Jack White isn't the star of the Dead Weather, but he was undoubtedly the star of the band's concert Friday night at the Fillmore Detroit.
The White Stripes and Raconteurs frontman assumes a backseat role in the Dead Weather -- quite literally, in fact: He's the band's drummer. Yet it was the moments he stepped out from behind his drumkit -- taking vocal duty on "You Just Can't Win" and ripping out a pair of scorching guitar solos during "Will There Be Enough Water" -- that the show came alive the most.
But the Dead Weather -- playing their second Detroit concert, following a last-minute warm-up date at the Magic Stick last month -- takes great pleasure in subverting expectations. You don't put one of the world's most talented and celebrated guitarists on drummer duty unless you're interested in messing with convention. In that sense, the Dead Weather is a bit of a tease, but it's a tease in the best sense, in that they leave you longing for more.
The band's 13-song, 65-minute set -- centered on the band's debut album, "Horehound," released last week -- effectively created a dark, murky mood for the 2,400 or so fans in attendance. Frontwoman Alison Mosshart chain-smoked throughout the show and struck awesome rock star poses, while guitarist and keyboardist Dean Fertita -- a utility player in Queens of the Stone Age and the Raconteurs -- came into his own in his beefed-up stage role.
But really, it was all about White, who spent the majority of the show bashing the drums like the son of Meg White and Animal from "The Muppets." Your eyes go to him no matter what, and perhaps by default, he draws as much attention as Neil Pert does at a Rush show.
And for good reason: The Dead Weather is very much a Jack White project, and you feel his stamp on every facet of the band's sinister sound. (The band has the feel of a group you'd see playing a darkened club in a David Lynch movie, and has a deep sexual undercurrent we haven't begun to fully understand.)
White remains a magnetic presence and a complicated figure, and it still feels like we've only begun to see the depths of his talents. As long as he continues to follow his muse, we will continue to follow his every move.
agraham@detnews.com">agraham@detnews.com (313) 222-2284
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