So-called "Supergroups" can disappoint. Any time members of your favorite bands embark on a new project together, it's inevitable that one musician's vision overshadows another's, or that the entire project is such a capricious lark by all involved that the byproduct bears no resemblance to what made their music so special to you in the first place.
I'm willing to wager that the Dead Weather will not suffer from this affliction. For one thing, each member and their principal bands share a similar concept: crunchy, riff-heavy blues rock. Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs plays rock n' roll steeped in blues tradition, while Dean Fertita's Queens of the Stone Age trades in bone-crushing hooks that frequently follow blues signifiers. But it's the main duo of Allison Mosshart (the Kills) and seemingly omnipresent Jack White (White Stripes) that reflect the blues ethos best through their music. Both come from male/female duos that take the blues into an almost post-modern dichotomy of sardonic indie cred and sincere honor to the masters. Both have such strong personalities as frontwoman & frontman of their respective bands that I was curious how (or if) they could occupy the same stage. Yet at Zepp Tokyo last Wednesday, they proved that despite prolific work with their main gigs, their chemistry together as the Dead Weather is both profound and perhaps only in its nascent stages.
As the first chords of album opener "60 feet tall" ricocheted off the balcony seats, Mosshart struts on stage, her silhouette seen against a black and green backdrop glowing with an eerie symmetry somewhere between an indigenous sacred painting and a spinal x-ray. She thrusts and quivers as Lawrence and Fertita riff on dual white full-body guitars, carrying the momentum into "Hang You From the Heavens," one of the band's first singles. All hands are in the air, because despite Mosshart's charisma, it's White that the mob wants to see, and as he approaches, they nuts.The first two songs followed the sequencing of their only album, Horehound, and for a band with one record, it's understandable if they'd play it through. But the drum-less Van Morrison cover ("You Just Can't Win") that followed next was the first hint of the band's versatility. White leaves the kit to squeals from the crowd. He walks center stage, adjusts his shirt, wipes sweat from his brow and stares straight into the front row. "One more coffee; One more cigarette," he begins, sounding almost like he's reading for his role in the Jarmuch film of the same name. 
Soon it's back behind the kit for White and the pause-then-pound propulsion of the blues that informs the work. White's drumming is unexpectedly clever, playing around the beat like a jazz drummer might if he sat in on a John Lee Hooker session. It also allows Mosshart to be the center of attention again, something she richly deserves. As they crank through new material like "Blue Black Blues" and "Hustle & Cuss," she strides the stage, hair completely obscuring her eyes, wrapping the mic cord around her wrists and neck for effect. Draw erotic undertones from this if you like, but despite the seductive nature of the band's music (and the undeniable good looks of its lead vocalist), Mosshart refrains from the pelvic thrusts and bump-and-grind mechanics you might expect. The sexual dynamics of her stagecraft only truly come to the fore during album closer, "Will There be Enough Water?", the final number before encore. Here Mosshart and White stare each other down from a shared microphone, their lips so close as to kiss. The tension is only broken through shredding sessions on the guitar in the song's finale.
White thanks the audience and walks offstage, but no one's fooled: the lights remain dim and two of the band's singles (and best songs) have yet to be played. They reappear moments later, starting the encore with a cover of doom metal band, Pentagram's "Forever my Queen." From Van Morrison to Pentagram? Impressive. Then at last, Fertita approaches the organ and I know it's time for "Cut Like a Buffalo" and "Treat me Like Your Mother," which both use squelchy stabs at the keyboard that seem to curdle the very air around it. I've heard these songs described as a hybrid of Led Zepplin and Suicide, which isn't too far off, and if this is the direction Dead Weather are going, then this will be one "Supergroup" that could surpass its members original projects. No disappointment there.
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-- setlist --
60 ft.Tall / Heavens / You Just Can't Win / Weapon / No Horse / Die By The Drop / Blue Blood Blues / Rocking Horse / Child of a Few Hours / Jawbreaker / Hustle & Cuss / New Pony / No Hassle / Enough Water -- encore -- Forever My Queen / Buffalo / I Can't Hear You / Mother -->photos report by jinki and photos by yoshitaka
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 mag files : The Dead Weather Black & Blue: The Dead Weather Hang from the Heavens (10/03/31 @ Zepp Tokyo) : review by jinki, photos by yoshitakaphoto report (10/03/31 @ Zepp Tokyo) : photos by yoshitaka |
| The official site The Dead Weather http://www.thedeadweather.com/ check 'em? -->iTunes the latest album  "Horehound" (Domestic / US import) |
check the albums? |
 2010Black & Blue : The Dead Weather Hang from the Heavens : The Dead Weather (31st Mar. @ Zepp Tokyo)Hot & Bothered : The Gossip work up a sweat : The Gpssip (8th Feb. @ Liquidroom Ebisu)Tooth and Nail : Rodrigo y Gabriella drop jaws : Rodrigo Y Gabriela (18th Jan. @ Tokyu Bunkamura Orchard Hall)2006Sufi Cool: Mercan Dede Sends Us Spinning : Mercan Dede & Secret Tribe (4th Oct. @ Tokyu Bunkamura Theater Cocoon2003CD review : Last Heaven's Bootleg : Thee Michell Gun Elephant (26th Dec.)2002interview : Have Guitar... Will Travel : Melissa Ferrick (5th Jul.)interview : Hate Machine: The Parkinsons Come Out Swinging : The Parkinsons (5th Jun.)The Fat of the Land : FatBoy Slim Kicks Off : Fatboy Slim & Boom Boom Satelites (1st Jun. @ Makuhari Messe)Still "Perfect"... : Eddi reader (20th Mar. @ La Foret Musium Roppongi)interview : A Singing Angel Sings Free... : Eddi reader (20th Mar.)interview : 聞く人の心を揺さぶりたい... : Eddi reader (20th Mar.)Multi-ethnic Music-monsters, Ozomatli! : Ozomatli (14th Mar. @ Shinjuku Liquidroom)interview : Here come the people's music again! (JPN) : Ozomatli (24th Feb.)interview : Here come the people's music again! (ENG) : Ozomatli (24th Feb.)Ahh, Natalie, Natalie... : Natalie Merchant (6th Feb. @ Harajuku Laforet)Come on up, hipstars! : Katteni Shiyagare (3rd Feb. @ Shimokitazawa Basement Bar)2001The band to watch for in the future... : The 3peace (30th Sept. @ Shinjuku Loft)-->... and more |