Third Man Records Announces Vault Package #34 ‘The White Stripes Live in Detroit: 1999-2000-2001’

Third Man Records has detailed its Vault Package #34 which features archival live recordings of The White Stripes. The new installment, The White Stripes Live in Detroit: 1999-2000-2001, is made up of three concerts performed by the band at three different venues in their home town.

Third Man Records founder and former The White Stripes guitarist Jack White can be heard alongside co-founding drummer Meg White performing at concerts held in 1999, 2000 and 2001. The shows took place at the Magic Bag in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, as well as at the Magic Stick and at the Gold Dollar in Motor City. Here’s what went down at each night included in Vault Package #34:

July 30th, 1999 found The White Stripes headlining the Magic Bag in fashionable Ferndale, a northern suburb of Detroit. Chosen as a venue mainly to placate the fans who wouldn’t venture to see The White Stripes in rough-and-tumble Detroit, the show would be their first performance after the release of their self-titled debut album. The cushy environs of the Magic Bag provided Jack with an in-house piano, making this the first time that he and Meg would ever incorporate the instrument live. Highlights include their first-ever stab at Bob Dylan’s “Love Sick,” an endearingly unique solo piano rendition of “You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket,” and a simplistic, embryonic rendition of “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” all of which provide for a tense performance, filled with equal parts rage and tenderness of which only The White Stripes were capable.

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August 18th, 2000 had The White Stripes performing at Detroit’s venerable Magic Stick. Supported by near-and-dear friends (who’d later become bandmates and collaborators), the Greenhornes and Whirlwind Heat, the recording provides a window into the Stripes’ mindset that Summer – just after their West Coast De Stijl headlining tour in June and still yet to experience the insanity of their opening slots for Sleater-Kinney in September. The only known live performance of Captain Beefheart’s “Ashtray Heart” (which they’d just recently laid to tape for eventual release in the Sub Pop Singles Club), a rare live outing for the deep cut “I’m Bound to Pack It Up,” and an electrifying set-ending “Let’s Shake Hands” leave the listener with the palpable sense that something amazing is about to happen for this band.

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June 7th, 2001 marked The White Stripes final performance at the Gold Dollar in Detroit. As the first of three hometown headlining shows to support the release of White Blood Cells, the feeling in the air that night was one of excitement and anticipation. In what was arguably the most packed show in Gold Dollar history, Jack and Meg delivered beyond expectations and played their new, soon-to-be critically acclaimed record from front to back. Despite an attempt at tackling Get Behind Me Satan in Chicago in 2005, this would be the ONLY time The White Stripes would perform any of their albums in their entirety. In full command of their powers, The White Stripes proved to be both ascendant and transcendent on this night. This show was the triumphant culmination of the previous five years of gigging in Detroit.

The deadline to purchase TMR’s Vault Package #34 is at midnight on October 31. The subscription comes with The White Stripes Live in Detroit: 1999-2000-200 that includes reproduced prints of the trio of posters originally designed by Jack White for the concerts as well as other perks and products further detailed here.

Live at the Magic Bag 7-30-1999

1. Jimmy the Exploder
2. Wasting My Time
3. Astro
4. Cannon / John the Revelator (traditional)
5. The Big Three Killed My Baby
6. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself (Bacharach/David)
7. Love Sick (Bob Dylan) (piano)
8. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (piano)
9. St. James Infirmary (traditional) (piano)
10. Suzy Lee
11. Stop Breaking Down (Robert Johnson)
12. Lafayette Blues
13. The Same Boy You’ve Always Known
14. You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket (piano)
15. Broken Bricks

Live at the Magic Stick 8-18-2000

1. You’re Pretty Good Looking (for a Girl)
2. When I Hear My Name
3. Jolene (Dolly Parton)
4. Cannon/John the Revelator (traditional)
5. Apple Blossom
6. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
7. Death Letter (Son House)
8. Little Bird
9. Jimmy the Exploder
10. I’m Bound to Pack It Up
11. Broken Bricks
12. Hello Operator
13. Astro / Jack the Ripper (Screaming Lord Sutch)
14. Ashtray Heart (Captain Beefheart)
15. Do
16. Let’s Shake Hands

Live at the Gold Dollar 6-7-2001

1. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
2. Hotel Yorba
3. I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman
4. Fell in Love With a Girl
5. Expecting
6. Little Room
7. The Union Forever
8. The Same Boy You’ve Always Known
9. We’re Going to Be Friends
10. Offend in Every Way
11. I Think I Smell a Rat
12. Aluminum
13. I Can’t Wait
14. Now Mary
15. I Can Learn
16. This Protector