“Liverpool, L2, 13th of November 2001, that’s when I took those photos, and look, they were even taken on an old fashioned camera, that’s how long it is since Jack and Meg stomped their way into my heart with their uninhibited, exhilarating brand of old-fashioned blues-rock. It’s well over 3 years since Jack and Meg cancelled what was now due to be their final tour of the UK and until yesterday there’d always been hope that the duo would embark on one of their famously short stints in the studio to blast out another breathtaking collection of songs and take them on just one more world tour.

Their statement yesterday asserts their desire to “preserve what is beautiful and special about the band”, and who can argue with such sentiments – far too many bands don’t know when it’s time to call it a day, or simply can’t see when they’re compromising what made them great, Kings of Leon, we’re looking at you – but we can’t help but shed a tear, not for the fact we won’t get to hear their 7th studio album, but for the realisation that we’ll probably never again see the utterly electrifying freedom that Jack had when playing live with Meg.

You see, The White Stripes were quite simply the most compelling live act of our generation, whilst infamously not even close to the best of drummers, the relationship that Meg had with Jack, her unquestionable ability to instantly adapt to his every erratic demand, meant their audiences would have the rare honour of seeing the turbulence of rock and roll in it’s most primitive form. Every show was as if Jack was possessed at totally random moments, by a 1920s sideshow ringmaster, the devil, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix… and it seemed Meg was the only one of us who could predict what would happen next.

I saw them some 10 times or so in the years between that night in Liverpool and their cancelled UK dates, including those iconic nights in Blackpool – even sinking a few pints of Guinness with Meg and Blanche, their support act that evening, in the hotel bar afterwards – and as their final word stated yesterday, “the beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to”, it’s those memories of delightfully unpredictable live music that will live with me forever.

Thank’s for the last 10 years Jack and Meg.”

James Davidson
We Heart