{"id":981,"date":"2016-05-14T22:37:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T22:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=981"},"modified":"2026-06-27T22:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T22:52:43","slug":"the-white-stripes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=981","title":{"rendered":"The White Stripes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

June 2003, Mizner Park Amphitheatre, <\/strong>Boca Raton, Fla.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said this before, and I\u2019ll probably keep on saying it: There is nothing musically that Jack White has done that isn\u2019t fantastic. The guy doesn\u2019t make mistakes. His personal life seems to be a total mess, but when it comes to music \u2014 leading his band (White Stripes), playing in a band with others (Raconteurs, The Dead Weather), going out solo, running a record store\/recording studio (Third Man Records) \u2014 the guy bats .1000. He could release and album of elevators opening and closing and I\u2019d listen to it.<\/p>\n

Perhaps of all he\u2019s achieved, Elephant<\/em> is the greatest. With White Stripes bandmate Meg White, Jack created a tapestry of guitars, drums and vocals (without the use of computers) that is unparalleled \u2014 and he did it in two weeks. Bands takes years to churn out albums, and Jack and Meg produced a masterpiece in a fortnight. It doesn\u2019t make any sense.<\/p>\n

I found The White Stripes, like most people, with White Blood Cells<\/em> and gathered up De Stijl<\/em> soon after. There is nothing like Jack and Meg, a combination of a master guitarist and songwriter with a self-taught drummer who dabble in blues and Detroit punk. And the back story \u2014 brother\/sister or husband\/wife? And always wearing red and black? Weird, wonderful.<\/p>\n

Even seeing this band in Boca Raton was odd, at an open-air amphitheater attached to an outdoor mall. It\u2019s what made the experience so great because you just aren\u2019t supposed to see anything like this.<\/p>\n

I went with my wife for the general admission show, which was crowded but not packed. We ambled up close to the stage (though a mosh pit would form at the foot of the stage, kids will slam to anything nowadays) and waited for the pair to appear.<\/p>\n

Meg came out in all white while Jack was dressed in a red shirt with pants in alternating colors \u2014 one leg red, one leg black. The drum set was set back to the left while Jack\u2019s mic was center stage, maybe three fives steps from the kit. He stepped to the mic, shook his head of crazy black hair, and opened with \u201cWhen I Hear My Name,\u201d an obscure song from the band\u2019s self-title debut album.<\/p>\n

Yep, that\u2019s about right.<\/p>\n

In Ramones cadence, the band went from one song to the next, barely stopping, stuffing in almost 25 songs at breakneck speed. Amidst the brilliant songs from Elephant<\/em> (\u201cThe Hardest Button to Button,\u201d \u201cBlack Math,\u201d \u201cBall and Biscuit\u201d) were covers (Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLove Sick,\u201d \u201cSon House\u2019s Grinnin\u2019 in Your Face,\u201d Blind Willie McTell\u2019s \u201cLord, Send Me an Angel\u201d) and White Stripe favorites (\u201cFell in Love With a Girl,\u201d \u201cHotel Yorba,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)\u201d). Jack was wild and frantic, playing solos in a crazed frenzy, yearning for a loud, churning sound. Meg was reserved and composed, even while banging the crap out of the drums. Jack was colorful and at ease with the stage, Meg looked like she wanted to do something else, and the tension made for a great stage drama.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t work, but it did.<\/p>\n

When it came time for the encore, Jack came out alone, playing \u201cWe\u2019re Going to Be Friends\u201d and the Lead Belly cover \u201cBoll Weevil\u201d before sending off the crowd into the vast expanse of the high-end mall outside the gates.<\/p>\n

I never saw a band or show like this before, and I doubt I\u2019ll see ever one like it again. I hate the word unique because it\u2019s used improperly \u2014 there are so few things that are the only one of its kind. But that\u2019s what The White Stripes are \u2014 one of a kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 2003, Mizner Park Amphitheatre, Boca Raton, Fla. I\u2019ve said this before, and I\u2019ll probably keep on saying it: There is nothing musically that Jack White has done that isn\u2019t fantastic. The guy doesn\u2019t make mistakes. His personal life seems to be a total mess, but when it comes to music \u2014 leading his band […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[174],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-the-white-stripes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":983,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions\/983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}