El Paso Is a City of Secret Rockers, and The Strokes Know It

The Strokes are coming to El Paso on October 1, and honestly? It just makes sense. We’re not one of ten cities getting a tour stop. We’re one of two. That’s it. The other city is Vegas. And somehow, we made the cut.

For anyone wondering how that happened, it’s probably because The Strokes know something that not everybody outside of El Paso does: this city is full of rockers. Even the quiet ones.

I didn’t grow up experiencing El Paso in the way most people here did. I moved back as an adult, thinking I knew what I’d find. But living here for the last two years has been like uncovering a secret playlist baked into the Borderland’s soul. You start to notice it everywhere. The rhythms that shaped people. The baseline for everyone’s music taste isn’t just pop or hip-hop or reggaetón. It’s oldies. It’s Santana. It’s Sabbath. It’s Zeppelin. It’s that late-night drive soundtrack that plays just as loud in your uncle’s garage as it does in the back of your cousin’s slammed-out Monte Carlo.

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Even if folks don’t walk around in leather jackets or play in bands, they’ve lived through rock and roll. It shaped them. It’s part of the reason El Paso’s creative spirit burns the way it does. There’s grit here. There’s rebellion here. There’s style, and swagger, and heartbreak. Rock music has always spoken that language.

So when The Strokes announced they were playing the Abraham Chavez Theatre, it didn’t feel random. It felt earned. El Paso may not brag about it, but we know who we are. We’re a city of poets, punks, and dreamers. We wear it low and loud, like a bassline vibrating through the desert.

Some cities chase cool. El Paso is cool. Quietly. Proudly. And with a record collection that can still melt your face off.