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The Raconteurs V and i left the oven of Redwood City at around 6pm to head up to much cooler San Francisco. After a leisurely dinner and wandering through the Metreon, we meandered over to the Warfield for the evening's performance by "supergroup" (how horribly tainted that term has become) the Raconteurs. We rendez-vous-ed with Gary and his friend Erika at the bar outside the balcony and, after waiting out opener Kelley Stoltz, made our way to our seats, which by an entirely unplanned coincidence happened to be immediately in front of Gary's. The Raconteurs took their time coming to the stage, leaving us to enjoy the breeze blowing in from the opened emergency doors just next to our seats and listen to spaghetti western music that more recently could've been used in a Tarantino film. When the band did emerge, they set to rockin' with a feedback-laden intro to "Intimate Secretary". I'm a big fan of Brendan Benson, and while the White Stripes aren't really my cuppa i have a lot of respect for Jack White and his distinct musical vision. Together, they yield a fantastic combination of indie pop and down-home rock and roll. They then turned into "Level", a rock song made haunting by Jack and Brendan's offset repeated vocals and a rolling synth. The set included most of the band's debut album Broken Boy Soldiers, with highlights including the bright "Yellow Sun", oddly dedicated to "all the Latinos out there" by Jack (which got Veronica cheering), and the album's title track which was punctuated by a fierce organ solo by White. Even the appropriately bluesy "Blue Veins" sounded great, one of my not-so-favorite tracks on the record. Jack and Brendan look like two friends having a great time playing music together, which is fitting as that is exactly what the Raconteurs are all about. Leaving the stage after perhaps an hour of music, the crowd remained enthusiastic and an encore was won after five minutes of constant cheering and clapping (as opposed to the usual mandatory encore after being offstage for thirty seconds of intermittent crowd noise). Unexpectedly, the band leapt into a cover of the Gnarls Barkley summer hit "Crazy", sung with wild abandon in Jack's typical wail. Current single "Steady as She Goes" followed, after which the band closed the show with "Hands". A bit of a strange end, as that song strongly reminds me of Brit rock band Shack's "Beautiful" from their 1999 album H.M.S. Fable and put a bit of a damper on an otherwise fantastic show.
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