[Trash-talk] concert review: White Stripes in Chicago (!) -NGR

[Alan Hoppe]

Pongo!

I'm glad you got to see the White Stripes! I always wondered if you had, or
what you'd think of them. I saw them in Mesa last summer, when they played
with Garbage and Abandoned Pools. Then just two weeks after returning from
that set of Garbage shows, I got to see them again - at the Moore where
Garbage had played. They were amazing both times, but it was especially
great to see them do a full set - the Mesa set was shorter.

I do have to disagree about the band's stage presence - that concert
experience was one of those rare treats for me. I don't get let out of the
asylum all that often to witness bands, and so often it's stuff that falls
into more polished stage personas and big explosions and face makeup and
props. But not so with the Stripes. They were bare-bones and they were just
casual. You kind of nailed it when you compared the experience to watching a
band perform in its garage. I like that, though.

But what really got me amped was that Jack was such a classic showman. He
can pull off an entire gig with just himself, his guitar, his keyboard, some
pedals, and I don't mean to leave Meg out of the loop. The two of them I
found really fun to watch. They have a perfect chemistry that cannot be
duplicated by some bigwig executive types who want to manufacture a pop
band.

His guitar playing was blisteringly showman-ey just in his ease with the
instrument and I felt like I was watching someone who does a lot of
woodshedding .. just playing for hours and hours. It was a breath of fresh
air to see them.

And the grrls around me were going nuts over Jack. He has a lot of songs
that he sings where it's that old-fashioned storytelling, bluesy stuff and
rocky stuff, and the auditorium was filled with shrieky Jack-mania
throughout the gig.

I was in the balcony - front row center - for the Moore show, and so I was
having an awesome view of the whole show, but not up close like I'd been in
Mesa. It didn't seem to really matter. It was (as the old saying goes) all
about the music, but the presence onstage was pretty powerful, at least to
me.

I'd love to see them again. I'm a little rusty on the band, actually - I
haven't even heard their new CD! I've just seen the video for their first
single. What a great video! And yes, they always dress in white and red.

The band also has an immense following of fanatical tape traders. There's an
FTP out there. The band draws from a huge catalog of songs they do, tons of
covers from what I can tell, and so their tours are a dream-come-true for a
fanatical tape trader. And their official site has a link to an e-mail
message group that's pretty straight-up and non-BS. If you post a question
about equipment, someone will chime in with some detailed info.

The other cool thing in that concert experience at the Moore was, I got to
actually meet them both briefly as they left the venue afterwards, and there
were only about fifteen of us still hanging around. I'm not counting the
other five there - they were Seattle autograph hounds who just so happened
to be the very same idiots who were at the Garbage gig. I stood close enough
to them to listen to their conversation, and it was sad and pathetic to hear
people take a concert adventure and, for them, have it just be about getting
some autographs with blue sharpies so they can go post them on eBay and make
some cash. They were at least not so in-your-face with the Stripes like they
were with Shirley. And I thought I'd just get an autograph from Meg, but
then a fan next to me said "didn't you want your picture with her too? you
were talking about that before" and so I got a photo with Meg and was
overwhelmed with the sort of tinglies you would expect <3 .. She was really
quiet but easy-going, and Jack was funny because he seemed aware that the
autograph hounds were just that, so although he signed stuff for them, I
remember him quizzing one of the guys about something . .he asked this
question that a fan would know the answer to, and the guy just kinda winged
it. Jack had a smirk throughout the exchange. It was all kind of surreal.

Oh, one last thing - they didn't perform "Fell In Love With A Girl" either
time I saw them, I don't think.

xo........Alan

----- Original Message -----
From: "blisteringheat" <blisteringheat at earthlink.net>
To: <trash-talk at tcp.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2003 4:00 PM
Subject: [Trash-talk] concert review: White Stripes in Chicago (!) -NGR


> Got really lucky and found out a while ago that the Stripes would be in
> Chicago the same week as my wife and I. They played this amazing venue
> called the Aragon Ballroom. It used to be a ballroom (duh) dancing hall
> back in the day. This place is so gorgeous. Inside it resembles an old
> Spanish courtyard at night, and even has fake stars on the high black
> ceiling.
>
> Musically the show was beyond excellent. There is no denying the Stripes'
> talent. Jack's voice was a little trashed, but that only added depth to
the
> blues numbers and didn't really detract from any of the others. The
> highlights were definitely the handful of songs he played slide guitar on,
> plus "In the Cold, Cold Night" when Meg left her drums for a song and took
> the microphone up front. They did not play "Fell In Love With A Girl",
> which I thought was kind of cool. I like that song and had never heard it
> live, but I always admire bands that have the balls to not play their
> biggest hit. The show was only about an hour and a half long, however, so
> they PROBABLY could have squeezed it in.  ;)  Maybe they did the night
> before?
>
> My one minor "complaint" is that Jack doesn't have great stage presence.
> It's almost like he's embarrassed to be playing in front of so many
people.
> I couldn't help but think of stories I'd heard about the early Doors where
> Morrison wouldn't face the audience. This wasn't nearly that extreme, but
> Jack made hardly any attempts to include the audience in the show. It was
> kind of like watching them play in their garage, which is interesting for
a
> while but soon gets a bit old. His main mic was set up about six feet from
> the edge of the stage, meaning about twelve feet from the crowd. When he
> would leave the mic to play guitar, he always went towards the back of the
> stage or to Meg, never up closer. And his hair constantly covered the
upper
> part of his face, resembling a shaggy dog, so you couldn't even tell where
> he was looking. There was one song towards the end where his hair parted a
> little and you could actually see his face for a moment. Quickly, he put
> his head down and shook his hair which put an end to that. Really the
> Stripes would be an amazing band to see at a small blues club while
smoking
> a cigar and sipping on a vodka martini. As for larger venues, however,
they
> still seem a bit uncomfortable.
>
> Oh, for you fashion freaks (Alan!): Jack was wearing black and red pants
> (w/o underwear, girls), a black shirt, and red shoes; Meg was in black
> pants, a white shirt, and black shoes.
>
> After the show we headed to Kingston Mines for some kick ass blues. You
> have to love any club that is more crowded at 2:30 than at 12:00!
>
> Later!
>
> pongo