The Raconteurs: Tight and powerful at a packed Neumo's

Music review |

The Raconteurs are all about scratchy, messy, ringing, mingling, stomping, sweet lovin' blues-rock guitar. Co-lead singer/guitarists Jack White and Brendon Benson made a beautiful racket together Monday night at a sardine-packed Neumo's, using the blues as a basis for wild and woolly guitar solos and duets, some of them blisteringly brilliant.

White, whose other band is garage-rock heroes the White Stripes, was in his element and at the top of his game. He obviously loved playing his arsenal of shiny, cool guitars, especially a new one tricked out with all kinds of gear, including a microphone he pulled out of the back and sang into.

He played that guitar in a complex, extended solo that turned "Intimate Secretary" into the set's centerpiece. It was full of quick turns and tight vocal harmonies, making it a showcase for all four guys in the band (plus a keyboardist/fiddler added for the tour). It even outshone the band's one hit single, "Steady As She Goes." Benson was impressive on guitar as well, especially bottleneck.

White and Benson went back and forth on the vocals, both of them taking leads on almost all the songs. A vocal highlight for both was "Rich Kid Blues," the set's only cover, a '60s gem from the underappreciated Terry "Superlungs" Reid.

All the other songs were written by White and Benson, and some depended a little too much on simple rhymes. But others more than made up for it, like "Carolina Drama," a Southern Gothic melodrama that White loved sinking his teeth into. The audience lustily sang along to its "La la la la la" chorus.

The whole band was tighter and more powerful than ever, and the music was more varied, now that the band has two albums out. The second, "Consolers of the Lonely," was released last month, two years after "Broken Boy Soldiers." The set included almost all the songs from both, reworked for the stage.

That was the best thing about the show — hearing White, Benson and company reinvent and upgrade the songs in an intimate setting like the 750-capacity Neumo's. Why the show was there instead of, say, the Moore (where the band played before) is a mystery, but one to be thankful for.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312, pmacdonald@seattletimes.com