Like at most workplaces, we like to spend Monday morning making it look as if we’re working while we talk about what went down during the weekend. And this morning there there's only one topic of conversation around the ol’ water cooler – The White Stripes on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.”
It wasn’t just any night in Conan-land. It was O’Brien’s last night hosting “Late Night.” Jimmy Fallon will take over the “Late Night” reins starting March 2, and O’Brien takes over the top chair on the “Tonight Show” starting in June.
But this wasn’t just any White Stripes performance, either. The Jack / Meg White power duo was supposed to tour supporting their last album, Icky Thump, in 2007 but canceled the tour in September of that year, citing Meg’s anxiety problems.
So Friday’s appearance on the last "Late Night With Conan O’Brien" was the first time audiences had seen the Stripes since 2007. How did they look and sound? Let’s go to the video.
It starts with O’Brien telling his audience that there was only one band they wanted to close out “Late Night.”
“I’m personally very thrilled we could make this happen this evening,” said O’Brien in introducing the band. “Will you please welcome, our good friends for many years, The White Stripes.”
According to Rolling Stone, O’Brien first met the Stripes in their before-the-fame days during the late 1990s when he was shooting a video segment in Detroit with Ted Nugent. Fast forward a few years later and O’Brien turned out to be a fan of the group, but didn’t realize they were the same band as the two “kids” he met years earlier. That is, not until he met them during a Stripes appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”
But the performance wasn’t the drums/guitar sonic cacophony the Stripes are known for. Instead of banging out the beat, Meg strummed a guitar while standing next to Jack.
The number was “We’re Going To Be Friends.” But instead of the medium-tempo McCartney-ish track that appeared on White Blood Cells, the Stripes took it down a notch and came up with a casual-yet-moving performance, slowing down the original melody to something more closely resembling a mournful ballad.
What do you think of the first public White Stripes appearance in almost two years? Are Jack and Meg ready to pick up where they left off? Or do you think it’s going to be a while before we see another tour?
Read the Rolling Stone article here.