Jack White headlined Not So Silent Night 2012 Evening 1 at Oracle Arena.
Bay area radio station Live 105 put together a top-notch lineup for their annual holiday festival Friday at Oracle Arena. Night one featured a couple proper headliners, a special surprise due to a gear snafu, and a group of talented Icelandic youngsters that got a huge reaction from the stadium crowd.
Jack White anchored the evening with his all female band The Peacocks. White played most of the best tracks from his 2012 LP Blunderbuss, but the majority of the songs played were from other Jack White groups and collaborations. “Steady, As She Goes” from The Raconteurs was a main set highlight, and “Blue Blood Blues” by The Dead Weather made an appearance during the encore. Also “Two Against One” from the Danger Mouse record Rome was a treat.
Six different White Stipes songs were performed, including “Hotel Yorba,” “I’m Slowly Turning Into You,” “The Hardest Button to Button” and “Ball and Biscuit.” And as usual, White ended the night with “Seven Nation Army.”
It’s easy to consider Jack White a music legend, even at his age. He’s a an artist that carefully constructs the world around him. His crew is as sharp as they come, and they look dapper with their fedora hats and ties. This sets a professional and throw-back tone before White comes on stage. He gives it his all every time out, playing his songs with passion and swagger. Combine this with his disdain for twitter and concert photography, and Jack White creates a mysterious persona and a live music experience that is special and memorable.
The Shins performed an even mix of new tracks and classics.
About half the songs The Shins played were from their most recent album Port of Morrow. “The Rifle’s Spiral” started with the band not completely in synch, but they got it together quickly. “Simple Song” completely delivered and it sounded even better live than on the record. “Port of Morrow” slowed things down too much, to the point where the energy was zapped for “New Slang” and “Sleeping Lessons.”
James Mercer seems happy with his new bandmates, and his energy was upbeat and engaged Friday night.
Metric’s gear was stuck in Miami, so they played a stripped-down acoustic set.
Metric turned lemons into lemonade since all their gear was somehow stuck in Miami. The Live 105 people set Emily Haines and James Shaw up with an acoustic guitar and piano to play a short, stripped-down set. It was a blessing in disguise for most people close to the stage.
The really drunk girl adjacent to me was super bummed she wasn’t dancing to her favorite Metric tunes, but this special treatment of Metric’s songs isn’t something that happens very often. Recently released tracks “Breathing Underwater” and “Youth Without Youth” were very pretty when the focus was on Haines’ vocals
Of Monsters and Men’s anthems got a big reaction as their following gets larger.
Of Monsters and Men’s meteoric rise continued to show as they made their forth swing through the bay area in 2012. When they played the 450 capacity venue The Independent in March before their first LP was released, it was immediately clear their anthems could fill a stadium setting. It was pretty incredible to see this materialize less than nine months later.
The Icelandic breakthrough band of 2012 might have gotten the biggest positive reaction of the night, other than Jack White. “Six Weeks” was a great way to finish the the short set. Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir is truly talented, and she comes across as extremely sweat and genuine.
Gaslight Anthem played a solid set as many people were still arriving.
The Gaslight Anthem mostly played tracks from their 2012 LP Handwritten, and people were still arriving during this set. They got a pretty lukewarm reaction compared to the rest of the acts, but the New Jersey group put on a solid set.
Gaslight Anthem kinda got screwed with their set placements at both Acoustic Xmas and NSSN.
I feel like the set placement, gear or no gear, for Metric was a head scratcher.
Great write up