"This isn't right," says a gig-goer standing by a swing door. Sadly, it is. The route to Glasgow's second arena heads through a car park and a multi-tiered mall, before looping round a festive fairground and depositing a mixed bag of Strokes fans in a large ice rink that serves, on occasion, as a live music venue.

It's all a little weird, something support act British Sea Power seem to have anticipated nicely by appearing onstage with a man in a bear suit. The Strokes don't arrive till after 10pm, which makes you wonder whether they're lost in a Spinal Tap-esque mess of backstage tunnels.

In fact, a late arrival and short set is a sensible move from a band who have only two short albums under their belt. 2001's Is This It came in at 36 minutes; this year's Room on Fire - received well by the critics and rather quietly by the public - is even shorter.

They start slowly, Julian Casablancas's voice straining slightly on Take It Or Leave It and Under Control. It's curiously unengaging: the Strokes' tone of passionate disinterest works wonderfully on record but can leave you a little cold live. Rather against the prevailing mood, a crush barrier at the front of the stage gives way. "They're saying people are going to get hurt or some shit," mumbles Casablancas, clearly uncomfortable making something as uncool as a public service announcement.

It does pick up. Recent single 12:51 is fresh and sleek, Last Nite features a scalpel-sharp guitar solo from Albert Hammond Jr, and Hard to Explain rests a rush of hooks and licks on a bed of bass. When they click, the Strokes are hugely exhilarating. It's just that, with their second album, they seem to have lost some of their urgency but little of their slightness.

Life is hard when you're no longer flavour of the month, and the Strokes have some work to do.

· At Cardiff International Arena tonight. Box office: 029-2022 4488. Then touring.