White Stripes - Manchester Apollo - 17.11.05
For
all the distractions over the past few years - the scraps with
the Von Bondies, the celebrity girlfriends, secret marriages and
the recent furore over Jack White penning the coco-cola tune -
the one thing that's remained a constant high has been the music.
Constrained by the limitations they set themselves, The White
Stripes sound that combines the blues, primal punk rock and in
the case of "Blue Orchid" white boy funk, found themselves
in the enviable position of having the most records in John Peel's
box of all time favourites. Perhaps it's this that is most indicative
moment of their career, the fact that beyond all the bullshit
that goes along with being the White Stripes that make music that
still manages to enchant musical connoisseurs
In
the past White Stripes shows have been stripped down affairs,
a simple red and white drape on the backdrop in keeping with their
self-imposed uniform colour scheme. Tonight they've gone cabaret
and despite this it still works for them. Jack White walks out
in a fantastic matador costume with studded trousers that are
somewhere between Goth and the Michael Jackson "Bad"
video. If it was anyone but Jack White it would look hideous,
but it all seems so right with the Stripes
It
says alot that the band has avoided the hollow structure of the
Arena despite the fact they could have sold it out twice over,
but they understand the nature of intimacy.
"White
Orchid" with its incessant satanic funk pounding away from
the outset has White screeching all over the place as the crowd
go wild. "Jolene", a cover yes, but one that's defined
now for a generation by the White Stripes version is glorious.
"My Doorbell" takes a simple piano motif, a retarded
drumbeat and turns it into an old skool hip-hop track. All this
before they've launched into their earlier material such as "Hotel
Yorba", which for many started a journey into Detroit garage
that they would never escape from.
Few
bands have managed to produce so many singles while being in love
with the concept of making great albums which have a A side, B
Side and last no longer than 50 minutes. They famously sent out
vinyl copies of "Elephant" out to reviewers because
they believed that anyone without a turntable was not fit to review
their album. "Dead Leaves On Dirty Ground", "Fell
In Love With A Girl", "The Denial Twist" and naturally
"Seven Nation Army" can't help but send the crowd into
a frenzy and despite musically being entrenched in the past they're
nothing short of relevant to the 21st century.
Critics
love to pour over the White Stripes questioning when the band
will split, but what else can Jack White do? A new band or solo
career would pail into significance compared to the glorious catalogue
of the White Stripes and poor pennyfarthing would be left without
a paddle. The chances are they'll ride out the whole coco-cola
shtick and come out with a song that competes with "I'd Like
To Teach The World To Sing" and set themselves up for a storming
album to follow up "Get Behind Me Satan".
Words:
Alex McCann
Photos: Karen McBride - www.karenmcbride.com
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