popular thinking

THE WHITE STRIPES, THE REVIEW: Jack White is a freak -- and a freakin' musical genius. Such an intense, commanding performance as he closed out a three-night run at the Opera House in Boston. Such a departure, too, from his appearance onstage with Loretta Lynn at the Grammys ("Yes, Miss Lynn. Thank you, Miss Lynn."). Fronting his familial duo, The White Stripes, Jack White showed he was in complete control, even when it might look to many in the audience as though he is completely winging it at times. In Being Jack White, maybe you'll decide to play a song on the piano rather than the guitar, maybe you'll bring the guitar with you when you sit at the piano, maybe you'll play the xylophone, maybe you'll let Meg sing a verse, maybe you'll tell Meg how to play the drums. Who knows? At one point in the first set (it'd be a misnomer to claim that The White Stripes perform an encore, when really it's more like a five-minute intermission between two equally powerful sets of music), Jack pointed out a kid standing alone in the balcony, applauding him and berating the "old fogies" sitting around him. Later, in the second set, Jack announced he'd adopted the kid as "my new son" and asked a roadie to make sure the kid gets all of their music. Toward the end of the set, the duo performed a Loretta Lynn song with Meg taking on vocals, a rousing version of "Seven Nation Army," then played "You Belong To Me," an old country standard (done by Jo Stafford, Patsy Cline, Bob Dylan and many others), although this time, Jack backed away from the microphone to sing the final verse specifically to an older woman standing near front row center. Kinda cute, kinda creepy. Sort of like at the end, when Jack White told us that "my sister thanks you" when talking about his ex-wife Meg. Um, OK. I didn't get a direct view of Meg for most of the show (my seats were front row, but farthest left, so a speaker got in the way of Meg). Instead, I saw her backlit shadow projected large against the other side of the house. Looked like Attack of the 50-foot Drummer! At times, watching her shadow bang on the drums made me think of Animal the Muppet. In a good way, naturally.