Steven Sebring
The slow build of Raconteurs excitement started in October of last year with the announcement that the Third Man Vault would be releasing a special 10th anniversary edition of the band’s last album, a certifiable 21st century rock classic, Consolers Of The Lonely.
While we’re nowhere near Chinese Democracy levels of delay and, admittedly, there were never any promises made that another Raconteurs album/tour was supposed to happen, still, ten years? That’s a long time. But wait: the Vault package was going to contain a 45 with two new Raconteurs songs, and there was the promise of a new album in 2019. They’re back!
Arriving in mid-December the two new songs, Sunday Driver and Now That You’re Gone, demonstrated that despite the long interval the band hadn’t lost a step. Their 21st century spin on classic rock tropes remained as vital and vibrant sounding as ever.
The official announcement for the new album, Help Us Stranger, arrived in April accompanied by the release of a third new song, a cover of Donovan’s Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) and, with the announcement of a US tour in the fall, The Raconteurs returned to the stage for the first time since 2011 celebrating Third Man Records’ own 10th anniversary in Nashville.
As release date approached, news broke that the band would be playing a two-night stand on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. Well, if they’re going to be in NYC for Colbert, what are the chances they might play a surprise show somewhere in the city? As it turned out, chances were pretty damn good.
First came word of a show at the iHeartRadio Theatre on the Monday following the release, then an in-store performance/signing on release day at Rough Trade in Brooklyn. And then? Two club shows, at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn and Coney Island Baby in Alphabet City.
Friday, June 21st, the first day of summer, was one of those rare, perfect weather days in NYC before the oppressive humidity settles in to turn the urban environment into a sticky, fragrant hellscape. As advertised, Rough Trade’s doors opened at 3 and the staff briskly moved the crowd into the venue. In a surprise move, the show was not being held in the performance space behind the store but in the store itself; the band’s equipment set up on a catwalk overhanging the sales-floor; the audience, clutching their vinyl records and CDs received as they had entered, mingled among the record racks.
Once the crowd had settled in, Third Man co-founder Ben Swank gave a brief speech and explained that, unlike most shows involving Jack White, fans at the release shows were encouraged to take pictures, film the show, and post to socials – a sure sign that this weekend was going to be something special for Raconteurs fans lucky enough to lie, cheat, and/or cajole their way into one of these shows.
The band kicked off a short, blistering set with Bored And Razed, the lead track on Help Us Stranger. Despite the unorthodox surroundings and stage set-up, they were in great form and continued with Live A Lie and Help Me Stranger, which saw Little Jack Lawrence put down his bass and play a set of bass pedals mounted on a microphone stand.
Things slowed down a bit as Brendan Benson took the lead vocal for Help Us Stranger’s first ballad, Only Child, but picked up again with the furious Ryan Adams diss-track Don’t Bother Me, which paired White’s venomous delivery of scathing lyrics with an outright assault by the rhythm section of Lawrence and Patrick Keeler.
After a brief interval, the band appeared at the signing table, all smiles and handshakes, talking and joking with fans as they signed every record and CD. The line moved efficiently and the crowd slowly dispersed into a gorgeous afternoon.
The next day was another uncharacteristically beautiful New York one, excitement still high with The Raconteurs set to play a real club show in Brooklyn. But they threw everyone a curveball by announcing they were going to play a surprise set at venerable Greenwich Village mainstay Generation Records, first come first served. Judging by videos posted on YouTube, it was another cool, intimate performance that saw the band playing to a small yet enthusiastic crowd hunkered down between record racks in the basement of the shop.
That evening, Raconteurs fans decamped back to Brooklyn for the first club show: Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg. Legendary Brooklyn/NYC DJ Jonathan Toubin spun classic old school rock and r&b tunes while a smoke machine added atmospheric fog to a stage backlit in green as, just after 8:30, the band took the stage in a hyperkinetic blur. A cascade of noise and feedback slowly quietened down as the riff of usual set opener Consoler Of The Lonely rose from the chaos. They were off.
Having been on the road since April the band was a tight but loose, well-oiled machine. And that’s one of the things that sets the Raconteurs apart from other Jack White projects: just how focused they sound on stage. The usual Jack White level of frenzy is there, but whether it’s the presence of the rock solid rhythm section of Keeler and Little Jack, or the tempering influence of Brendan Benson, the chaos always seems a little more controlled and tuneful at a Raconteurs gig.
Having primed the pump with a classic tune, the band leapt straight into new material. Any concern that the new songs might sound out of place alongside those from over a decade ago was quickly dispelled; especially on the infectious hooks of Bored And Razed when the crowd seemed to know every word. The main set mixed old and new with Consolers Of The Lonely and Broken Boy Soldiers tracks bookending new songs Only Child and Help Me Stranger, one of the highlights delivered by the run featuring Hands, another furious take on Don’t Bother Me and the psychedelic slinkiness of Level, all capped off by a rousing rendition of Sunday Driver.
After a brief intermission and to rapturous applause, another highlight was an epic rendition of Broken Boy Soldier, the kinda-sorta title-track from their debut which runs the heavy metal waltz of Jimi Hendrix’s Manic Depression through a meat grinder. A staple of Jack White’s solo sets since 2012, the song has never sounded as good as when it’s played by The Raconteurs – again that rhythm section simply relentless in pounding the groove, but doing so with a deftness and a swing that hasn’t been replicated.
After the intensity of Broken Boy Soldier, a brief respite was given with the new ballad Now That You’re Gone, whose intricate guitar interplay at the end left both band and audience smiling, making up for whatever it lacked in perfect execution with a great deal of charm. The last number was the traditional Raconteurs closer, that tale about the misadventures of a rural milkman, Carolina Drama, which, as a treat for the crowd, saw Jack White let loose with an extended guitar solo in the middle. Na na na na indeed!
And then it was over. 16 songs in a small club that maybe fit 200 people packed in like sardines. What a hell of a show. No Steady, As She Goes? No problem. By the time the smoke cleared and the crowd had gone off into a beautiful early summer New York night it was clear that, far from being dead and buried, a relic of days gone by, an artefact of the 20th century, rock and roll is still very much alive in the second decade of the 21st century, reports of its demise having been greatly exaggerated.
And if you don’t believe it, The Raconteurs are coming to a town near you, killer new record in hand. Make sure you’re there, you’ll love every second of it.