Return to Red

The White Stripes; Citizens' Band
@ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
New York, NY - June 19, 2007

Greatest Day Before My Birthday Present Ever, the most intimate New York White Stripes show since the Bowery Ballroom in 2002, five years in the making, Jack and Meg White return with Icky Thump and a sense of "back to basics" that every durable band goes through. Get Behind Me Satan indeed, the Stripes were in their early years red, the stage was bathed in red, there was very little white or black to be found, and only for this band could the aesthetic matter so much. It matters so much because it affects the intensity. The lavishness of GBMS went hand in hand with the bizarre and at times lounging sounds of that record but with this return to the original aesthetic, the Stripes unleashed a torrent, a fury, of hard blues and rock n roll. Even the rare ballad or shuffle-friendly ditty sounded full of tenacity.
Meg White has never been better at the drums, and while that doesn't mean she's doing more than she's ever done before, she's doing it with the most intensity she has ever had. Jack sang with his heart entirely in it, with no messing around, except for a few odd rambles about Spin Magazine, drinking a latte in different locations of New York, Yonkers, and an incident at a camp with a squirrel when he was a kid. But what's the brother supposed to do, he's Samoan somewhat insane.
The new songs, from what I could make out (I haven't listened to the album yet), are fine. Some sound a little uninspired but it's not even a detraction. The Stripes catalog was in full force, and the crowd loved every minute of it. Listening to the pre-show requests to stay calm, the crowd was as intense and excited a New York crowd I have seen that didn't go totally off their hinges. It may have just been my perception, but it seemed that the crowd elicited its biggest reactions to the 2 GBMS songs that were played...which is kind of disturbing. But nevertheless, the crowd was a wake-up call: the Stripes are big. Big big. And for all the notoriety of the online-centered community that follows the Stripes every step of the way, it is clear that there are thousands upon thousands of silent, unspoken mega fans who wait their turn till the band comes around again. This silent majority is the reason the Stripes have sneaked into the popular consciousness - as it can be defined for them in this kind of age. For such a fractured, diverse, society, for a rock n roll band to elicit this kind of intensity, this kind of loyalty, this kind of supremacy (and at the risk of hyperbole, yes "supremacy" is the right word), it is a testament to their craft, particularly to Jack who is writing songs and playing guitar at a rate and an accuracy that needs no sense of relative measurement, it is just monumentally on its own. But even more particularly to Meg, whose sole task is to make sure that Jack delivers the White Stripes to the people each time he decides to do so.

And yet I thought there were no words to describe it all.

Setlist (via Stereogum and Modern Age):
01 "When I Hear My Name"
02 "Dead Leaves"
03 "Icky Thump"
04 "Cannon"
05 "John The Revelator"
06 "My Doorbell"
07 "I’m Slowly Turning Into You"
08 "Jolene" (cut short)
09 "Hotel Yorba"
10 "I Think I Smell A Rat" (Jack teases "Misirlou")
11 "Effect And Cause"
12 "Apple Blossom"
13 "Same Boy You’ve Always Known"
14 "Catch Hell Blues"
15 "St. James Infirmary Blues"
16 "Cold, Cold Night"
17 "I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart"
18 "You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket"
19 "Astro"
20 "Union Forever" (lyric tease to "Little Cream Soda")
++ Jack's caffeinated NYC sightseeing day*
21 "Blackjack Davey"
22 "Black Math"
23 "Let's Build A Home"
----
23 "Blue Orchid"
++ Jack's squirrely standup#
24 "A Martyr For My Love For You"
25 "I Don't Know What To Do With Myself"
26 "Ball And A Biscuit"
27 "Bo Weevil"

Citizens' Band are an extremely large collective (I counted about 15 or 16 on stage at their peak) who blend Moulin Rouge, Cabaret, and Broadway into their theatrics. It may not be a rock n roll opener, but it certainly set the tone for the night, that this is New York and - as cliche as it is to say it is cliche - anything can happen. The fact that Jack's wife Karen Elson is a singer in this thing should be noted. The fact that she is a good singer should also be noted.
I doubt they will be opening for the Stripes elsewhere, which made it all the more special.

Photo from Danfun:


Photo from Galenh:


Photo from Brooklyn Vegan:


To give you some sense of what it was like, here is some of their performance from Bonnaroo on Sunday:

And here are the Conan performances from Monday: Icky and Effect