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Cred"You work for a record label? We all work for a record label! You work for SPIN magazine? We all work for SPIN magazine? You live in New York City? We all live in New York City!" And thank god for that. Jack White and his big sister Meg visited New York and played Irving Plaza last night, June 19th at approximately 10:50. There was electricity in the air. Candy canes for sale. Immaculately dressed stagehands in black pants, black t-shirts, and black fedora hats with red feathers. A
theaterical opener set the stage as the room buzzed with fans, press, music industry buffs, and random celebrities all straining and fidgeting waiting for the main act to hit the stage. Whispers of which songs would be played, how many copies of the new album people had bought, stories of past
White Stripes shows were tossed around as the excitement grew with each passing minute. And then, the entrance- and all was forgotten. Transported immediately to another time and another place, you are exactly where Jack and Meg want you to be, their captives completely, for as long as they desire to play. It was as if you silently said to yourself, 'ah yes...now i remember what this rock n' roll gig is like." Yes-yes, you've fallen in love with
Cold War Kids,
David Vandervelde,
Grizzly Bear and numerous others who have come crawling out of the nooks and cranies of America to represent and test the rock n' roll stage, checking to see if the masses are still interested. And we took the bait, turning out to shows and purchasing albums...enjoying our experience along the way-but it is because of the
White Stripes that we stuck it out. Knowing they were still out there. Immediately you respond. You don't know which one to watch- Meg who seems to have grown into her Nashville living-beating her drums with more salt and spirited will than ever before. Or Jack, pacing around the stage as if trapped within an imaginary laso that brings him front and center where he would stop and concentrate on the guitar-staring down the audience as to say, you want to test me? You want to see what i can do?
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CredIcky Thump hit record stores yesterday and live the new material sounds even better. Stripped down versions of 'A Martyr For My Love For You' slowed the lyrics- strangled with the pain of Jack's voice. Slices of 'Rag and Bone' clipped the audience on the chin and stirred the dancing back up into true form. Teasings of 'Little Cream Soda' and flat out debuts of 'Icky Thump' and 'I'm Slowly Turning Into You' sounded so classically positioned and delivered that you hardly remembered that you these songs are still new to you. It was beautiful, it was heartbreaking, it was passionate, it was everything you had been missing. It was The White Stripes. And you loved every single second.
John Peel Session-Astro_Jack The Ripper.mp3John Peel Session-Boll Weevil.mp3*
A Vegan From Brooklyn was there*
ProductShop also enjoyed the scene*
The Modern Age rocked itself silly*
Special Edition Tour Poster*
Stereogum thoughtfully fills us in on other Jack White stories:
"Today I had coffee at the base of Empire State Building. And then I had a latte at Ellis Island. And then I had a cappuccino at the top of some nice, shiny building, I think it was the Chrysler Building. And then I had a funnel cake at Battery Park. And then I had a cigarette on the Staten Island Ferry. I didn't smoke it, I just held it. And then I rode across Central Park. I wrote a song, but I forgot it by the time I got to the other side."
"Anyone here from Yonkers?" (Mix of cheers, boos, laughs) "That's a strange reaction to a question ... I had a friend when I was 12, we went camping and he caught a squirrel with his barehands in the broad day light. We sat in the tent, it was a lot like prison, just talking, and he started telling me stories. Like about his favorite types of lawnmowers, gas vs. electric, about how his parents let his sister take swimming lessons, but he wasn't allowed to take lessons to learn how to operate farm equipment. Which was weird 'cause we lived in southwest Detroit, not like there's much use for farm equipment. It was then that I realized he had brought that squirrel in, that he had captured and killed." (Audience responds) "Yeah, tough question ... you don't know if you should be sad or what. To this day, I don't know how I'd react."
*A bit o history behind the track, 'Black Jack Davey':
"The band also plays many covers of Bob Dylan songs, including "One More Cup of Coffee", "Isis", "Love Sick" and "Outlaw Blues". "Black Jack Davey" was also recorded and released as a B-side; the song is traditional, but has been made popular on Bob Dylan's Good as I've Been to You. Jack White said that Dylan covers are usually suggested by Meg, who is a huge Dylan fan. Jack White also performed "Ball and Biscuit" as an encore with Dylan on March 17, 2004 at Detroit's State Theatre."
-Thank you dearest Bob-O!
