Friday, August 19, 2005
Guitar. Bass. Drums. Verse. Chorus.Verse. Chorus. Bridge. Chorus and fade out. For many musical acts these are age old, no lose formats when it comes to creating music for the masses/ their fans who eat it up like kids at the candy shop following every release. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pop song, and will forever plant myself firmly behind the 'if ain't broke don't fix it' principle, but every now and then I want something different to tickle my fancy. I want an act that is willing to hark back to previous movements in music without sounding like they are merely getting their rehash on. I want to anxiously anticipate an artist's release and get a strange feeling that I am being dared to press play, caught in the complex situation of being completely knowledgable of what's coming next while at the same time not knowing what to expect. For me, The White Stripes are that band. And as was the case when I first unwrapped my freshly purchased copy of Get Behind Me Satan, I found myself, once again placed in that complex situation of both knowing and not knowing what was to come next.
After a brief and otherwise unforgettable set by opener M.Ward, [though his slow acoustic rendition of David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' introduced as an 'old English love song' hit all the right notes] The stage was set for the White Stripes, and by the looks of things it seemed as though this wasn't your 'too cool for school' hipster's White Stripes. Sure the stage was colored in red, black, and white, but something was noticeably different, mainly the various assortment of instruments strung across the wide stretch of the Greek's stage. A piano, banjoes, marimbas, a xylophone, and large congo drums were right at home with Meg's drum set and Jack's acoustic and dare I say it, "electrifying" electric guitar. No, this was not your simple Guitar and Percussion based White Stripes of yesteryear [though they too still exist in full form], no, these Stripes have expanded their musical pallete without losing sight of the complex simplicity that has taken them from the small occupancies of El Rey Theatres eveywhere to the 6,000 plus seating venue that is the Greek Theatre.
Opening with 'The Hardest Button to Button' from their Elephant album and ending with a soulful rendition of 'He's Lookin for a Home.' ["A song about a boy who robs homes"], the Stripes rocked and rolled their way through nearly 90 minutes of material for an eager and grateful crowd who refused to sit down, except during one song[a rarity in Los Angeles], the elegant and stirring piano ballad 'I'm Lonely, but I Ain't that Lonely Yet' which found Jack White alone at the piano with his voice and his thoughts.
For 'You've Got Her in Your Pocket' Jack found himself alone, this time with an acoustic guitar as Meg looked on, but for the most part Jack and his "big sister" Meg worked as a team, staring into each other's eyes, sharing vocal duites, as was the case with 'Little Ghost', giving it a cute Nursey Rhyme vibe. Lead vocal duties were even split between two microphones, one placed in the center of the stage and another placed directly in front of Meg's drum set, keeping the attention not just on Jack's guitar and/or piano and/or banjo and/or xylophone prowess, but also on Meg's wonderfully energetic and childlike drumming duties.
And for a moment or two the norm was broken as Meg stepped away from her drum set, took hold of the congos and sang the all too brief 'Passive Manipulation' from Get Behind Me Satan. It was here and during the xylophone and drums, Rugrats theme sounding 'The Nurse', as well as the Jackson 5 boogie groove of 'My Doorbell' that the Stripes moved you and grooved you, fucked you and schooled you; breaking the norm, expanding their pallete and daring you to listen. If ain't broke, don't fix it.
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