Listen to rare audio of The White Stripes performing live in 1998
Back in the summer of 1998, Detroit’s favourite pair of garage blues punks were a long way away from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The White Stripes had only formed less than a year prior to their appearance at the 4th Street Fair in July of 1998, and to most, The White Stripes was a name that hardly meant anything at all. To friends, it was just a soon-to-be-married couple blasting out some fuzz-heavy songs.
Jack and Meg White were still a couple back then, and after a year of performing around the Detroit area, Jack had written the band’s first collection of songs. With favourite covers from the likes of Robert Johnson and Son House rubbing elbows with original stompers like ‘The Big Three Killed My Baby’ and ‘Screwdriver’, The White Stripes were still finding their footing, and their sound, while gigging relentlessly around Detroit.
While the audience at the 4th Street Fair didn’t know it at the time, The White Stripes would play a collection of songs that would later become canonised on their self-titled debut a year later. Tracks like ‘Wasting Time’ and ‘I Fought Piranhas’ would become early classics for the band, and even tracks like Bob Dylan’s ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ would later be recorded for the band’s first record.
For this particular performance, The White Stripes kicked off their set with what is likely the only recorded version of the band covering Love’s ‘My Little Red Book’. At around 15 minutes into the set, Jack calls out to the audience to see if anyone has any aspirin. That’s the moment when you can tell just how intimate the concert actually is: there can’t be more than 20 or so people watching The White Stripes at that moment.
Some other rarities floated into the set as well. ‘Red Bowling Ball Ruth’ wouldn’t be played by the duo again until 2007, during the band’s final tour. After the band finished ‘Why Can’t You Be Nicer to Me’, Jack attempts to engage in some audience banter, including asking what some listeners have under their front porches. Instead of continuing with the bizarre routine, Jack breaks into ‘Lafayette Blues’ instead.
The performance is a fascinating time capsule into a time when The White Stripes could barely get noticed in their hometown. Across the country in New York, bands like The Strokes and Interpol were just beginning to form, setting the stage for the garage rock revival that was set to break in the early 2000s. The White Stripes would become an integral part of that revival, but they had a much harder time getting some initial momentum.
Check out The White Stripes playing the 4th Street Fair in 1998 down below.
