The White Stripes Birmingham, AL 6/30/07

Leave it to the White Stripes to host the most unusual and unique venue I've ever attended.  Try to imagine being in the factory on the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals album (minus the pig).  Apparently the Sloss Furnace was an old iron mill for about 90 years.  The actual stage and floor were in an old warehouse with only one outside wall still standing and the concrete floor slanted down towards the stage.  Old hanging cranes; heavy, rusted machinery; aged smoke stacks; a water tower; and a left over boxcar on the side with people standing on it adorned the scenery of the dilapidated but charming site.  It probably held about 10,000 people that were being served $5 beers by wandering beer girls throughout the crowd, an idea that should start being used in Atlanta.  The mildly entertaining Dan Sartain, a Birmingham native, and his trio opened the show with their hard-core rockabilly sound that grows on you after a while, even in the sweltering heat of Alabama.  After what seemed like an eternity (in the heat) Jack and Meg busted on the stage and opened with "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground."  The stage set up was, of course, all peppermint colors with huge red wall that had three sets of stairs leading to a platform about a third of the way up.  When stomping around up there, Jack released a fog from underneath his feet as he traveled back and forth which made for a pretty cool effect, not to mention the lights that were set up to cast their giant black shadow silhouettes against the huge red wall.  He and his black zoot suit with red tie clad roadies had to keep a close eye on the guitar cord while he was up there to keep it from getting caught on the amps down below.  Meg got to be in the fore-front when she sang "In the Cold, Cold Night" while Jack sat with his back to us and played his six string.  Just before the break, they started playing "Seven Nation Army" and stopped in the middle to say that it might be inappropriate to play that song in this country anymore and went on to play another tune.  Didn't really bother me, I've heard that song a million times, but none the less, still kinda strange.  Jack seemed a little put out by the crowd, whose energy was admittedly bled from the heat.   Playing songs spanning all of their albums, including a handful from the new one, the set list was very pleasing, even without playing some of my favs like "Catch Hell Blues" (bummer, huh Shelton).  I was a little disappointed that they didn't play an encore set and that he didn't use his piano much, but genius is not to be questioned.  All in all, worth every second of travel time.