The daylong lead-up to the Raconteurs’ first show in nearly eight years – Third Man Records 10-year anniversary bash, held Saturday (April 6) at the label’s Nashville headquarters to a crowd of 3,000 supporters – was a family affair through and through.
That was evident in the artists curated for the event, among them: blues-rockers the Soledad Brothers, who came up in Detroit alongside the White Stripes in the early 2000s with Third Man co-founder Benjamin Swank, featured early in the compound’s intimate Blue Room; the Dirtbombs – whose guitarist/vocalist Mick Collins also played with Blue Room headliners the Gories (often cited as one of the White Stripes’ chief influencers) – rocked the main (Mission) stage in the late afternoon with the imprint’s other co-founder, Ben Blackwell, on drums; and country maven Lillie Mae, alongside her supremely talented siblings, drawing the day’s largest audience apart from the Raconteurs.
There were various TMR contributors on DJ duties throughout, including Margo Price, the Black Lips’ Jared Swilley and Alison Mosshart of the Kills/the Dead Weather.
Just before Lillie Mae, Jack White himself conducted an employee awards ceremony (typically held in private, he said) where he handed out enamel pins, different depending on total years in service to TMR, which ended with 10-year lapels for Blackwell and Swank, who were also publicly bestowed with the title of “minority co-owner.” To drive home the deep-seated tribal sentiment, White’s mother, Teresa Gillis appeared: “I’m Jack White’s mother,” she said. “I’d like to present one of my favorite bands, the Raconteurs.”
And with that, the quartet comprising White, Brendan Benson, Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence (with the Dead Weather’s Dean Fertita in tow to handle satellite keyboard, guitar and percussion duties) was back, launching their 14-song reunion with 2008 electrifier “Consoler of the Lonely.”
They wasted no time laying into new material off upcoming third album, Help Us Stranger (due June 21 with an accompanying North American tour): “Bored and Razed” – a concoction of cascading and hammering riffs with Benson crooning about a “California girl” he’s “so lost without” – came first, followed by old favorites “Level” and “Old Enough.”
Next was the live debut of first lead single “Sunday Driver,” which saw White handling vocals while shredding on a Fort Knox Flying V guitar. They then revisited 2006’s “Hands” before unearthing “Help Me Stranger,” a heavily distorted serenade featuring the earnest lyrics: “If you call me, I’ll come running / you can call me anytime … these 16 strings / they will back up every line … help me stranger / help me get it off my mind / help me get back on my feet, brother / if you can spare the time.”
Second lead single “Now That You’re Gone,” which highlighted Benson and White’s winning juxtaposition of power-pop smoothness and off-kilter kinetics, rounded out the new tunes in the main set, which finished in potent fashion with the hat-trick of “Salute Your Solution,” “Steady, as She Goes” and the crown jewel of White’s wildest riff wails, “Blue Veins.”
The band exited briefly and returned for a crushing encore that kicked off with ripping renditions of the Go’s “Keep On Trash” and Donovan’s “Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)” (the only cover recorded as an official album track for Help Us Stranger), then concluded with spine-chilling murder-ballad “Carolina Drama,” which sparked a sing-along so spirited that it veritably erased any notion that these kings of contemporary rock were absent for nearly a decade.
Check out the setlist below:
Check out other photos from the event below:
