The Raconteurs - Live - A Classic Rock Juggernaut
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My friends, who have superb taste, were turning to me during and after this show saying things like, "This is the best classic rock show I've ever seen." I try to stay away from such extremes, but I am hard pressed to disagree, at least for a modern era rock band. But what do I mean by this? I mean total vocal, guitar, and rhythm section mastery, combined with perfectly crafted, simple yet intricate songs, that take you on a journey replete with psychologically poignant lyrics, filled with all out big rock moments and intimate, trippy ones too. Oh yeah, and immaculate taste.That last one is certainly subjective, but there were moments reminiscent of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, ELP, Queen, King Crimson, even Skynnard. And too many garage bands to even get into. And not obvious rip off moments. This band is original, at least as much as that's possible in rock. At one point I turned to my friend and commented on the Garage Rock meets Sweet vibe going on; a sexy, raunchy, boogie rock thing with serious 70's vocal harmony largess as the cherry on top. Brendan has really stepped into this role. Doing more guitar soloing, and singing his ass off. Both he and Jack were in terrific voice and just killed it. It was Brendan's voice at points that was hitting me like Robin Zander, thus the Cheap Trick comparison.But what we're talking about here is a band that looks the part, sounds the part, writes the part, and fucking nails it with pure American/British style and swagger, combined with Midwestern humility. That formula is rock n roll gold as far as I'm concerned. This was an arena show. That band was way larger than the room, and they and everyone there knew it. I'm just glad I got a chance to see it in such a small venue.But, I still have two complaints (and how could I not complain as a neurotic, Jewish, New Yorker?). Bassist Jack Lawrence should sing more. He sounded really pretty and strong. And his vocal blend with the hired gun keyboard, violin, tambourine guy was spot on. Coulda used more of that. And my friend and I felt bad for the utility guy as he added so much value and yet was not allowed to take a bow with the band at the end of the show. Simply uncouth if you ask me. Okay fine, he is not an original member or maybe not even on the studio record, I don't know, but he was damn good and part of the live show, so treat him as such. But I digress.I am one of those guys who has always seen the immensely obvious Jack White talent but was never fully into The White Stripes. I always thought, I want to hear this guy in a band. And that first Raconteurs record was good, but still sounded like a recording project. This one just blows it out of the water. These guys found their sound on the road in an organic fashion and it is now firing on all cylinders. And they've screwed with the tunes off the first record live in a fantastic way. I think it was Store Bought Bones, one of my least favorites off that last record, that just had so much new life and psychedelic flavor.I think this new album is special for a lot of reasons. The kind of rock record that doesn't come along often. Rich Kid Blues is my favorite track of the moment. Great back and forth vocally between Jack and Brendan, interesting song structure, and organ parts reminiscent of ELP's Tarkus (I love that album!)Watching this show as a musician, I was reminded of the story of when someone or other (Clapton maybe, Townshend?) went to see Hendrix and wanted to simply hang it up. It was that humbling. This show almost made me feel like that. If I didn't have such a large ego filled with delusions of grandeur, that's exactly what I would do.Inspiring stuff indeed.
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