Seeing as Ridgeway St. is one of the two entrances into Botanic Gardens, it’s a fair bet that a sizeable percentage of this crowd strolled past The Lyric to get here this evening.
Which is entirely apt.
Because, while the next band (The Darkness) due to headline at ViTal 04 are nothing more than gurning, pantomime stooges, with The White Stripes you’re dealing with a thoroughly thespian outfit. Jack and his “big sis-dah” may not change outfits too often (and for this gig it’s a fetching red/black combo) but why should they when they spend their time shedding so many skins? Tonight, for example, we find him strutting like a big city braggart, preaching with a convert’s zeal, and hat-tipping like a Southern gent, while she takes turns playing the sulky sibling, the feisty tomboy, and the seductive, saucer-eyed ingénue.
As the duo mince thrillingly through a performance full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em scene shifts and dramatic character changes – touching on medicine show (‘Hotel Yorba’), soul revue (‘I Wanna Be The Boy’), vaudeville (“Won’t y’all help me put a smile on Meg’s face.”), and Everyman morality play (a gripping take on ‘’St James’ Infirmary Blues’) – you almost expect a curtain to fall after every song.
And if you’re a fan of social realism, you’d be better off looking for your kicks elsewhere. But most here are just enjoying one hell of a consummate turn.
“Go home and embrace yo’ mamas,” Jack instructs us at the end. Thousands of hands rise in agreement.
The play, it seems, is the thing.