The White Stripes

The whole UK tour has been about finding out how the NME darlings will hold up in larger venues and to larger crowds. The question on the Industry's lips is will mass music lovers feel the same as John Peel does about the Detroit duo.

One thing that both unsettled me and made me more impatient to see them was a quick peek by Jack White at the size of the audience and then his Jordan Catalano impression.

The support act The Von Bondies also from Detroit took the stage and ripped through an impressive set (despite the lead singer breaking the same guitar string three times) comprised of songs off their newly released stunning debut album 'Lack of Communication ' produced by Jack White on Sympathy For The Record Industry. Stand out songs from their set include 'Sound Of Terror and 'It Came From Japan'** . Interestingly enough Jack seemed to be acting as roadie, string repairer and generally being Jason (lead singer) Stollsteimer's bitch. The Von Bondies vacated the stage to somewhat indifferent applause, but I for one loved them.

The White Stripes ** were greeted with raptuous applause. They performed an impressive set, with songs spanning their three albums. The recent single 'Hotel Yorba' and the American b-side 'Jolene' were performed with a hurried but blisteringly energetic air.

With Jack's wide vocal range, his twitch and his seemingly telepathic connection with Meg made sure that each song virtually ran into the next, without even time for well deserved applause.

Only one encore featuring the outstanding 'Hello Operator' left the audience wanting more and made sure that the merchandising stall (manned by The Von Bondies) was busy well after the stage had been vacated.