We saw the White Stripes in concert at the Disco Rodeo in Raleigh, NC on June 16, 2003. The show started at 8:00pm. The opening band was Whirlwind Heat and they really suck. Jack White came out to introduce them, and they were full of energy and kind of entertaining to watch, but there isn't much to the music and the lyrics were really stupid and repetitive. The bass and drum playing was pretty good though, and they were really into it so it wasn't all bad.

Finally the Stripes came out and played their set. It was awesome! They played from about 9:00 until 10:30, and it was almost nonstop. They went from one song right to the next with little or no break in between. There wasn't very much in the way of theatrical lighting or other stage antics, but it wasn't missed in the least. They played great and they put on really good show. They did use a strobe light effect during the really hard parts of "Seven Nation Army", which was really awesome! After the show, we were walking to the car and we noticed a bunch of people standing in front of the tour bus by the side door. We decided to wait for them to come out so we could get a chance to see them up close. We waited for two hours in the rain!!! The crowd was slowly wittled down to about 25 people. One of the roadies(the guy on the far right of the top picture)came out with soft drinks for all of us who were waiting. Then finally Jack and Meg came out and were really cool. They talked to people, took pictures, and signed autographs. It was really exciting. Well worth the wait. We finally got on the road at about 1:00am and got home at 4:30. Lauren slept most of the way back but we were still both dead tired when we got home. All and all it was well worth it. We had a great time.