The White Stripes at Agganis Arena, 07/23/07

In an overheated college hockey arena, the lights go down and a red light shines on a backdrop behind the stage. Two shadowy figures emerge and are projected against the screen, larger than life, as they walk over to their respective instruments. With a playful kick of a bass drum and a wall of guitar feedback, The White Stripes launch into 75 minutes of tornadic, fuzzed out guitar-based rock/blues that sent the crowd into a delightful frenzy.

The former husband and wife team of Jack and Meg White busted out of Detroit in the late 1990s under the facade of being brother and sister. They had a raw, minimalistic bluesy sound and a great gimmick: everything revolved around the three colors red, white, and black. It perpetuated their style, their instruments, their album art, and their music, which rarely consisted of anything but drums and guitar.

The eclectic duo roared into Boston on the strength of their brilliant sixth CD, "Icky Thump" and delivered an empassioned, intense, and tragically brief show that was both playful and worklike at the same time.

Slowly growing out of that opening feedback from Jack's guitar came the notes that introduced the band's first song of the evening, "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground", the lead track to 2001's seminal "White Blood Cells" CD. From that point on, Jack, clad entirely in red, was a dervish on guitar, switching axes frequently, teasing bits and pieces of their extensive catalogue, and seemingly operating without a net (setlist) as he could be seen "calling audibles" to Meg on drums, responsibly filling her in on his direction before he veered off like a stolen Mustang.

As prolific and dynamic Jack is on guitar, Meg is pretty much the opposite on drums. But for as much crap as she takes for being an inferior drummer, it's hard to imagine someone else sitting behind the candy-striped kit. Her style is simple and her beats rudimentary. Songs that sound fast on disc are played three times the speed live. But it all comes together in this wonderful White Stripes package that is easily at the top of its musical game.

The setlist continued and stayed mostly nostalgic as the Whites only played a handful of new songs, but the stomping "When I Hear My Name" and the singalong fun of "Hotel Yorba" were played with a fresh attitude that the fans ate up and the new song "300 MPH Outpour Blues" showcased White's more delicate guitar playing all while singing into a microphone (one of the five he had set up at various places on stage) pointed directly at Meg.

But it really was the spattering of new songs that made the show transcendant. When "Cannon" segued into "Icky Thump"'s "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" (with Jack switching off between guitar and organ with virtuosic ease), it became the night's best of many great moments.

The Blind Willie McTell cover, "Lord, Send Me An Angel", always a treat to hear live, was as playful as ever with Jack augmenting the song to fit the locals and pleading that "those Boston women won't let Mister Jack White rest". As you can imagine, those same Boston women loved it.

Toward the end of the set, Jack sat on the stage, hunched over and back to the crowd and played the opening notes of "In the Cold, Cold Night" from their Elephant CD. Meg emerged from the drum kit and took center stage to thunderous applause and proceeded to lend her warbly, off-key, and utterly charming vocals to the tune. Just so perfectly flawed.

The set ended on another high note with the Stripes exploding through a scorching version of the crowd-favorite "Ball and Biscuit" (which again featured Jack singing into various microphones) before closing the set with the infectious title track of the new disc, which had the whole crowd bouncing to the pummeling beat.

Still living up to their on-stage relationship, Jack said his customary "I thank you and my sister thanks you" before the duo exited the stage to a mix of maniacal cheers and people looking at their watches, their mouths agape that they only played for about an hour.

Jack is truly growing exponentially musically and lyrically. The tunes are better than ever and there are few guitarists in popular music today that are willing to take as many risks as he. It might not all sound mint, but its undeniably him. And Meg's drumming fits the music just right. Brother/sister, ex-husband/wife, whatever the connection, it is strong and we all benefit from it.

After a frustratingly long encore break, the two came back and suffered their only real misstep of the night. The normally wonderful "My Doorbell" succumbed to Jack's misguided decision to play the entire song on bass, rather than take up the organ again, but any misgivings about that choice were quickly eradicated as Jack kept teasing the Burt Bacharach-penned "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" with the sinister "I Think I Smell A Rat", back and forth. Jack's teases are funny...as a fan of the band, I find them both frustrating (hearing just a tease of a song you like can be torture) and exhilirating (as their unpredicatability excites you, never knowing when a song will stop and another will begin).

The predictable inclusion of the Stripes' biggest radio hit, "Seven Nation Army", really threw the crowd into a frenzy and the last song of the night, the wonderfully interactive "Boll Weevil" (during which Jack humorously mentioned that the last verse was about him, "as if you haven't heard enough of THAT subject tonight...") was both brilliant and melancholy as everyone pretty much knew the show was over.

And thus ended the Stripes' brief foray into Boston. What the concert lacked in length it made up for in intensity, the show itself just like Meg's vocals...a perfectly flawed and thoroughly wonderful performance.