Meg White turned to the White Stripes’ archivist and dropped a bombshell moments earlier than taking the stage on July 31, 2007 for a efficiency at Snowden Grove Park Amphitheater in Southaven, Miss.: “I feel that is the final White Stripes present.”
The White Stripes had blazed a path as one of many period’s largest rock acts within the decade previous to that evening. Jack White’s formidable guitar and vocals coupled with an uninhibited creativeness to assist the duo spearhead a garage-rock revival. Their first two albums, 1999’s self-titled launch and 2000’s De Stijl, had been underground sensations. White Blood Cells turned their mainstream breakthrough in 2001, thanks largely to the hit track “Fell in Love With a Woman.” The hits would carry on coming, with the White Stripes had been quickly hailed amongst rock’s elite.
The White Stripes had been nonetheless driving excessive that evening in Mississippi. Their sixth studio album, Icky Thump, had come out six weeks earlier, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard chart – a profession excessive for the band. This was presupposed to be the ultimate cease on an preliminary run of exhibits, with the band and their group scheduled to take a six-week break earlier than returning for a extra intensive trek. But behind the scenes, Meg had been struggling along with her psychological well being and that is what satisfied her that the White Stripes had reached the tip of the street.
After all, these information had been unknown to followers on the time, together with the roughly 11,000 individuals who’d turned out to see the band in Southaven. The White Stripes delivered a sometimes incendiary set, ripping by way of their very own hits – “Lifeless Leaves and the Soiled Floor,” “Icky Thump,” “Lodge Yorba” – in addition to covers of such place-appropriate blues luminaries as Robert Johnson and Son Home.
“I can’t even inform you how a lot it means for me to be right here tonight,” Jack declared at one level, alluding to his deep respect for Mississippi’s Delta blues. “So I’m not even gonna trouble.”
Watch the White Stripes Carry out ‘Icky Thump’ Throughout Their Ultimate Live performance
For all of his swagger, ardour and unbelievable musical means, Jack remained a scholar of music at coronary heart. He was by no means shy about paying tribute to artists who had an affect, starting from blues legends to rock ‘n’ roll icons. The White Stripes’ enigmatic frontman additionally appeared to develop a wholesome relationship with fame because it blossomed through the years. The identical couldn’t be stated, nevertheless, for his counterpart.
“Meg is a really shy lady, a really quiet and shy particular person,” Jack later informed Music Radar, noting that the tempo at which the White Stripes had been transferring solely heightened her stress: “We had been enjoying two exhibits a day in Canada, then we would fly to France and do a TV present there, then we had been again in England on tour, and we had been simply killin’ it, man. The prepare was uncontrolled.”
On Sept. 11, the White Stripes introduced the cancellation of their remaining 2007 exhibits as a consequence of Meg’s “acute anxiousness.” In a short message to followers, they added: “We hate to let folks down and are very sorry.”
As months was years, rumors would swirl across the band’s standing. Jack turned his consideration to aspect tasks just like the Raconteurs and the Lifeless Climate, whereas insisting the White Stripes weren’t finished. He even hinted that new music was within the works.
A 2009 look on the ultimate episode of Late Night time With Conan O’Brien gave followers additional hope, however a lengthier reunion was to not be. The White Stripes formally broke up on Feb. 2, 2011. That July Mississippi present was their last live performance, simply as Meg had predicted.
Prime 40 Blues Rock Albums
Impressed by giants like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and B.B. King, rock artists have put their very own spin on the blues.
