The Raconteurs // Berlin 30.05 + Best Kept Secret Festival 02.06
Once upon a time in 2014 my friend Anton sent me two videos in Facebook with a comment "and this is my big music love - Jack White". It was "Steady As she Goes" и "Salute Your Solution". I liked it but wasn't impressed so I saved this music for the future.
Five years passed.
During this time I came to like Jack's creativity in general and The Raconteurs in particular and I tortured others with it.
Every 10 years they are back. Seems like then, 10 years ago, they checked sсhedules and settled: "well the next open slot in my schedule is in 10 years. Is that ok?" And everybody was like: "yeah, fine". To come together after a decade when everybody is over 40y.o., own a lot of projects, but still just want to rock concerts and frig around with friends.
In the first announcement for Europe there were only festivals. Succumbing to persuasion of my Dutch friend, I immediately bought a ticket to the festival in the Netherlands. After a while a new announcement arrived - with solo shows in Europe. So I got second ticket for the gig in Berlin. Both of these shows combined so well and were suitable for a week of vacation.
PROLOGUE. WAITING.
Before the concerts I'm getting paranoid. Actually the day before I'm still ok and calm, but on the concert day itself my inner voice wakes up and says: "we should come earlier, first row is not elastic". Everythings is all right when nobody except me does not suffer from this. But more often that falls upon my fellows. Sasha - my friend, ex-colleague and concert companion - has an iron patience. She agrees to my crazy suggestions like "let's go to the hall two hours before the doors will open!" This time we were there two and a half hours before and we weren't the first ones there. We spread my raincoat on the ground and sat on it until the opening. There was non-stop movement all around us: people were going away for food and drinks, a crazy fangirl was running around the hall hoping for autographs, passer-bys didn't understand what was going on here. Generally waiting is not exhausting when you're sitting instead of standing.
It is even worse at the festival. There’s more people and your favorite band isn't the only one performing. That inner paranoid was the reason why I had come to the festival’s gate an hour and a half before the opening. No wonder I was at the forefront of the crowd that entered the festival and the first person who came to the place where The Raconteurs were supposed to play. As it turned out, waiting time on the festival was more comfortable. My fellows and I just sat on the ground resting between other groups’ performances . Area in the front of the stage had been getting almost empty during that time and only the eager fans had been staying in the first row. Crowd was getting denser as The Raconteurs' set approached. They were headliners, after all. I was surprised because the atmosphere was very calm. Nobody tried to push us away from the first row as it often happens in Russia.
OVERTURE. THE STAGE PREPARATION.
I really like inner workings, I like to look how other people work. I think last year I already said how Jack's technicians remind me of F1 support teams. They display the same coordination and a wonderful mastery. Looking at them is pure pleasure. This year guys are dressed in deep blue trousers and shirts, braces and caps. If preparation in Berlin was pretty fast, here at the festival it took an hour. Only drums were already ready in the backstage, everything else was being built right on stage. Special man was going around and checking microphones. He made very weird sounds into them, especially when he was checking one of Jack White's microphones which was plugged to the pedal. Jack has only two microphones this year, not three like last year. Checking was completed with the height control - all microphones were aligned by tape measure. I was delighted about it. Same guy as last year was caring for Jack's guitars. I think they have a serious relationship. Because of strong similarities with Jack White - same height, curly hair- I called him "mini-Jack". I think it's very witty.
As usual most time was needed for guitars preparation. First thing mini-Jack did was bring the pedalboard to the stage. It is really the color of copper, as well as the pedals. Jack White has incredible attention to every detail.
Then the guitars appeared. They were six again. One of them, "Flying V", brought me a special delight. It is extremely beautiful and it shines like gold.
The case with Brendan was easier as he had only two guitars. Even easier with Jack Lawrence who had only one bass. Dean, who isn't officially in the band, also had a guitar in addition to keyboards. He is a true multi-instrumentalist.
Preparations were ended with water and towels for all members and a beer put to a special microphone stand for Jack Lawrence.
ACTION. SET-LISTS, PERFORMANCE, CROWD'S REACTION
Starring:
Jack White - vocal, guitar, keyboards, madness
Brendan Benson - vocal, guitar, melody
Jack Lawrence - bass, back-vocal, calmness
Patrick Keeler - drums, percussion, modesty
Dean Fertita - keyboards, guitar, back-vocal, multitasking
The beginning of both shows was similar. Similar to hurricane. Musicians were rushing out on the stage all together, Jack and Brendan were jumping on the monitors, requested more applauses, more sounds from the audience. Musical chaos with support of wild light was coming right after. Eventually the melody of "Consolers of the Lonely" was born from the chaos. Crowd in the Netherlands as well as in Berlin was screaming of joy. Jack Lawrence' calmness and detachment stood out especially against this background.
Right after that, before the audience came to their senses, was "Level". It's a win-win move, top songs. They sound cooler live than on record.
Performing "Old Enough" in Berlin, Brendan tried to sing with the crowd but nobody knew the lyrics . Fortunately, at the festival everything worked out fine and we sang all together.
There was a lot of songs from the new album. Of course, in Berlin there were more. Honestly I don't remember titles of new songs, except those which are already released as singles, but I can say that I already like new album, I cannot wait for it.
In Berlin, Brendan and Jack Lawrence danced funnily during the intro of "Sunday Driver". Like two crabs with guitars. To my regret they didn't do it at the festival. And Jack White plays two guitars in this song. Unfairly to "Flying V" he plays it only in "Sunday Driver". To give us some rest the guys played "You Don’t Understand Me". Jack played on keyboards. He was so emotional that Dean, who was in the keyboards' corner too, had to keep moving away. Otherwise he could have gotten an elbow hit to the ribs.
"Many shades of black" sounds really great live. Brendan, of course, is the main melodist in this band. Like McCartney was in The Beatles. He composes well melodic ballad-like songs. While listening to "Many Shades of Black" your soul unfolds and then quietly folds back. I don't remember how it was in Berlin but on the festival all crowd was singing together with Brendan.
There were two songs without which both shows would have been incomplete for me. These are "Salute Your Solution" and "Broken Boy Soldier". First of them wasn't played in the Netherlands and second wasn't played in Berlin, but put together everything worked out fine. Of course, "Salute Your Solution" is too much mainstream, but anyway it's a greatest song and listening it live gave me a lot of joy. As for "Broken Boy Soldier" - this song just blew the crowd that was already barely alive.
Last year on his own gigs Jack was like a conductor: he told others what to play and created setlists on the go, based on the vibe . I think, this time everything was determined in advance. Especially on the festival where where performances were strictly timed. Nevertheless, guys had a lot of conversation on stage, not only verbal, but also with special gestures and looks. Jack often went to Brendan's side to play with him, sometimes he went to Jack Lawrence. But I think, Lawrence was deprived of his fellows’ attention.
Sometimes Patrick had a face impression like "let me out of here, please". Anyway, he played as God. I didn't think about it before, but now after the shows I understand why Jack said that he would like to be in a band with Brendan and the rhythm section of The Greenhornes. They are a perfect fit to each other.
I could guess the final song but I hoped for a surprise. Well, there was "Steady as she goes", no surprises. This is the special song to sing altogether, to jump and to have a lot of fun. A special song for Jack to sing "steady as she goes" softer and softer, coming down to almost a whisper, to what the crowd tried to answer "are you steady now", also very softly, and then it exploded in a scream "steady as she goes!!!". All hands were up and if you thought you were tired and exhausted, second breath was coming out of nowhere specifically for this song.
After that all you understand - that’s it, the show is over. Because neither you nor the band have any power left.
It is surprising but no matter how this song sounded last year during Jack' solo tour, it was much cooler when performed by The Raconteurs. Founding fathers know the secret.
Just one thing made me a little sad - no cover was performed, although The Racs did them so well years ago.
A little video which I made from my Dutch fellows' records.
THE FINAL. EMOTIONS. THOUGHTS. IMPRESSIONS.
Compared to last year's shows it seems to me that Jack is more relaxed now. It doesn't mean that he started to slack off (he doesn’t know how), I mean he has shared responsibility with others in the band. He doesn't need to instruct them on what to play, to be a conductor any more. Now there is more equality and Jack is just the same guy with a guitar as others. He is standing in the center but he isn't the leader of the band. Guys are playing with each other and they are enjoying it.
My favorite crowd was the festival one.There was such an awesome feeling as if emotions were a kind of a ball which you and the band threw to each other back and forth. The ball grew bigger and bigger with every throw. Finally it consumed everybody and emotions became shared.
The whole crowd united as one huge organism.
To be in the first row is cool, to be in the center of the first row is incredible. For me, it's some special feeling of belonging.
Musicians were looking at the audience. Well, most of them. It was easy to catch Brendon's or Jack Lawrence's eye. Patrick was far enough and couldn't see us, Jack White, as usual, was with his eyes half-closed, I didn't understand where he was looking. But he smiled a lot, which means everything was going well.
I love to look straight in the musicians' eyes, it's like a message "hey, my attention right now is exactly yours". I think it's pretty important.
During The Racs set on the festival I was telling myself from time to time: "slow down, feel the moment. Look, these guys are the ones you never thought you would see together. But here they are, real them." And incredible joy overwhelmed me. During such events you're feeling an euphoria and if you want to save the moment in your memory, you should get sober for a while.
Compared to Jack White's solo shows, which were absolutely mind-blowing , The Raconteurs' shows are pure and simple rock and roll. Such as I need sometimes when I get tired of experiments. Judging by musicians themselves, they also find it cool.
Will I join their gigs one more time? If they return to the Europe, for sure.
photo by David James Swanson
P.S.
- set-lists are here : Berlin + Netherlands
- all live photos are here
Five years passed.
During this time I came to like Jack's creativity in general and The Raconteurs in particular and I tortured others with it.
Every 10 years they are back. Seems like then, 10 years ago, they checked sсhedules and settled: "well the next open slot in my schedule is in 10 years. Is that ok?" And everybody was like: "yeah, fine". To come together after a decade when everybody is over 40y.o., own a lot of projects, but still just want to rock concerts and frig around with friends.
In the first announcement for Europe there were only festivals. Succumbing to persuasion of my Dutch friend, I immediately bought a ticket to the festival in the Netherlands. After a while a new announcement arrived - with solo shows in Europe. So I got second ticket for the gig in Berlin. Both of these shows combined so well and were suitable for a week of vacation.
PROLOGUE. WAITING.
Before the concerts I'm getting paranoid. Actually the day before I'm still ok and calm, but on the concert day itself my inner voice wakes up and says: "we should come earlier, first row is not elastic". Everythings is all right when nobody except me does not suffer from this. But more often that falls upon my fellows. Sasha - my friend, ex-colleague and concert companion - has an iron patience. She agrees to my crazy suggestions like "let's go to the hall two hours before the doors will open!" This time we were there two and a half hours before and we weren't the first ones there. We spread my raincoat on the ground and sat on it until the opening. There was non-stop movement all around us: people were going away for food and drinks, a crazy fangirl was running around the hall hoping for autographs, passer-bys didn't understand what was going on here. Generally waiting is not exhausting when you're sitting instead of standing.
It is even worse at the festival. There’s more people and your favorite band isn't the only one performing. That inner paranoid was the reason why I had come to the festival’s gate an hour and a half before the opening. No wonder I was at the forefront of the crowd that entered the festival and the first person who came to the place where The Raconteurs were supposed to play. As it turned out, waiting time on the festival was more comfortable. My fellows and I just sat on the ground resting between other groups’ performances . Area in the front of the stage had been getting almost empty during that time and only the eager fans had been staying in the first row. Crowd was getting denser as The Raconteurs' set approached. They were headliners, after all. I was surprised because the atmosphere was very calm. Nobody tried to push us away from the first row as it often happens in Russia.
OVERTURE. THE STAGE PREPARATION.
I really like inner workings, I like to look how other people work. I think last year I already said how Jack's technicians remind me of F1 support teams. They display the same coordination and a wonderful mastery. Looking at them is pure pleasure. This year guys are dressed in deep blue trousers and shirts, braces and caps. If preparation in Berlin was pretty fast, here at the festival it took an hour. Only drums were already ready in the backstage, everything else was being built right on stage. Special man was going around and checking microphones. He made very weird sounds into them, especially when he was checking one of Jack White's microphones which was plugged to the pedal. Jack has only two microphones this year, not three like last year. Checking was completed with the height control - all microphones were aligned by tape measure. I was delighted about it. Same guy as last year was caring for Jack's guitars. I think they have a serious relationship. Because of strong similarities with Jack White - same height, curly hair- I called him "mini-Jack". I think it's very witty.
As usual most time was needed for guitars preparation. First thing mini-Jack did was bring the pedalboard to the stage. It is really the color of copper, as well as the pedals. Jack White has incredible attention to every detail.
Then the guitars appeared. They were six again. One of them, "Flying V", brought me a special delight. It is extremely beautiful and it shines like gold.
The case with Brendan was easier as he had only two guitars. Even easier with Jack Lawrence who had only one bass. Dean, who isn't officially in the band, also had a guitar in addition to keyboards. He is a true multi-instrumentalist.
Preparations were ended with water and towels for all members and a beer put to a special microphone stand for Jack Lawrence.
Click to viewACTION. SET-LISTS, PERFORMANCE, CROWD'S REACTION
Starring:
Jack White - vocal, guitar, keyboards, madness
Brendan Benson - vocal, guitar, melody
Jack Lawrence - bass, back-vocal, calmness
Patrick Keeler - drums, percussion, modesty
Dean Fertita - keyboards, guitar, back-vocal, multitasking
The beginning of both shows was similar. Similar to hurricane. Musicians were rushing out on the stage all together, Jack and Brendan were jumping on the monitors, requested more applauses, more sounds from the audience. Musical chaos with support of wild light was coming right after. Eventually the melody of "Consolers of the Lonely" was born from the chaos. Crowd in the Netherlands as well as in Berlin was screaming of joy. Jack Lawrence' calmness and detachment stood out especially against this background.
Right after that, before the audience came to their senses, was "Level". It's a win-win move, top songs. They sound cooler live than on record.
Performing "Old Enough" in Berlin, Brendan tried to sing with the crowd but nobody knew the lyrics . Fortunately, at the festival everything worked out fine and we sang all together.
There was a lot of songs from the new album. Of course, in Berlin there were more. Honestly I don't remember titles of new songs, except those which are already released as singles, but I can say that I already like new album, I cannot wait for it.
In Berlin, Brendan and Jack Lawrence danced funnily during the intro of "Sunday Driver". Like two crabs with guitars. To my regret they didn't do it at the festival. And Jack White plays two guitars in this song. Unfairly to "Flying V" he plays it only in "Sunday Driver". To give us some rest the guys played "You Don’t Understand Me". Jack played on keyboards. He was so emotional that Dean, who was in the keyboards' corner too, had to keep moving away. Otherwise he could have gotten an elbow hit to the ribs.
"Many shades of black" sounds really great live. Brendan, of course, is the main melodist in this band. Like McCartney was in The Beatles. He composes well melodic ballad-like songs. While listening to "Many Shades of Black" your soul unfolds and then quietly folds back. I don't remember how it was in Berlin but on the festival all crowd was singing together with Brendan.
There were two songs without which both shows would have been incomplete for me. These are "Salute Your Solution" and "Broken Boy Soldier". First of them wasn't played in the Netherlands and second wasn't played in Berlin, but put together everything worked out fine. Of course, "Salute Your Solution" is too much mainstream, but anyway it's a greatest song and listening it live gave me a lot of joy. As for "Broken Boy Soldier" - this song just blew the crowd that was already barely alive.
Last year on his own gigs Jack was like a conductor: he told others what to play and created setlists on the go, based on the vibe . I think, this time everything was determined in advance. Especially on the festival where where performances were strictly timed. Nevertheless, guys had a lot of conversation on stage, not only verbal, but also with special gestures and looks. Jack often went to Brendan's side to play with him, sometimes he went to Jack Lawrence. But I think, Lawrence was deprived of his fellows’ attention.
Sometimes Patrick had a face impression like "let me out of here, please". Anyway, he played as God. I didn't think about it before, but now after the shows I understand why Jack said that he would like to be in a band with Brendan and the rhythm section of The Greenhornes. They are a perfect fit to each other.
I could guess the final song but I hoped for a surprise. Well, there was "Steady as she goes", no surprises. This is the special song to sing altogether, to jump and to have a lot of fun. A special song for Jack to sing "steady as she goes" softer and softer, coming down to almost a whisper, to what the crowd tried to answer "are you steady now", also very softly, and then it exploded in a scream "steady as she goes!!!". All hands were up and if you thought you were tired and exhausted, second breath was coming out of nowhere specifically for this song.
After that all you understand - that’s it, the show is over. Because neither you nor the band have any power left.
It is surprising but no matter how this song sounded last year during Jack' solo tour, it was much cooler when performed by The Raconteurs. Founding fathers know the secret.
Just one thing made me a little sad - no cover was performed, although The Racs did them so well years ago.
A little video which I made from my Dutch fellows' records.
THE FINAL. EMOTIONS. THOUGHTS. IMPRESSIONS.
Compared to last year's shows it seems to me that Jack is more relaxed now. It doesn't mean that he started to slack off (he doesn’t know how), I mean he has shared responsibility with others in the band. He doesn't need to instruct them on what to play, to be a conductor any more. Now there is more equality and Jack is just the same guy with a guitar as others. He is standing in the center but he isn't the leader of the band. Guys are playing with each other and they are enjoying it.
My favorite crowd was the festival one.There was such an awesome feeling as if emotions were a kind of a ball which you and the band threw to each other back and forth. The ball grew bigger and bigger with every throw. Finally it consumed everybody and emotions became shared.
The whole crowd united as one huge organism.
To be in the first row is cool, to be in the center of the first row is incredible. For me, it's some special feeling of belonging.
Musicians were looking at the audience. Well, most of them. It was easy to catch Brendon's or Jack Lawrence's eye. Patrick was far enough and couldn't see us, Jack White, as usual, was with his eyes half-closed, I didn't understand where he was looking. But he smiled a lot, which means everything was going well.
I love to look straight in the musicians' eyes, it's like a message "hey, my attention right now is exactly yours". I think it's pretty important.
During The Racs set on the festival I was telling myself from time to time: "slow down, feel the moment. Look, these guys are the ones you never thought you would see together. But here they are, real them." And incredible joy overwhelmed me. During such events you're feeling an euphoria and if you want to save the moment in your memory, you should get sober for a while.
Compared to Jack White's solo shows, which were absolutely mind-blowing , The Raconteurs' shows are pure and simple rock and roll. Such as I need sometimes when I get tired of experiments. Judging by musicians themselves, they also find it cool.
Will I join their gigs one more time? If they return to the Europe, for sure.
photo by David James Swanson
P.S.
- set-lists are here : Berlin + Netherlands
- all live photos are here