My Review of The White Stripes/ Citizens Band Show at Irving Plaza (The Fillmore)
…will go here. In the meantime, read my 5-minute knee-jerk review from the night of the show.
What I have so far…
Opening act The Citizens Band came on around 9:40pm. As I described to people on the line last weekend, The Citizens Band is a cabaret-style collective–“kinda like the Pussycat Dolls”…meaning that there was a rotating cast in the band, not that they were scantily-clad ladies gyrating around a stage. The performance included members Karen Elson, Rain Phoenix, Angela McCluskey, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Ian Buchanan, Jorjee Douglas, and Amy Miles.
Photo courtesy of Press Here/Gaetano Salvador
Of course many people in attendance were only familiar w/ the Citizens Band due to the fact that Jack White’s wife, the aforementioned Karen Elson, is a sometimes member of the band. The funny thing is, that’s all some people know of the band–they don’t even know who “Jack White’s wife” is…despite the fact that Karen is a world-famous international supermodel and (not as famously) a musician. I overheard the people in front of me have this conversation:
MAN: Jack White’s wife is in this band.
WOMAN: Which one is she?
MAN: I don’t know
WOMAN: Oh I think she’s the one all the way over there
Perhaps it’s better this way though–I would hope that people would judge the merit of The Citizens Band not on who they are married to, but the quality of their performance. I found the high theatrics of the CB to be a bit jarring at first–after all, we were supposed to be at a ROCK show, not theater camp–but after the first song or two, I forgot about where I was supposed to be seeing (a rock ‘n’ roll concert), and was able to appreciate the homage to politically-minded German stage shows (in the vein of Bertolt Brecht) that CB is so rooted in.
Read more impressions of the show at RS: Rock Daily, Product Shop NYC, Village Voice, Newsday, New York Magazine (they might want to brush up on their Dolly Parton–or have their copywriter learn how to spell “Jolene”)
1. Rod | 12:48 pm on June 21st, 2007
oh my god, ian buchanan? “Duke Lavery” from General Hospital?????
2. Rina | 3:30 pm on June 21st, 2007
Yeah, and Twin Peaks. Ian’s a sexy beast
3. Henry | 4:49 pm on June 21st, 2007
I remember him in an episode of Quantum Leap where he played a psuedo-vampire.
4. Gregor | 5:37 pm on June 21st, 2007
Why is every article so eager to just spread bullshit on how brilliant The White Stripes automatically are. One of those articles mentions “fan-favorite, ‘Jolene’”…but he actually stopped playing that song after the first or second verse because the room was deader than Vaudeville. And that cool “droning” sound referenced in that same article is called feedback, and it hurts one’s ears. Why can’t these articles just be, like, I don’t know, honest.
5. Anonymous | 5:51 pm on June 21st, 2007
ho well
6. laura | 6:09 pm on June 21st, 2007
i don’t think being quiet during songs signals that people aren’t enjoying themselves–they could be…i don’t know… actually listening to the music rather than “wooohing” and distracting the performer.
7. Anonymous | 10:06 pm on June 21st, 2007
or how to spell Boll Weevil
8. Anonymous | 10:08 pm on June 21st, 2007
or actually “De Ballit of De Boll Weevil”
9. Rina | 1:40 pm on June 22nd, 2007
Rag & Bone reminds me so much of Hot For Teacher
10. Gothamist’s Week in Rock, Volume 25 at | 3:47 pm on June 22nd, 2007
[...] to see them bring it to another level at the Garden next month. Read the reviews at Productshop, The Modern Age, and Stereogum, to (name a few in attendance.) (Pic Via [...]
11. Hazel | 6:27 pm on August 3rd, 2007
Duke Lavery, Twin Peaks, sexy beast– all that and then some plus one. Got to see the CB.
12. Anonymous | 7:49 pm on August 3rd, 2007
Too bad he bats for the other side. Such a waste