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| parmeda |
Wow!
New Years Eve at The Aragon was...WOW!
...and I thank God I still have my hearing, lol.
First off, we had dinner at Harry's...the chicken vesuveo was superb! as usual 
...Joey, We saw "THE BALL"! It's nestled in a glass case along with Harry's huge glasses, how appropriate! (Talk about an alarm system on the damn thing, lol) We left there around 8pm and headed north. Traffic sucked more than usual..that didn't surprise us! By the time we parked, walked 3 blocks and entered inside, it had to be close to 9:30 and I was 1/2 frozen.
The first band, Blanche, was just about finishing up by the time we made it to the balcony. I didn't really have the chance to see what they were all about, but the people around us said they were decent...
While things were getting ready for The Flaming Lips, I took my older son downstairs to try and see how close we could get to the stage...HA! Those people were ruthless...but I had a plan. I stopped to buy 2 beers. My son looked at me with that, "what are you doing?" look (he knows I hate beer) and I told him, "Watch and learn". I took those 2 beers and headed towards "the sacred ground' in front of the stage...excusing myself, pleading nicely that I had to bring these beers to my husband, you know...bullshitting my way up front! I warned my son that it could get ugly...but as soon as I made it to the front, I tapped this guy on the shoulder and offered him the 2 beers if he'd let my son and I stay up there for the opening song and promising him that we'd leave. It worked. We were in! I knew I could get away with pulling that stunt with The Lips coming on, but not with The Stripes. It was a "rough room", lol. The Lips came out shortly afterwards.
Let me tell ya...that's one strange fucking bunch. I can't remember all of the songs they played... I think they opened with RACE FOR THE PRIZE...I was too worried about racing back up to the balcony! WTF was I thinking, wanting to go down on the main floor? (The things you do for your kids...) I do remember them playing, SHE DON'T USE JELLY and THANK YOU JACK WHITE FOR THE FIBER OPTIC JESUS.
The White Stripes came out about 11:30 to a deafening crowd.
Jack & Meg are so fricken cute!
You could see that they were overwhelmed and loving every minute of it as they hit the stage. That's when I noticed CNN had a few camera crews out-and-about...talk of a DVD release hit The Aragon like wild fire! And as fast as that flew around...Meg & Jack spilled one tune after another. Jack would roll out of one and directly into another. They opened with WHEN I HEAR MY NAME. They were well into DEATH LETTER and it was very close to midnight. No one really knew what would happen...would they stop for a count-down? Finish quickly?... Then Wayne from The Lips joined Jack on stage, WE'RE GOING TO BE FRIENDS...As if they couldn't have timed it any more perfectly, it was the end of the song...it was seconds before midnight...and at the stroke of 12...SEVEN NATION ARMY w/The Lips!!!! I thought my head was going to blow off...unbelievable.
They played a great set that ended around 12:30, only to come back and play 4-5 more for an encore. I remember hearing DEAD LEAVES, BALL AND A BISCUIT, I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF... Damn, it was a great show. It was a great night! Constant balloon & confetti drops, a huge video screen (you couldn't miss a thing!) and when it was all said and done, we left with parting gifts from Jack & Meg, lol. Everyone was handed a peppermint candy keychain with a photo of the two of them wishing a "Happy New Year from The White Stripes".
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THE FLAMING LIPS AND THE WHITE STRIPES
January 2, 2004
The Chicago SunTimes
BY JIM DEROGATIS
New Year's Eve is marked by special occasions from coast to coast, but the coolest rock show in America on Wednesday night was the double bill of the Flaming Lips and the White Stripes at Chicago's Capone-era Aragon Ballroom.
Detroit's White Stripes were celebrating the end of a year that saw them rise from much-lauded underground darlings to bona fide rock stars, thanks to the undeniable charisma of singer, songwriter and guitarist Jack White and the critical accolades granted their fourth album, "Elephant."
Meanwhile, Oklahoma City's Flaming Lips continue to take their good-natured bacchanal of a stage show to an exuberant new level every time they come through Chicago, despite the fact that by this point, they've performed in their adopted "second hometown" in support of 2002's "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" nearly a dozen times.
The two bands met and befriended each other last year when the Lips toured as the opening act and backing band for Beck. White greeted bandleader Wayne Coyne backstage at the tour stop in Detroit by giving him a unique (and typically surreal and Lips-like) statue, an event that the Lips commemorated in song on a recent EP.
Needless to say, the band performed that tune -- "Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me") -- as part of an abbreviated but nevertheless mind-blowing set.
It was the fourth time that the band ushered in a new year in Chicago, and while I didn't think it could top last year's extravagant spectacle at Metro, it did.
In addition to the giant video screen, clouds of smoke, flashing lights, oversize balloons, inflatable robots, ton of confetti and army of costumed "plushies" (a quartet of whom disrobed mid-show to gyrate in a sleazy, sub-Admiral Theater striptease), there were four new, towering, inflatable costumed cartoon characters and a sampling of newer tunes. This included a propulsive run through the band's recent collaboration with the Chemical Brothers on the dance hit "The Golden Path."
The Lips also joined the White Stripes during the middle of their set shortly before midnight to back that band on its rendition of "We're Going to Be Friends." White ceded the obligatory countdown to Coyne (a natural-born emcee who should audition to replace Dick Clark for the job), and then the two groups tore through the Stripes' big hit "Seven Nation Army."
A galvanizing band in smaller venues, the Stripes seemed lost and thoroughly daunted by the vast, lovably shabby expanse of the Aragon during their two-night stand at the venue last July.
But whether it was thanks to continued touring at the bigger level or a need for catharsis after the turbulence of recent events -- White survived a frightening car crash in July and was recently charged with assault after a barroom brawl with the lead singer of fellow Detroit garage-rockers the Von Bondies -- the band was on fire on New Year's Eve, and it claimed the Aragon as its own.
Most critics focus on Jack White in praising the duo's live shows, and as noted above, his charisma is undeniable. The 28-year-old musician displays a quiet intensity that recalls Kurt Cobain, but despite his recent outburst, he seems much more comfortable with and better suited to stardom, as evidenced by his small but memorable role in the film "Cold Mountain" (which features his girlfriend, Renee Zellweger, among its stars).
But Jack's former wife, drummer Meg, is every bit as responsible for the band's success. Though some critics and musicians deride her minimalist, 1-2-3-4 pounding, it is hard to imagine the group with any other timekeeper.
Meg's primal rhythms are the perfect complement to Jack's occasional explosions of feedback and the sirenlike slide solos on his cheap, beat-up Airlines guitar, and she deftly follows him through the improvised flights of fancy during the tunes' midsections, when he moves to a second microphone (distorted to sound like a megaphone) set up beside the candy-colored, red-and-white drum set.
While I disagreed with many of my critical peers and found "Elephant" lacking the power of 2001's "White Blood Cells," the group's newer material finally realized its potential on stage. At the Aragon, the Stripes reclaimed their throne not only as the finest blues-based garage band of their generation, but a "next big thing" for whom the hype is for once justified.
Kicking off the night in fine, understated style with an appealing, old-time country hoedown was the Detroit quintet Blanche. The group is led by Dan Miller, formerly known as "Goober" in the country-shtick band Goober and the Peas, for whom Jack White played drums for a stretch in the mid-'90s.
The highlight of the band's set was a song called "Garbage Pickers," which perfectly described not only the group's shabby-chic, thrift-store style and discerning musical thievery/tasteful appropriation, but the trash aesthetic shared by all of the performers. It was the perfect spirit for an evening devoted to discarding the past and looking toward the future. |
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| Factory Girl |
Thank you, my dear Parmeda for the superb review!!! And, I did learn something about the "beer trick". You are a very cool lady, and a great mom!!
The WS keychain is a nice touch!!!
BTW, "Seven Nation Army" is the song of 2003!! |
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| FPM C10 |
WOW! Thanks for the eyewitness report and the article. I could definitely catch the vibe from what must have been a memorable evening. I bet that version of "Seven Nation Army" singed the eyebrows off the people in the front row!
And the keychain - just WAY too cool. I had already awarded you the "coolest New Year's Eve plans" prize, and I guess that was your trophy.
I'd like to go to the Aragon sometime. I used to listen to WCFL AM when I was little - at night it covered half the country - and there would always be ads for the bands coming to Chicago. "Tonight, the Cream at the Aragon Ballroom". So it has this mythic quality for me anyway. And then there's the boot of the Stones show there - wow!
Ballrooms rule.
And so do the White Stripes! I loved what the article said about Meg - right ON - and Jack is the coolest cat out there.
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| mac_daddy |
that keychain is a nice touch...
I am glad you got to see them live - they are much rawer in person, and their material comes off with an indeniable energy. And Jack really attacks that guitar, doesn't he?
the Lips ain't half bad either. I remember seing them in the mid 90s (before she dont use jelly became a hit, but it was in support of that album). Anyway they did all that crazy shit back then when nobody knew who they were, and everybody was kinda thinking "these guys are crazy, but they are also f*cking good!"
I am with fpm - you do get the award for Coolest New Year's Eve plans.
did you see anybody taping?
Happy New Year. |
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| LadyJane |
Pammy..YOU ROCK!! What a cool Mom your boys have!!
Yep..Coolest NYEVE Award...Miss Parmeda!!
LJ. |
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| parmeda |
quote:
mac_daddy wrote:
did you see anybody taping?
Not in the balcony, but when I went to the main floor I saw a couple of guys with their toys while The Lips were on...I'm sure they caught The Stripes as well. Can't hook ya up though...sorry. (Maybe I should have given those guys the beer and cut them a deal.)
All I know is that next year, I'm stayin' home!
...I'm getting too old for that shit, lol. |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
jealous.
I'm glad you had a good time. Man, what a show! I knew you were gonna see the Stripes...but I had no idea that Blanche and the Lips were on the bill too!
I saw the Lips at some festival or other when I used to go to those things. I remember they were wearing bunny suits for a while. Very strange and very good.
My advice to anyone who is even remotely interested in new music is that you should make haste to see the Stripes when they are in, or near, your town. They are a tremendous live act. And anyone who says Jack White ain't a good guitar player.....well, they are full of shit, and wouldn't know a good guitar player if they got whacked over the head with a '52 Telecaster.
I read an interview with Jack in some guitar magazine. The asked him...why do you play those crappy knock off guitars? Certainly you could play any vintage guitar that you want...so why play a plastic Airline? You know what he said? This will kill you. He said that playing a well made guitar feels like cheating to him. It's too easy. Even average players can pick up a good guitar and sound good. He said that he likes the challenge of wringing his songs from guitars that feel like they are going to fall apart any second!
Can you believe that? |
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| mac_daddy |
quote:
I read an interview with Jack in some guitar magazine. The asked him...why do you play those crappy knock off guitars? Certainly you could play any vintage guitar that you want...so why play a plastic Airline? You know what he said? This will kill you. He said that playing a well made guitar feels like cheating to him. It's too easy. Even average players can pick up a good guitar and sound good. He said that he likes the challenge of wringing his songs from guitars that feel like they are going to fall apart any second!
that is f*cking classic! |
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| parmeda |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
Can you believe that?
Especially after last week, yes I can!
He has such a cocky-air to him...you can see it, you can hear it, you can feel it...I loved it!
SS...I tried to get the cameras in that night. It was a "no go". Assholes made me check 'em in. You would have loved it. You popped into my head several times dear. And yes, The Lips are definately a different breed of cat.
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| Martha |
PAM! I thought of you many times on New Year's Eve...I'm so glad you had a great time with Jackie White and Meg. I heard Jack was recently given a new Airline from a fan who bought it for him off of e-bay (I believe). I read about this in the dreaded Rolling Stone magazine.
Anyway, I appreciated the great reviews thanks for writing and posting them. I'll send you the show I saw in November once I get a copy of it. I'm still wating.
As Cardinal Fang says,.......
Gotta Bail!
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