Wednesday night, the Henry Fonda Theater was apparently the only place to be in LA for music lovers and hipsters alike. The Jack White/Brendan Benson/(sort of) Greenhornes side-project, The Raconteurs, was finally on-stage at the super LA venue. The line to get in snaked around the block right up until the much raved about Racounteurs went on. I squeezed my way to about mid-theatre and luckily found a space on a step where I had an almost perfect view of the stage, ablaze with a gigantic banner of the Broken Boy Soldier album art. Soon there stood, in all his rock godliness, Mr. Jack White. Oh yeah?and he had some friends with him too!
The boys opened the show slyly attempting to prove to the emphatic crowd that this isn’t just a Jack White party. Fellow Detroit ambassador Brendan Benson’s got skills and he was there to prove it. My personal favorite Brendan moment came during “Call It A Day” where, I swear, he was singing just for me. But, really who are we kidding? You, me, and your girlfriend were all here to see Jack White. In all fairness we did. There was nothing new about his performance but for some reason you, me and your girlfriend still just had to be there, cause really its the only way he’d ever be in the same room as any of us. I’ll stop speaking for everyone else when I say, “I’ll take it!”. I’ll take it and give you the gushing, screaming little girl I become every time I see him. I think I almost wet myself during “Blue Veins”, near the close of the set. I can still feel that tingle when I repeatedly listen to the song over and over and over again.
The band played for a solid hour, an impressive feat given that their new album checks in at only 33.6 minutes long. They managed to lengthen their set by throwing in a few impressive covers, including Love’s “A House Is Not a Motel” and Bowie’s “It Ain’t Easy.” The radio friendly “Steady, As She Goes” had the crowd jumping and singing along while the psychedelic “Intimate Secretary” kept everyone swaying and the country tinged “Yellow Sun” had houseful of feet tapping.
All in all a very solid rock show, but seriously, could you expect less? For anyone that missed this show or voraciously needs to see them again, they’ve got a pair of nights coming up at the Wiltern as well. Tix may still be on-sale, but will most likely require some scalping.
