The Raconteurs at Amoeba, Hollywood

This morning in Hollywood, the Raconteurs, performed nearly every song on their debut album to a packed house in the first of their two Amoeba Music shows of the day. (They played at the San Francisco Amoeba at 9:30 tonight)

The band might not have felt fresh off their Wednesday night Henry Fonda Music Box concert, as the crowd was repeatedly advised that "per the artists' request" no photography or taping of the concert was allowed. A few people defiantly took photos and recorded video with their cellphones anyway. The footage will likely not prove shocking to anyone who knows musicians sometimes don t-shirts.

Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence, Patrick Keeler, and Dean Fertita may not be morning people but they rocked quite well at the 11 o'clock hour today. After the opening "Hands", one of the strongest songs in the set, "Level", found Benson and White trading playful vocals and dueling sulky guitar riffs. The quirky "Intimate Secretary" was another highlight, particularly for its shimmering synth work by Fertita. Keeler's drumming was perhaps most attention-grabbing for its sheer ferocity on "Store Bought Bones", while Lawrence's strong basslines propel "Bones".

The band was not chatty, but the singers did greet the crowd, and Benson called Amoeba the greatest record store in the world. More unusually, White dedicated the set's last song, "Blue Veins", to "the Mexicans in the crowd." A fairly small portion of the crowd cheered, and a beat later, White added, "We're all immigrants." Maybe so, but only Mexicans (and not Mexican-Americans) would get a Raconteurs song dedicated to them at the Hollywood Amoeba show. Trend-watchers, take note: white/black/Asian/non-Mexican Latino shame may be "in" soon. Granted, it's hard to tell whether some of the crowd were standing stock still and silent for the first portion of the song in shame, silent contemplation of their immigrant status, or perhaps reminding themselves to get their parking validated. Whatever the answer, they seemed to surrender to the song's groove soon enough. The band puts on a strong live show, even at 11 AM.

The Raconteurs - Level (available on Broken Boy Soldiers)

The Raconteurs Tour Dates:

July:

16 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
18 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
19 - San Diego, CA - SOMA
20, 21 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern LG
22, 23 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre
25 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
26 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Malkin Bowl
27 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre

August:

3 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
4 - Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
5 - Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
6 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues

September:

14 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater
15 - Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Live
16 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Music Festival
19 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
20 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
22 - Norfolk, VA - The Norva
24 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
26 - New York, NY - Roseland
28 - Providence, RI - Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
29 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
30 - Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis