I caught them last night at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, has anyone else seen them on this tour???

I saw them on Saturday 5th at Hammersmith Apollo.
It was one of the best gigs i've been to in a long ,long time.
It was the first night of the U.K tour- Jack was in a great mood, and he was in unbelievably, fine form.

Saw them again on Wed 9th, at Ally Pally.
Again a fantastic concert- but a goddam awful venue,. which somewhat took the shine off it. In my opinion it's the worst concert venue in the U.k.
A terrible echo, the view is abysmal and the transport links, suck.
I've seen this band 8-9 times now, over the last 3-4 years, and the power and energy they generate and the fantastic virtuoso performances of Jack, never fail to impress me.
An extra fine touch to the tour- is the free Cdr with exclusive, to your show artwork, that they're giving out every night.
From Nov 14th, you can download, a track from the show you were at, from their website, onto the Cdr. -a brilliant idea and a nice mommento.

I'm seeing them Thursday in manchester - can't wait. Caught them on the last tour and it was a superb gig.

You're in for a treat Bob.
They're in blistering form- a band at the peak of their powers.
Highlights, are a stunning version of Son House's "Death Letter", and when Jack switches to piano,for "My Doorbell".
I hope you get them both , at Manchester, Bob... but when a band doesn't have a setlist and relies on spontaneity, who knows?

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 12:08 by RankOutsider.

Re:- Rank Outsiders comments:-

Define hit?
They've notched up, over a million record sales in the U.K, headlined the Glastonbury Festival, infront of 100,000+ and Reading Festival 60,000+

Popularity and success isn't an issue.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 12:13 by Adrian-L.

Hello,

I also saw them at Alexandra Palace on Tuesday night, great show, but I have to disagree with Adrian about the venue. I'd never been there before and I thought the sound was great (I was near the back), and I also liked the room.

The real buzz, though, was seeing them record some Radio 1 sessions the following day. I work at Maida Vale (no, I can't get anyone any rarities!) and we went down to see them play for The Jo Whiley and Zane Lowe shows. Absolutely brilliant, they played 7 songs in all and then had an on-air chat with the invited audience. Jack does indeed seem to be a gentleman, coming up as he did at the end to shake everyone there by the hand and thank them for coming along. And I tell you something; that boy is an absolute all-round musical superman - his guitar playing in particular is close to mind-blowing. Geezer. By far the most interesting thing in contemporary music.

Declan

I saw them in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. Fantastic concert. 50 years of rock n roll in just one man. Amazing. Concert was held in an old locomotive repair hall ( first concert ever there ) - quite spectacular. And surprisingly the sound was very very good. Some say this may their last tour ( : Jack's getting married/or has just got married and want to do something different....perhaps just silly rumours ). PS: Only tune played after the show: Loving Cup.

Blackpool's Empress Ballroom was a fantastic setting for them,I thought, an old-fashioned concert hall built in 1896, and despite the chandeliers,alcoves etc. the modern stage fitted beautifully and the setting was nothing short of magical.
Very civilised, too, where can you legally smoke in a concert hall nowadays???
I REALLY enjoyed myself, it was a fantastic performance, raw, unpolished, electrifying, and freezing my arse off on the street was worth it for the live version of "Seventh Son" alone (which has been one of my favourite songs for some time- problem is I never know if to dance or make love to it...)
And from the value for money point of view? What can I say? Facevalue was 25£, three encores, "B-stage", VERY long concert.....hohum........Perhaps the reason for the fact that there were at least 90% young people below 25 and most men sported a full head of hair is the price, after all. And the ambiente was electrifying, the crowd never stopped!
OH, and the transvestites advertising the free download and the usherettes dressed up were fab as well!! This group really brings the theatrical out in people, I saw the most bizarre and original ways to dress in black/red/white I've ever seen....
I'm catching them again in Manchester next Thursday as well, really looking forward to it!!

Lorenz, Gazza and Co, if you're reading this:
The only pain was that they made us wait in a queue for ages before they opened the blooming doors to the venue.
And I was standing on one spot for an hour across from the shop "Beaverbrooks"
:-), having these no doubt hypothermia-induced hallucinations, with images of dear Bjornulf up a very long ladder with a pot of paint and a brush in his hand flowing through my poor cold brain.......

Shrimpy: And Meg lifted a placard at one stage that read "Potted Shrimp, are you back from Tibet yet???".... But if you blinked, you missed it....

Does anyone know the name of the group which was massacring "Satisfaction" before the start of the gig???

Nice review. Thanks

I'll listen to "seventh son" later and see if I feel the same way

I have the Maida Vale radio broadcast (3 songs) if you need it

PS : you should have got a pic of yourself standing outside B*****brooks and posted it!

I know, Gazza, but I think that that particular photograph would have proved too much for my cyberfreedomlicense around here.....

DD: you're spot on, the man's a bloody genius,and they both just blow you away live, and the weirdest thing is that none of it feels rehearsed at all!!!!!
(But, am I the only one wishing he outgrows his marimba-phase by the next album????? If this was a WS nerd site, I'd get crucified now...)

Saw them in Stockholm.... Great Show, one of th best I've seen

ps: the maida vale or anything live by the WS would be lovely , thanks,Gazza. (BobM kindly mailed me last year's Glastonbury on DVD, which is great! Will you look out if any of the live UK performances get uploaded to poundsterlingadozen etc???I'm hopeless, as you know...)

Great review, Johanna - I tried to catch them some time ago in Vienna, but didn't get tickets anymore! I agree with your observation about the ticket prices, I'm sure there would be more young people at Stones concerts too if they lowered the prices!

I agree with Gazza - a pic with you under the B*****brooks (censored by IORR) sign would've been hilarious!


Belgrade-Bucharest-Budapest-Brno



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 16:03 by Lorenz.

if anyone's got the Maida Vale Mp3's, that would be fan-bloody-tastic.

for a boot, of their Glasto headlining slot, this year, its free to download, off the fansite www.whitestripes.net




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-11-11 16:07 by Adrian-L.

jostorm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Shrimpy: And Meg lifted a placard at one stage
> that read "Potted Shrimp, are you back from Tibet
> yet???".... But if you blinked, you missed it....


I'm back from Tibet, so I must have blinked....
I'm going to ask Meggy to marry me (really)!

Great band. Best band to come along in the last ten years at least. Saw them in Louisville in Sept. and was blown away by how good they are live.

ohnonotyouagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great band. Best band to come along in the last
> ten years at least.

Hard to disagree with your observation.

I saw them in Manchester last night and it was an awesome performance. 'Ball and Biscuit' and 'Dead leaves on the dirty ground' already sound like classics