With the whatever remained of our post-Tennessee legs, we hit Irving Plaza (sorry Fillmore, not ready yet) last night for an eardrum-rupturing, kick-ass Stripes show. Seeing Jack and Meg simultaneously give 80,000 people a conniption at Bonnaroo gave us a weird perspective for last night's infinitely more intimate experience; sure there are meatheads threatening to throw punches anywhere a fuzz box is stomped, but a packed crowd in a small(er) space meant Jack could a) own with his Meg-mic stage strutting and b) try out his stand-up material. (His quips are weird, but he's got his punchline delivery/timing down.)
"You work at a record label?" he offered sarcastically a few songs in. "I work at a record label too. You work at SPIN magazine?" he sneered. "Shit, I work at SPIN magazine too. You live in New York City?" He paused, soaking up the satire. "Hell we ALL live in New York City."
Yeah it was an industry/scenester crowd (a buddy asked Josh Hartnett if he had an extra ticket, Rufus Wainwright was practicing his arias next to us in the smoker's box, etc.), and Jack thoroughly enjoyed taking the piss out of it. But after cutting "Jolene" short (never quite getting to that overdriven stomp-box part) and blazing through a crowd-tickling, white-lit "Hotel Yorba," the rest of the show was straight red 'n' black screechy-blues fire. Mr. White teased "Misirlou" and more surf-rock shredding in "I Think I Smell A Rat" (shrugging nonchalantly as he spit fret fumes), Meg drew chants and cat calls for "Cold, Cold Night," and Jack shared his mock-day of caffeinated NYC sight-seeing (check the transcription of this and one more of his "stand-up" bits below). A strict no-photo policy wasn't so strictly adhered to, so here's what Flickr offers for the night...
[Pic via flickr.com/gaelenh]
Yesterday also happened to be the day of the album's release. Did ya buy it?? Think it'll debut at #1? Elephant was their biggest seller, but Get Behind Me Satan was their best chart entrance, bowing at #3. Icky may just do it (all those Spanish-languaged TV spots Warner's running on the tube should help.) Anyway, take the jump for a stab at the setlist and some nearly compete transcriptions of Jack's ever-bizarre banter.
THE WHITE STRIPES SETLIST (with some help from Miss Modern Age)
01 "When I Hear My Name"
02 "Dead Leaves"
03 "Icky Thump"
04 "Cannon"
05 "John The Revelator"
06 "My Doorbell"
07 "I?m Slowly Turning Into You"
08 "Jolene" (cut short)
09 "Hotel Yorba"
10 "I Think I Smell A Rat" (Jack teases "Misirlou")
11 "Effect And Cause"
12 "Apple Blossom"
13 "Same Boy You?ve Always Known"
14 "Catch Hell Blues"
15 "St. James Infirmary Blues"
16 "Cold, Cold Night"
17 "I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother?s Heart"
18 "You?ve Got Her In Your Pocket"
19 "Astro"
20 "Union Forever" (lyric tease to "Little Cream Soda")
++ Jack's caffeinated NYC sightseeing day*
21 "Blackjack Davey"
22 "Black Math"
23 "Let's Build A Home"
----
23 "Blue Orchid"
++ Jack's squirrely standup#
24 "A Martyr For My Love For You"
25 "I Don't Know What To Do With Myself"
26 "Ball And A Biscuit"
27 "Bo Weevil"
* "Today I had coffee at the base of Empire State Building. And then I had a latte at Ellis Island. And then I had a cappuccino at the top of some nice, shiny building, I think it was the Chrysler Building. And then I had a funnel cake at Battery Park. And then I had a cigarette on the Staten Island Ferry. I didn't smoke it, I just held it. And then I rode across Central Park. I wrote a song, but I forgot it by the time I got to the other side."
# "Anyone here from Yonkers?" (Mix of cheers, boos, laughs) "That's a strange reaction to a question ... I had a friend when I was 12, we went camping and he caught a squirrel with his barehands in the broad day light. We sat in the tent, it was a lot like prison, just talking, and he started telling me stories. Like about his favorite types of lawnmowers, gas vs. electric, about how his parents let his sister take swimming lessons, but he wasn't allowed to take lessons to learn how to operate farm equipment. Which was weird 'cause we lived in southwest Detroit, not like there's much use for farm equipment. It was then that I realized he had brought that squirrel in, that he had captured and killed." (Audience responds) "Yeah, tough question ... you don't know if you should be sad or what. To this day, I don't know how I'd react."
