ACL Fest Live Shots

The Raconteurs

The benevolent order of broken boy soldiers, better known as the Raconteurs, emerged from the harrowing battlefield of "supergroup" hype and expectations triumphant. Backed by the rhythm tandem of Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler from the Greenhornes, General Jack White actually sounded like the leader of a "Seven Nation Army" Saturday afternoon. His blitzkrieg of fervid guitar fills and fiery vocal impulses, from riotous opener "Intimate Secretary" to the rambunctious curtain call of "Hands," unloaded like a 12-gauge shotgun with raw power and emotion. The one-two punch of his call-and-response fretwork and harmonies with Commander-in-Chief/balladeer Brendan Benson was a force to be reckoned with, especially during "Level" and "Store Bought Bones." Their kinship on acoustic numbers "Together" and "Yellow Sun" was the stuff of rock & roll legend – like Jagger and Richards, or in the case of the bone-chilling "Blue Veins," Page and Plant – where everything sounded natural and uninhibited. An unexpected cover of the Sonny Bono-penned "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)," was enough to kill Bill and force surrender from 20,000 others. March on soldiers; you won the battle, but there's still a war at hand.