Raconteurs @ the Moore Theatre (Seattle)

Me and Maker's Mark had a go-round in the vertigo rodeo on the top floor of the Moore. I paid late and got a view from the second balcony. Sort of like watching a concert in an ornamented missile silo... just how I like it.

Kelley Stoltz opened - talking with the crowd, poking fun at Canadians, and having a good time playing lite rock for tapping the foot. And it got me thinking about these Raconteurs with their near plastic perfect pop. A couple of the songs (Steady or Yellow Sun) are the kind that I really like - and then don't like myself for liking. But they've got a redeeming lyrical twist that gives me the feeling maybe these guys are constructing some Ween or Nada Surfesque tracks just for the kick of making it look easy. They have other songs - let's say Broken Boy Soldiers and Blue Veins - that head in another direction. So, I'm listening to the whimsy of Stoltz and thinking of the Raconteurs where the talent is not in question - but where are they going?

There's a small white line in the black of the stage. From my angle the cymbals look like CDs on the floor by my feet. The white line moves a little. It's the part in Jack White's hair and it's very straight. Then the rock came hard. (I have no set list so this is a rough estimate) They warmed up with some of their lighter singalongable tracks - which seem to bore them slightly. Using 'Together' as a segue, they proceeded down a much more interesting song list. With 'Broken Boy Soldiers' and 'Store Bought Bones' stuck in between new songs (Nashville sessions?). New songs that I enjoyed more than the old ones. Asymmetrical, grim guitar, tougher rhythm. All getting louder and better until it ended with a double-length version exposing all the fringes of 'Blue Veins.' Ending there, I would have driven home with the stereo off just to leave it sitting in my head. But they sated the masses with an encore (and I danced and sang along) of Hands, some other song, and Steady as She Goes.

I wouldn't promise an absence of their tongue-in-cheek pop, but you can be sure that snuggled in between those radio favorites, the next Raconteurs album will have some tough tracks.