrow night, we find out when the cameras roll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBYu8v5xtWI
The Strokes, “The Adults Are Talking,” SNL, October 31, 2020.
The rehearsal-budget version
If you want the Strokes sound in a practice room, the formula is forgiving: a Strat-style guitar — or a semi-hollow like the Riviera — a small clean amp and a good overdrive pedal. The early records were cut with two Hot Rod DeVilles and a Jekyll & Hyde overdrive; a used DeVille gets you most of the way there. The expensive part of the Strokes sound was never the gear. It was five people rehearsing until the spaces between the notes were as tight as the notes.
Where to see them next
Friday, November 20, 2026 — Lima, Peru, Estadio San Marcos (with Future Islands)
Sunday, November 22, 2026 — Corona Capital, Mexico City, Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃguez
Tuesday, November 24, 2026 — Quito, Ecuador, Estadio OlÃmpico Atahualpa (with Future Islands)
Friday, February 20, 2027 — Sydney, Australia, Centennial Park
After SNL, the band heads south for the South American leg of the Reality Awaits tour, then Australia in February 2027 — carrying the setlist they rehearsed for Studio 8H into the next leg.