The Forecast Calls For – Dead Weather @ Mayan 8/26/09

Last night I embarked on a journey to see Jack White play in his new band the Dead Weather in support of their new album, Horehound, which by the way is shaping up to be on the top 10 list of 2009. I was in the mood for a rock show, plain and simple, loud guitars, smashing cymbals, smoking lead singers, songs about sweat, blood, whiskey, sex and everything else in between. The Dead Weather answered this call like a shotgun to the face, they blew me away and my brain is all over the place; AND THAT’S THE WAY I LIKE IT.

They came out at 10:35 and played till about 11:40 PM. The Mayan is a great little venue in Los Angeles, sound was awesome and there is not a bad seat anywhere in the house, although on this particular night the AC must have been broken because it was hot as balls.  The opening bad blew chunks by the way.

Alison(Kills), Jack Lawrence(Raconteurs) Dean (Queens of the Stone Age/ raconteurs), and Jack White(the motherfucking man) make up the Dead Weather. Having seen Jack White in both the White Stripes and the Raconteurs I sort knew this show was gonna be kick ass, what I didn’t know is how much ass they where gonna kick. They took the stage and never looked back. Seeing jack White play the drums was GREAT, he also cascaded sporadically  and played the guitar, sang and was the all around man during the whole event. Alison commanded the stage, looking like the sexy sweaty rock beast in her blue jeans and cowboy boots. They opened with the slow starting 60 feet tall, and kicked into high gear for the rest of the show.  They did a nice amount of material of their debut album, my favorite was when Alison grabbed a very interesting looking square guitar and did Bone House, Jack also got on his guitar and did this distorted noise oriented guitar riffs that made him famous in the White Stripes. Talking about guitars where was the bass? Apparently they kept switching instruments throughout the various tracks, Dean Fertita juggled keyboards, guitar, and bass flawlessly, but then again all 4 of the band members were playing various instruments and all but Jack Lawrence were contributing vocally. Seeing songs like Rocking Horse, So Far from Your Weapon and No Hassle Night reminded me of pure New York City Rock n Roll blanketed in 1930 blues straight from New Orleans. That’s the kind of force that the Dead Weather are, a throwback band producing new sounding music, having fun on stage and cranking up stacks until your ears bleed.  They ended their show with a 3 song encore, which include in order, Cut Like a Buffalo, Treat Me Like Your Mother and New Pony.

In the end it was a special night, it reminded me why I go to concerts in the first place. Thank you Dead Weather for keeping pure Rock and Roll alive and kicking.

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