Raconteurs first among equals in Vancouver tour opener



Last Sunday (April 20), the Raconteurs made Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom the launching pad for their current North American tour. The show wasn’t exactly seamless—blown lines here and there and confused looks between bandmates made it obvious that the quartet hasn’t completely mastered every song off its just-released sophomore album, Consolers of the Lonely. Still, that somehow didn’t matter.

If the night made anything clear, it’s that much as singer-guitarist Jack White insists the Raconteurs is a group of equals, that’s not entirely true. Not only did the moonlighting White Stripe look every bit as awesome as Gram Parsons after a Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors shopping spree, he was the most captivating figure on-stage during the hour-long show. If his fellow singer-guitarist Brendan Benson couldn’t compete in the rock ’n’ roll magnetism department, he didn’t help his cause any with his on-stage attire. No one’s suggesting you have to outdo Elton John during the Captain Fantastic years, but really, can’t you try a little harder than faded jeans, high-tops, a wrinkled white blouse, and a hairdo inspired by the cover of Frampton Comes Alive? Dude—when the rest of your band has miles and miles of style, it’s not cool to look like you’ve been sleeping in a cardboard box since 1974.

Despite such quibbles, the Raconteurs were as great as they were punishingly loud. Props go to drummer Patrick Keeler for putting in a performance that Keith Moon would have been wowed by, and for Pillsbury Doughboy-pallored bassist Jack Lawrence, for no other reason than that he looked like Crispin Glover dressed as the world’s most DIY accountant.

Straight staffer Janet McDonald was also at the Raconteurs show, and snapped the above photos.

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