Thursday, August 6, 2009

Iqaluit

On July 27th, we journeyed 1500 miles north from Boston to the frozen Canadian arctic (well, the cold and damp Canadian arctic) to see The White Stripes perform at the Arctic Winter Games Arena in Iqaluit. (You may click on any photo to see the full-sized version.)


From our hotel, the arena was just a 20-minute walk down Niaqunnguusiariaq road.


This is the arena's back yard.


This was the first time we'd ever seen concert tickets with Inuktitut characters on them. (For those interested in Inuktitut, here is a brief guide to pronouncing the various characters.)


The arena looked pretty full to us, but apparently, only about 600 tickets were sold due to fire regulations.


The concert began promptly at 8:00pm. The opening act was Lucie Idlout (who is originally from Iqaluit).






This is a short clip of Lucie Idlout singing "Whiskey Breath".




The White Stripes hit the stage at 9:00pm.




Hey! You! Down in front!


I just love the fact that Meg's bass drum looks like a big button.




Meg about to sing "Cold, Cold Night".


In the next photo (and some of the earlier ones) you may have noted a maple leaf on each of the amps.






At the conclusion to the concert, Jack went offstage, then reappeared, waving the flag of the Nunavut Territory.


The following are a number of short video clips from the concert. (Apologies for the remarkably poor sound quality accompanying many of the videos.)

Jolene.



I'm not sure which song this one is from.



I'm not sure which song this one is either.



Apple Blossom.



Cold, Cold Night.



Fell in Love with a Girl.



We're Going to be Friends.



This is the first of four short clips of the White Stripes performing "Seven Nation Army". This clip takes us up to the point at which something goes wrong with Jack's guitar and he hands it off to a roadie for repair.



In this clip, Jack and Meg improvise on the keyboard while waiting for a roadie to repair Jack's guitar.



In this clip, Jack has gotten his guitar back from the roadie and the song is once again proceeding as planned.



This is the last of the four short clips of the White Stripes performing "Seven Nation Army".



As it turned out, the band and their entourage were staying at the same hotel as us (Jack's room was just down the hall). We rode the elevator with Jack the next day and congratulated him on a great performance. Here is a brief video clip of Jack and Meg leaving the hotel.