Had Madonna not brought her troupe to town two weeks ago, the Strokes would have scooped the prize for this month’s most eagerly anticipated gig. So desperate were fans to see the New York nu-wavers in an intimate setting that many queued through the night in freezing conditions to get one of a few hundred tickets up for grabs.

Was it worth the fuss? Not for the first 40 minutes, when the Strokes missed their strict start time and the PA played Prince and Madness’s It Must Be Love on a loop. After the third hearing, even the keen, kohl-eyed Debbie Harry lookalikes and teenage boys in too-tight trousers who made up the paying part of the crowd could scarcely stifle their boredom. Then, suddenly, the Strokes strode on, exuding an effortless cool that only the pretty, rich and in-demand can command, and burst into the noisy new single Juicebox. Instantly, fans were jumping up and down, punching the air and, notably for a song yet to go on sale, singing along to every line. Superb.

Thirty seconds into the second song Red Light, however — another number from the band’s forthcoming third album, First Impressions of Earth — the excitement evaporated. Worse, the folk-tinged track had less impact than the sound of stunned silence from the crowd. If this was the Strokes Mk II, no one was biting. The pace picked up with the stomping, Stooges-like Heart in a Cage, but then came two plodding songs, On the Outside and Vision of Division, which suggested that the Strokes have run out of memorable melodies.

The new songs kept coming and continued to disappoint. Evening Sun sounded liked Franz Ferdinand on tranquillisers, Razorblade had a chorus uncomfortably close to Barry Manilow’s Mandy, and Electricityscape trotted along where it should have exploded. The singer Julian Casablancas didn’t help. In a tight-fitting blazer and cravat, with shaggy hair falling over his shades, he may have looked cool, but his slurred delivery and refusal to move more than an inch from his mike meant that he wasn’t much fun to watch.

Finally the show sprung to life when Casablancas asked for requests and the band proceeded to play eight old songs, including Last Night, a fabulous New York City Cops and an awesome Reptilia. This was the Strokes as we love them — fast, furious and incredibly sexy. Their new songs may just take some getting used to, but you couldn’t help wondering if an Oasis-like third-album syndrome has stuck them.