Saturday, August 4, 2007

The White Stripes First Ever Concert in Mississippi!

On July 31st the renown duo from Dallas, Jack White and (ex-wife) Meg White, hit the stage of the newly built Snowden Grove Amphitheater, in Southaven, Mississippi, on their quest to play a show in every US state. Over 10,000 fans piled into the venue which made the energy of the show unmatched to any in the area.

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They played a set of around 9 songs of pure wall melting energy before even pausing to address the crowd. No one was complaining though. The show was just as straightforward and simple as can be under their all red stage setup. Some defined the energy of the show as if the band was possessed by rock and roll demons. Even with a faulty mic stand and a broken string, Jack White kept relentlessly pounding the chords with unmatched ease, while Meg let the music do the talking with her drumming. The band mainly played their older songs throughout the show such as "Let's Build a Home,""Hotel Yorba,""Stop Breaking Down," and at least a dozen more. They only played about 2 songs from their latest release Icky Thump during the main performance which included the self titled "Icky Thump," and "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)."

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Among the surprises of the show, Jack ducked into the shadows and let Meg take the mic to sing "In the Cold Cold Night" which seemed to completely embarass and mortify her (even behind her drum-set). Even while shutting her eyes, gripping the mic, and barely moving the crowd went absolutely wild. After about an hour long set, they returned for a 15 minute encore showcasing another 2 songs from their recent album and a cover of Leadbelly's "De Ballet of De Boll Weevil" before leaving the stage for good. Witnesses say the crowd of Mississippians and Memphians couldn't have been happier.


Sadly enough, I personally was not able to attend this concert--even though it was right across the street from my house. I did, however, end up walking over to the arena to listen to a few songs by the band, only after realizing that they were still selling tickets at the gate. This made things worse, because two other friends of mine and myself had a collective eleven dollars between the three of us. Unable to walk back to our homes and beg for money, we just hung around and talked to people attending the show. We were even, to our complete surprise, given a free seat ticket by one of the hagglers selling them. But, alas, there were still three of us and none was going to ditch the others to get in, so we eventually gave it to some random person. Though I must say, the look on their face made the whole night worth while. Afterwards, our trio went out on a road behind the stage (still able to hear the music perfectly) and held a three person mosh pit for the whole intro of the show! Needless to say, it was still a great time!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.