Whites Stripes Play Free Show In Whitehorse Park
Tuesday June 26, 2007 @ 05:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Jack White plays at LePage park in Whitehorse (photo by Andrew Hoshkiw)

WHITEHORSE — At about 4 p.m. Monday, a call came that The White Stripes would be playing a free concert at LePage Park in downtown Whitehorse within an hour. Thinking it would be good karma, this reporter called the radio station, which in turn told everyone else.

An hour later, vans arrived with a small army of men in black suits, hats and red ties, who then quickly assembled the required sound equipment. The white amps bore a red maple leaf emblem.

LePage Park is tiny, measuring perhaps 15 metres by 15 metres, with a small, five-metre-wide circular stage. Despite this, nearly 1,000 people crammed into the space. There were fans of all sorts: young and old, mothers with babies, people walking their dogs and kids everywhere.

And then, at precisely 5:30, Jack and Meg White pushed their way through the crowd and on to the stage.

Jack, dressed all in black, strummed a white and red acoustic guitar while Meg played small hand drums, shakers and a tambourine.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Jack White and this is my big sister Meg White, right over here on tambourine," said Jack as the crowd roared to life.

With the simplified set-up, Jack's voice rang out as the dominant sound. Every note was as true as could be.

"Spent the day walking around Whitehorse today, everyone was so nice I couldn't believe it," Jack said before explaining that, since so few people got tickets for the main concert, they had decided to play in the park for everyone else.

The set included six songs: "Effect And Cause," "Hotel Yorba," "Black Jack Davey," "Suzy Lee," "A Martyr For My Love For You" and "Boweevil."

It was magical. They came out of nowhere, played and then disappeared into the crowd. Without a doubt, The White Stripes are the biggest band to ever hit Whitehorse. Playing this free gig will only further cement the legendary status they now hold with the townsfolk.

—Andrew Hoshkiw