I Had Opinions That Didn’t Matter

The White Stripes “The Hardest Button To Button” (Live in Boston, 2003)

The White Stripes @ Roseland Ballroom, NYC 11/20/2003

The Hardest Button To Button/ Hotel Yorba/ Let’s Shake Hands/ Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground/ I Think I Smell A Rat/ I Want To Be The Boy/ Death Letter/ Seven Nation Army/ In The Cold Cold Night/ I’m Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman/ Why Can’t You Be Nicer To Me?/ Look Me Over Closely/ We’re Going To Be Friends/ (song my friend and I did not recognize, very rocking)/ Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine/ (song we didn’t know with Jack telling a story over Meg’s drumming, no guitar)/ Wasting My Time/ The Same Boy You’ve Always Known/ Ball And Biscuit // Black Math/ Fell In Love With A Girl (new version, played in a style similar to that of the album version of “Dead Leaves…”)/ I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself/ Boll Weevil

(Note: In addition to the two songs which I didn’t recognize, there is a possibility I may be forgetting a song or two somewhere in there. I’m pretty sure that’s all of it. It is in the proper order, though.)

I don’t have much to say about the White Stripes set – they were great, basically. They bring the rock. They played most everything that I wanted to hear with the notable exception of “Apple Blossom.” I was more impressed with Meg’s voice on “In The Cold Cold Night” last night than her performance on the album. Meg was pretty good on the drums, too. She gets such a bad rap, but she’s at least as good a drummer as half the bands I see. She gets the job done, and she has a wonderful chemistry with Jack. I think there’s a lot of sexism involved in how a lot of people judge her drumming. I was talking to some dude while I was waiting outside before the show, and he was just ripping on her left and right. She’s not Neil Peart, but c’mon. Give her some credit. Jack has the hot riffs, but let’s face it, he’s kind of a messy player too. They suit each other very well.

Whirlwind Heat were just pathetic and tedious. They beat the same song/gimmick/fuzz bass tone into the ground for a half hour, getting worse and more obnoxious as the show went on. Well, they did break things up by pulling out the old GVSB double-bass thing, but that didn’t make things any better. They did their little rock star moves, but there was nothing going on. I’m just sick to death of all of these shaggy haired twig men who think that just because they can jump around and pose, they are rock stars. This is total bullshit. All good rock stars exist on their own terms, and create their own unique persona. They impose themselves on the rock star paradigm rather than submitting to it. Just copping other people’s moves and embracing an image/cliche that people (and especially style magazine photographers/writers/editors) expect is entirely lacking in imagination and power. It’s just dress-up and make believe. It’s not exactly a shock that this band seems to have something to do with the ultimate in brainless, tasteless, shallow lifestyle photography, Terry Richardson. They were introduced as Richardson’s favorite band, all of them wore t-shirts with Richardson’s face, and they played in front of a projected photo of themselves hanging out with him. Maybe they are supposed to the be the shitty, talentless Velvet Underground to Richardson’s shitty, talentless Andy Warhol. Ugh. It all just made me feel bad for them. They seemed so pitiful and sad.