The Upstate Life

Thursday, May 29, 2008

TUL's Take: Raconteurs @ 9:30 Club

The only other time I got to see The Raconteurs live was at Lollapalooza back in '06 so I was eagerly anticipating seeing these guys in a much smaller venue. I'm one of those guys that favor The Raconteurs music over The White Stripes mostly because Brendan Benson is such an excellent songwriter. We opted to skip The Black Lips since we were still finishing some drinks over at Duffy's (no Genny in-stock, sadly), but this show had to have been oversold. I mean I've been to sold-out shows at the club before but the place was ridiculously packed as there was barely any room to move around, even in the corners by the speakers where at least one can turn a shoulder without knocking over someone else's drink. Speaking of which, the douchebag factor was in full force last night but when a band such as The Raconteurs is on rotation on DC101 it's to be expected I guess.

Anyway, if you really don't care for these guys when listening to their albums, seeing them live will make you change your mind. Just a solid performance by all parties involved. Even Benson, who's known to be lethargic onstage, was very much into it last night. The comradery between Jack White and Benson was highly evident as both seemed to be playing off each other and having fun. The back and forth guitars between Benson and White before breaking into "Steady as She Goes" was one of the highlights, or anytime White played a solo for that matter. Dude is just incredible on the guitar and seeing him up close with 1100 others made it that much more enjoyable. Benson forgetting the lyrics of "Intimate Secretary" was pretty funny too, but it was good to see him perform his fair share of songs, especially "Many Shades of Black".

Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler (both members of The Greenhornes) were solid as well (jeez was that bass loud or what?). Words can't describe how much better Keeler is on drums than Meg White, but I digress. Overall, just a great show and they easily demonstrated how their songs on record are that much better live. On another note, when in the hell will Benson put out another solo record? It's been over three years already – his Black Cat show still ranks up as one of my favorites.

Posted by Brett at 2:27 PM |