Review time!
As I said last night, the band were great. Before I get to the actual review though, I must point out some of the negative aspects of the night. Neither of them have anything to do with Meg or Jack. First of all, Mile One's staff proved (yet again) that they are absolutely HOPELESS. You know how at merchandise stands, venue staff generally tend to keep different t-shirt sizes in separate boxes to make it easier to get them to the customers? Well, the two girls working at the stand I went to decided they'd just dump all of the t-shirts, both men's and women's sizes, on the table in one massive pile. It took me half an hour just to get one shirt, and in all that time they only served about ten people ahead of me! Ridiculous. The shirt is very cool though (a rib cage made of little white buttons), so I guess it was worth it. Then there was the fact that the venue was half-empty in the sections opposite the stage. There were whole rows that were left unclaimed... It must have been awful for Meg and Jack...their last Canadian date, and they're left staring out at about 100-200 empty seats. Mile One needs to do a better job of advertising concerts. I mean, if I hadn't seen this thread at Interference, I wouldn't have even known about the show in St. John's. There are no billboards outside, nothing. Even on the radio they did a pretty shitty job of promoting the concert. Everyone wonders why we don't get very many quality bands playing here...
this is why.
But enough complaining. I had a great time at the show, despite sitting in a really lame section of people who didn't even bother to stand at any point during the concert. The stage was very impressive, with a red backdrop that reflected the band members' shadows wonderfully and a platform that Jack ascended to play a solo on (you can see him up there in my second picture.) Speaking of pictures, I was hardly able to get ANY because the shop outside the hotel I was staying at sold me a bunch of dud batteries!
I was furious because I could have gotten some nice videos from where I was sitting. I could only get a few shots before the batteries died completely. Anyway. Meg and Jack put on a very enthusiastic performance, despite not having a sell-out crowd. Jack did apologise at one point for having some throat issues, although he sounded all right to me. I only heard his voice faltering once or twice. As for the setlist, Alzheimer's seems to be setting in early on me. Let me see what I can remember... not in any order, apart from the opening number: Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground, We're Going To Be Friends, Hotel Yorba, Icky Thump, I'm Slowly Turning Into You, A Martyr For My Love For You, Effect And Cause, Black Math, You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl), Ball And Biscuit, Hello Operator, In The Cold Cold Night, I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself, Seven Nation Army... I'm missing a whole lot more, but I cannot for the life of me remember them. For me, the highlight would definitely have to be Ball And Biscuit. It's probably my favourite White Stripes song and it was performed to perfection last night. Icky Thump was also incredible. Jack sounded demented while he was singing that one, attacked it with full force. Another highlight was the lighting during I'm Slowly Turning Into You. A red beam was shone up onto a mirror ball above the stage, which reflected thousands of red dots all around the arena. It was fantastic.
And while the venue wasn't sold out, I must say, everyone who showed up certainly showed their appreciation for the band before the encore. As AOD said, it was awesome hearing that small crowd trying to sound like a group of 20,000 strong. I'm proud to say I screamed until I was hoarse and clapped until my hands went raw.
Sadly, the show seemed to end too soon. Before I knew it, Jack was on the stage carrying the official flag of Newfoundland...and then up on the platform with Meg carrying the UNofficial flag of Newfoundland, which got a particularly enthusiastic cheer. A hint for any aspiring musicians: wave the Tricolour at a crowd of drunken Newfoundlanders if you want a roaring response.
All in all, a fantastic show. Certainly the best I've seen in this province, that's for sure. I hope they come back here one day. Jack said they would!
EDIT: Haha, AOD, you posted the setlist while I was writing my review! Yeah, I missed a few.
They're missing a few too! I KNOW Black Math and Hello Operator were played.