It seems like the only person to agree with my review of the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden is The Modern Age. After talking with Laura for awhile, I went back and found some old setlists of White Stripes shows I've seen and just looking at what they played made me fondly remember how amazing those shows were compared to the MSG show.
I think one of the big factors was how predictable the setlist for the Garden was. On old tours, they seemed to be so all over the place. You never knew what they would play. It seems like they would pick from about 100 songs. Meanwhile, on this Icky Thump tour, the band seems to be selected from a playlist of only thirty or so songs. Or maybe I've just heard them play some of the old songs soooo many times.
Anyway, after the jump are some of the older setlists from shows I've seen. Let's compare........
WHITE STRIPES | PIER 54 | NYC | AUGUST 16, 2001
Let's Shake Hands / Hear My Name / Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground / Hotel Yorba / I Think I Smell A Rat / Lord, Send Me An Angel / Death Letter / Little Room /The Union Forever / Jolene / Your Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl) / Hello Operator / Jimmy The Exploder / Astro -> Jack The Ripper / We're Going To Be Friends / Apple Blossom / Expecting / Fell In Love With A Girl / Wasting My Time / Screwdriver
WHITE STRIPES | BOWERY BALLROOM | APRIL 6, 2002
The Big Three Killed My Baby / Let's Shake Hands / I Think I Smell a Rat / Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground / Hotel Yorba / Apple Blossom / You're Pretty Good Looking / Hello Operator / I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman / Stop Breaking Down / Look Me Over Closely / Offend In Every Way / Let's Build A Home > Party Of Special Things To Do / I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself / Suzy Lee / Ball And Biscuit / We're Going To Be Friends / Isis / Sugar Never Tasted So Good / Wasting My Time / Astro / I Fought Piranhas / Fell In Love With A Girl / Cannon -> John The Revelator / Good To Me / Screwdriver / Rated X / Boll Weevil
WHITE STRIPES | BOWERY BALLROOM | APRIL 8, 2002
Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground / When I Hear My Name / Death Letter / Motherless Children Have A Hard Time / Little Bird / I Think I Smell A Rat / Jolene / I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman / Hotel Yorba / She Comes In Colors / Cannon -> John The Revelator -> Cannon / Offend In Every Way / Lovesick / Expecting -> The Object Of My Affection / Let's Do It / Lord Send Me An Angel / Fell In Love With A Girl / St. James Infirmary Blues / Baby Blue / Astro / Jack The Ripper / We Are Going To Be Friends // Jimmy The Exploder // I Fought Piranhas // You're Pretty Good Looking // Hello Operator -> Screwdriver // Boll Weevil
WHITE STRIPES | KEYSPAN PARK | SEPTEMBER 24, 2005
Black Math / Blue Orchid / Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground -> Passive Manipulation / Jolene / My Doorbell / Cannon -> Screwdriver -> Passive Manipulation -> Screwdriver / The Nurse / Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) / Death Letter / Hotel Yorba / The Hardest Button To Button / I Think I Smell A Rat / Walking With A Ghost / Ball And Biscuit / Hello Operator / The Union Forever / I'm Lonely But I Ain't That Lonely Yet / Red Rain / It's Not Unusual / In The Cold, Cold Night / Let's Shake Hands / We're Going To Be Friends / Little Ghost / Ball And Biscuit // Seven Nation Army // Boll Weevil
WHITE STRIPES | THE FILLMORE AT IRVING | JUNE 19, 2007
When I Hear My Name / Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground / Icky Thump / Cannon -> Jumble Jumble -> John the Revelator / My Doorbell / I’m Slowly Turning Into You / Jolene (one verse) / Hotel Yorba / I Think I Smell a Rat / Effect and Cause / Apple Blossom / Same Boy You’ve Always Known / Catch Hell Blues / St. James Infirmary Blues / In the Cold, Cold Night / I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart / You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket / Rag and Bone (istrumental) / Astro / Union Forever -> Little Cream Soda -> Union Forever / Blackjack Davy / Black Math // Blue Orchid // A Martyr for My Love for You // I Don’t Know What to Do with Myself // Ball and a Biscuit // Bo Weevil
WHITE STRIPES | MADISON SQUARE GARDEN | 07-24-2007
Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground / When I Hear My Name / Jolene / Hotel Yorba / Cannon -> John The Revelator / Icky Thump / Do / Death Letter / In The Cold, Cold Night / A Martyr for My Love for You / I'm Slowly Turning Into You / Think I Smell A Rat -> Wasting My Time / 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues / You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told / Fell In Love With A Girl -> Ball & Biscuit // Blue Orchid // I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself // Little Ghost // We're Going To Be Friends // Little Bird -> Catch Hell Blues // My Doorbell // Seve Nation Army // Boll Weevil
Comments (8)
I don't know how anyone can possibly compare setlists from 2001 and 2002 to a setlist in 2007. Their library has grown so much. Have they not come out with 3 albums since that time? They had only 3 albums to go off of from before 2003 and 6 albums to go off of now and obviously have to include the tunes people came to see. It was a great show. Everyone should stop trying to look for things to bring it down.
Posted on July 26, 2007 11:56 AM
um, i dont see how you could have possibly seen that Pier 54 show as it was the same night as Radiohead at Liberty State Park which I went to with you both nights. and rob is right, stop comparing, the show was rocking any way you look at it.
Posted on July 26, 2007 12:51 PM
The Pier show is my archives and I posted it. I was at Radiohead that night (which is amazing), and someone else did review it, but I do have a bootleg video of the show and its amazing.
Posted on July 26, 2007 1:02 PM
Post the setlist to that radiohead show! I was there too and i think those 2 nights at liberty state park were my favorite 2 non-festival nights of music of my life.
Posted on July 26, 2007 4:42 PM
These were two of the best shows ever. Totally agree....
RADIOHEAD | LIBERTY STATE PARK | 8-16-01
National Anthem / Morning Bell / Airbag / Karma Police / Knives Out / Exit Music /Packt Like Sardines / My Iron Lung / No Surprises / Dollars and Cents / Street Spirit (Fade Out) / I Might Be Wrong / Pyramid Song / Paranoid Android / Idioteque / Everything In Its Right Place // Like Spinning Plates // Lucky // You And Whose Army? // How To Disappear Completely /// True Love Waits //// The Bends //// The Tourist
RADIOHEAD | LIBERTY STATE PARK | 8-17-01
National Anthem / Lucky / Optimistic / Karma Police / I Might Be Wrong / Knives Out / Pakt Like Sardines / Exit Music (For A Film) / My Iron Lung / No Surprises / Dollars and Cents / Just / Pyramid Song / Paranoid Android / Idioteque / Everything In It's Right Place // Morning Bell // Fake Plastic Trees // Climbing Up The Walls // How To Disappear Completely /// Talk Show Host /// You and Whose Army? //// Like Spinning Plates ///// The Bends
Posted on July 26, 2007 7:08 PM
Thanks, I'm getting a bit choked up (actually I'm incapable of human emotion) thinking back to those nights and the towers' last few weeks serving as the backdrop. Can't believe how long ago it was.
Posted on July 27, 2007 10:08 AM
Wow, those Radiohead setlists look awful close to one another! Why isn't anything being said about that? Radiohead and most bands usually play the same setlists at each show and just mix up a few songs within. Everyone should be praising the White Stripes for mixing it up a bit more than everyone else.
I was at Radiohead, by the way, and had an amazing time even thought the music was predictable. I can't believe it was only 3 weeks before the towers fell.
Posted on July 27, 2007 10:51 AM
Rob...the white stripes are not radiohead. You have to take into consideration the nature of the band that is performing and the arrangements involved. I don't think Jason was complaining about the lack of variety in the WS playlist, but rather the predictability of the choices from their vast catalog of music.
Posted on July 27, 2007 1:06 PM