The White Stripes @ Leeds Festival 2002
By Andy Roberts"What a f***ing great day!" signs off Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy
Warhols as his band sign off, "...er, I think The White Stripes are on in a minute...f***ing awesome!".
And perhaps more profanely than most would have put it, old Courtney's managed to pin down the palpable sense of excitement that's been building right through his band's set. Excitement it is indeed, and not about their airing of the moby advert choon, but at the howling white-kid blues that's about to take over when the Dandys have vamooshed.
Believe it or not, Meg and Jack are wearing red and white. Less obvious is who they've got roadie-ing for them. Whispers start almost immediately the fella is spotted helping out with the guitars... "Is that Beck?" the kids aren't sure...
What they are sure of and that is being blown away by a searing session of brilliance from the Whites. The songs just spill out of Jack: 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground', 'You're Pretty Good Lookin', 'Jimmy The Exploder' and 'I Fought Piranhas' are just a few of the more astonishing bits...hell, the whole set was pretty amazing but of course the big rush for the crowd was the gleeful version of 'Hotel Yorba'. Surely it's all been said before about the fabulous sixth sense-like communication between the two when they play but with it writ so large on the huge Main Stage it really was something to behold.
"F***ing awesome" isn't the half of it. Sheer brilliance more like.
