Last night I saw the White Stripes at the Hammerstein in NYC. I waited a long time to get in so that I could be front row. It worked. I was up against the barrier. I had a great view. The opening bands were okay. Very country. Not really my style. But I could deal. (There were 2, a band called Blanche and Loretta Lynn.) everything moved along smoothly until it was time to set up the White Stripes equipment. It took forever. We waited 35 minutes. But I know how long things take, so I wasn't worried. I figured the wait would be worth it. It wasn't. The band came on at 9:50 and was done by 10:45. Including the one song encore. From what others said about other shows, I was expecting an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half. But 55 minutes is just sad. I saw them play an hour for free in Union Square Park last fall. And when they pulled the plug on Jack, he sang for us without a mike or amp. That's why this seems so strange to me. Including the TM fees, I spent $75 on two tickets to this show... and I got less than an hour. I was not happy. For the time they were onstage the band was incredible. They played almost all of my favorite songs... so I feel a bit bad about being so upset. But $75 bucks is a lot of money. For around the same amount one could get two Pearl Jam tix and the band will rock your asses off for more than two hours. maybe I'm just spoiled. Sorry for the bad vibes but I just had to vent.
"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try." - Homer Jay Simpson
Loretta Lynn opened for the White Stripes? That's insane! That would be extremely cool as fuck to see. Shit, I wish I lived in New York.(Not really, but I'd still like to see that show.)
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Loretta Lynn was acually pretty cool. She was wearing this huge poofy sequined dress, which was just great. She played a quick, fast set. I know that *she* was sick because she kept wiping and blowing her nose. She did do "Coal Miner's Daughter' and even the rock kids all got into that one. Jack came out and sang a few songs with her too. (He wore the same red/white cowboy outfit that he wore on the cover of the new album. That thing was *skin* tight on the bottom. You could see his whole package and also tell that playing guitar makes him *very* excited at times.) Loretta also came out and did the encore witht hem which was her song "Rated X," which I have heard the WS do by themselves (Meg sings it.) There was definitely a group of people who came just to see Loretta. I was worried about it when she was announced as the opener, but now that I think about it, she was fun.
"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try." - Homer Jay Simpson
I have no idea.. they were tuning up Jack's guitars forEVER (he had several.) They also had a keyboard thing to set up that Jack plays on few songs But it took them far less time to set up for Loretta Lynn and she had like a 7 piece band.
"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try." - Homer Jay Simpson
I totally dig what you're saying about the vocals and can see how that would totally turn you off. I actually thought Graves had a tremendous voice and maybe would have fit the band just fine if the songs were better.