By Idan Ivri
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]
The White Stripes are the best blues-tinted rock ‘n’
roll band touring today, and the members proved it with a packed
show at Pomona’s Glass House.
In its dependable tradition of deception and cheesiness,
Ticketmaster never mentioned the two opening bands on the Saturday
night ticket. All this opening action pushed the White Stripes back
to 11:30 p.m. on the lineup. So rather than hang at the sweltering
Glass House for three and a half hours, it gave Stripes fans a
chance to go out for a burger.
At around 11:15 p.m., Jack and Meg walked onto the stage. He had
his trademark red guitar, and she sat on the hilarious candy
striped stool. Jack said “I’m Jack White and this is my
big sister Meg,” and then it was time for the music. The
Stripes opened with “Dead Leaves” and a few other
tracks from their new album. Jack’s voice quivered and
screamed across the floor.
All three albums were well represented. It seemed that the two
had agreed to play all the songs that anyone who bought any of
their albums might conceivably want to hear.
Every few songs, Jack would delve into his grab-bag of blues
classics to cover a song nobody in the audience would recognize. A
major highlight in this vein was “Three Women Blues,” a
song written by Blind Willy McTell in the late 1920s. The mood
shifted from rock concert to blues jam more than a few times during
the show. The greatest change of pace, though, was a cover of an
old country song called “Rated X” about “your
best friend’s husband” performed by Meg in her only
solo singing moment that night. On some of the covers, Jack whipped
out a hollow body guitar and played slide blues like no other rock
musician today.
As interesting and funky as Jack’s country spirit was on
Saturday, the members of the White Stripes gave some amazing
renditions of their own material. “When I Hear My
Name,” “Jimmy the Exploder” and “Hello
Operator” never sounded so fantastically loud. “Hotel
Yorba” and “Fell In Love With A Girl” were played
fast, just as the most popular songs on the setlist should be. The
two musicians seemed like they were having a really good time. Jack
wailed “The Union Forever” with so much soul that the
amp got unplugged. After songs like “Stop Breaking
Down,” the thought couldn’t be suppressed that while
most of the audience might have been too young to have ever seen
Led Zeppelin or even the Pixies, this was a more than adequate
substitute.
While some bands that get quickly famous lose their sense of
humility, Jack and Meg didn’t seem corrupted in the least by
their new popularity. On “We’re Going To Be
Friends,” Jack politely asked the audience if they could
“please sing along” as Meg laid a red cloth on her drum
to soften the hit.
Except for a few rockers near the stage, the audience moved very
little. Everyone seemed mostly content to stand with wide grins and
stare at the two musicians. The Glass House, for its part in this
awesome show, failed miserably. The feedback was bad and the
guitars were unplugged more than once. But it didn’t matter.
Jack and Meg have a feel for blues and rock that can’t be
found anywhere else.