Wednesday, 2 November 2005
Jack and Meg Paint the Town Red
Living for the moment, slacking off, procrastinating - whatever you want to call it, I never did get around to writing about the concert that Heather and I saw two and a half weeks ago, Sunday, 16 October.
That concert was the White Stripes, and it was pretty decent. Their stripped-down sound carried well to a live show. Though you could only see Jack and Meg White on stage, it was pretty apparent that there was at least one, maybe two people, off-stage. Despite its being contrived to keep the illusion of only two band members on stage, at least using real off-stage musicians was truer to their keep-it-real sound. I for one definitely prefer that option to the alternative of using prerecorded backing tracks.
I really like how the White Stripes have gone back to certain rock fundamentals: shorter songs (typically around three minutes), clever lyrics and catchy tunes, a willingness to mix sounds (blues and country sounds seep in), a stripped-down approach to recording in an over-engineered world. In all these ways, their concert was a success.
My technical criticism was that much of the time the levels were kept so loud that the sound was clipped. I blame the person manning the soundboard, but also on whoever provided the speakers. The Zénith (the same place as where we saw the Chemical Brothers) isn't far from being the biggest auditorium in the world, but you should be prepared to give decent sound. Whatever, someone finally brought the levels down enough so that the last third of the show was enjoyable (and understandable).
While it was great to hear the band play a lot of my favorites live, I was actually pretty disappointed with the show on the whole. The group played for less than an hour and a quarter - the main set plus a single encore, including the five-minute break between them. Despite the short length of their typical song, they have more than enough for a second encore (or longer main set). I wasn't looking for the White Stripes to exhaust themselves (or their catalog), but I felt a bit shortchanged - especially since they didn't play my favorite, "Fell in Love With a Girl."
I think some of my disappointment also stems from my getting too old to go to concerts. Having to wait for over two hours after we got in the doors wasn't my idea of fun. In keeping with what seems to be typical French management, there was no hint of the actual show time or who the opening band would be - or even that there would be one (I'm open to being corrected if this is normal elsewhere). That meant getting in immediately, half an hour before the ticket time but with an hour and a half to wait after ticket time. Plus - again as seems to be typical with my concert experiences in France - the opening act sucked (though not as bad as the one who opened for Röyksopp).
I'm glad I finally got to see the White Stripes live, especially after having missed them in February 2004. But I'm not sure they were really worth the ticket price. As I wrote above, I really like their return to more basic rock values - especially in light of the current industry norms. But I think I'd have enjoyed the show even more had their values come across in how the show was performed, not just what they played for it.