THE WHITE STRIPES
London Kentish Town Forum 6th December 2001
Hype does tend to put people off bands before they've given them a chance, and this was the case with the White Stripes and me. Until one day I was in a record shop which was playing 'I'm finding it hard to be a gentleman' and I bought the album on the strength of that. 'White Blood Cells' turned out to be pretty good, though I didn't consider it "the best thing since punk" (or whatever the papers were saying), and besides I later discovered that the earlier, critically-ignored album 'De Stijl' was more impressive.
So roll on the White Stripes live show, and an experience I can count myself lucky to be attending as it sold out months ago and I only got a ticket from a workmate a few hours before it started!
Just as expected, the White Stripes live are even rawer than on record. The unembellished brother-sister duo of Jack (gtr/ vocals/ keys) and Meg (drums) appear in their typical red and white clothes and launch into a manic 'Fell In Love With a Girl'. The problem with hype is that you don't want to believe it, and for the first fifteen minutes or so I'm sceptical. They play a lot of 'White Blood Cells' and it sounds like a garage band falling over, rougher than the recordings but not necessarily better.
They shift away from their own stuff to cover Dolly Parton's 'Jolene', and while it isn't as good as either the original or the Sisters of Mercy version (!), it gives the performance the kick up the arse it needed. Then they play 'Death Letter' which is a colossal garage-blues tune which makes me realise what the fuss is about. The interplay between Jack and Meg is extraordinary and it's hard to believe there are just two people on stage. It's a great from here on, and I'll even forgive their slightly shabby cover of Bob Dylan's 'Isis'. 'The Union Forever', 'You're Pretty Good Looking', the theatrical 'I Think I Smell a Rat' and recent B-side 'Rated X' are some of the many highlights, and they even find time amongst the mayhem for the odd touch of Beatles style whimsy like 'We are going to be friends'.
They're not great all the time, but they have some fantastic songs and Jack White is one of the best guitarists I've seen in years. At worst they're the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, at best they're a mix of the Beatles White Album, Captain Beefheart's Safe as Milk, Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin's debut. Anyone unimpressed by the records should get to see them live before you write them off. They are too in love with rock's past to really stake a claim to be the future of the rock n roll, but in places at least they are fucking fantastic.
