Whether you like is music or not, you have to admit Jack White is a musician. The show he put on in Deer Lake Park showed not only musicianship, but how true artists are. A little bit unusual, a little bit obsessive compulsive about their art form and dedicated to their craft. He was an artist always on the periphery for me until I saw It Might Get Loud. The documentary showcased that he is a true musician, a student of music and no matter what your opinion of the music he puts out, he has studied the history and craft of the guitar. He can sit across from two masters, The Edge and Jimmy Page, and be seen as an equal.The songs in the set were interesting choices and admittedly, I didn't know a few of them. I was somewhat disappointed not to get to hear 'Love Interrupted' or 'I'm Shakin'', but I blame the rules of Deer Lake Park, situated solidly in the 'no fun' Vancouver area where a curfew limited the length of the show. I can't see White sacrificing his vision of his artistry for time. He knows what he wants and if it coincides with what the crowd wants, so be it. If not, I don't think he's too worried about it. So cutting the 'hits' probably didn't bother him all that much.
For the first time at a show I've been to, before the headliner came out the crowd was instructed to not take photos. He explained the show "spans the 40 feet in front of you" and seeing it through a 3 and a half inch screen will not give you the whole experience. Fans were directed to the web site where their professional photographer would be posting photos after the show for free. I have to say I liked this and while they didn't stop people from taking their own photos, (I took a few as well) it did allow the crowd to invest in the show and not the little buttons and glowing screens in front of them.
Like many greats, White had very little to actually say to the crowd. He wasn't rude, but said more with music than anything else. His best line of the night came at the end, "You've been great and I've been Jack White". Indeed he was.
The opener, Curtis Harding, said that White should be bedridden with a badly sprained ankle. When I first heard that he was advised to cancel this set of shows because of the ankle I had visions of B.B. King playing on a stool for a crowd, or even Clapton or the Eagles who tend to sit a little bit. I rather would have had that than a cancellation. Also, part of me wasn't to sympathetic. Having had messed up appendages before and played sports, how hard can it be to sing and play the guitar?
However, after seeing the performance and the unrelenting way that he presents himself, I can see how White would rather cancel then attempt to half-ass his way though a gig. From the moment he walked out casually and started to play he covered all of the stage, climbing on speakers and amps to get to members of his band. He showed little sign of his injury and in the first half of the show wore dress shoes with a heel that could only have made the alleged sprain worse. The only time he stopped was when he sat briefly at the piano. However, after a short break when he took the stage again, from our angle at the front he was lit as he re-entered, visibly limping badly and without shoes at all. In the professional photos, the bruising and swelling along his heel can be seen as he sports one skinny, bony foot and one in a brace and tensor bandage. Lumpy, swollen and bruised. Immediately the basketball player in me empathized with him and was impressed with the lack of care he seemed to give the injury. He sat quickly 2 or 3 times in the encore half, once to adjust the slipping tensor. The man is a warrior.
The musicians he performed with had an interesting vibe from the stage. The drummer in particular seemed to be friendly with White but when the band bowed at the end, the band grouped three on one side with arms around each other and then two on the other in a hug with White in the middle. There is a physical space there. One would think that they would jump to get an arm around him with the ankle injury but they left him on his own. Read into it what you will.
The show is a show, from end to end, everything was showered in blue and white light. Every detail was attended to from the blue hue of the drum heads to the silver dipped string bass and violin. There was a screen buzzing to sound waves, round lights that look like they were re-used from a show from my past, a funky sound bender that was played by the band master and white covers for the monitors. Roadies didn't dress in black jeans and t shirts but suits and jazz hats, complete with ties. I mistakenly pegged them as musicians waiting in the wings before the show but I was incorrect. They were testing, tuning and mixing looking like they should be on stage performing. Meanwhile, White's band looked sharp but he himself wore what looked like pinstriped jeans and a plain black t-shirt. The artist strikes again.
In a Bob Dylan way, pretty much every song was different than the recorded version, again showcasing his musicianship. It's not a complaint because it's who he is, but sometimes it's nice to find a chart or two in a set that you can sing along to. He's just not kind of that musician. 'Steady As She Goes' had some interesting changes in it. Whether it was key or just a different vibe it was unusually hard for me to pinpoint, but I liked what they did, whatever it was. Usually I shudder at the 'big hits' at shows (see also Eric Clapton-Tears in Heaven) and when the crowd started singing the main lick from Seven Nation Army I kind of rolled my eyes. As a closing chart, though, White surprisingly embraced the main-stream-ness of it and even allowed the crowd to sing the band part while he sang the third verse over top.
It was an experience. I'd go again in a heartbeat. Jack White shows seem to have this train-wreck quality to them. You never know what's going to happen, you can't predict the outcome but it's going to be noisy, crazy and reckless, steamrolling everything in it's path until finally it settles and you leave the scene shaking your head in amazement and wondering what exactly it was you just witnessed.
Highlights: Crowd Vibe, silver string bass, Steady As She Goes, friendly security guards, merch tent
Lowlights: Idiot pot smokers, a field full litter on the ground as we left, lack of 'sing-along-ability'.
Set List:
- High Ball Stepper
- Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (The White Stripes)
- Missing Pieces
- Just One Drink
- Hotel Yorba (The White Stripes)
- Temporary Ground
- Alone in My Home (Temporary Ground Snippet)
- Top Yourself (The Raconteurs)
- Sugar Never Tasted So Good (The White Stripes)
- The Same Boy You've Always Known (The White Stripes)
- Apple Blossom (The White Stripes)
- The Rose With the Broken Neck (Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi cover) (co authored for Rome project)
- I'm Slowly Turning Into You (The White Stripes)
- Steady, As She Goes (The Raconteurs)
15. Icky Thump (The White Stripes)
16. Ball and Biscuit (The White Stripes)
17. Hello Operator (The White Stripes)
18. Blunderbuss
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