The White Stripes “Live at the Gold Dollar” 2001/2017. Third Man Records. Vault Package #34, Third Man Records, white vinyl. The final installment of the limited edition box set which also includes Live at the Magic Bag and Live at the Magic Stick. The show recorded at Detroit’s Gold Dollar was the first of a three-night run and the only time in the band’s history that they played an album straight through from start to finish, in this case their 2001 LP White Blood Cells.

Jack White starts the show by announcing “How you doing? We’re the White Stripes from Detroit. This is my ‘sister’ Meg and I’m Jack. We’re going to play our whole new album in its entirety for you,” and then launches into the killer deep guitar riff of “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” (which they played at the other two shows in the Live in Detroit box set; the only other song that gets a revisit is “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known” which they performed in ‘99 at the Magic Bag). Right away it’s obvious the sound quality has improved since the year before and Meg’s drumming seems more solid, Jack’s guitar even more powerful. There’s a bit of tuning and then the hillbilly stomp of “Hotel Yorba” kicks in followed by the killer hook in “I’m Finding It Harder to be a Gentleman” and the soon-to-be-classic “Fell in Love With a Girl.” There’s only one whisper of a cover in the set, “The Union Forever,” influenced by the mariachi tune by Pepe Guízar. Other show highlights include the manic “Little Room,” the sweetly sparse “We’re Going to be Friends,” the weird angry flamenco guitar meets The Mob on “I Think I Smell a Rat,” the thrashy heavy metal/industrial instrumental “Aluminum,” and when we finally get to hear Meg on the set’s closer “This Protector” (even though Jack and Meg’s harmonizing is a bit shaky).

Runout Groove Side A: THREE TVS… Runout Groove Side B: SHOW SO LITTLE TO SEE