By most all accounts, the Dead Weather — featuring Jack White of the White Stripes on drums and vocals, singer Alison Mosshard of the Kills, and Gretsch-wielding guitarists Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and Raconteurs and Greenhornes’ guitarist Jack Lawrence — was one of the must-see performances at the 2010 Bonnaroo Festival, held in Manchester, Tennessee, June 10-13.
The rock supergroup — deemed “Best Bonafide Rock God” by Spin — was introduced by comedian Conan O’Brien.
“I know it’s been raining on you,” he said to the massive crowd. “But I say, ‘let it rain.’ Don’t think of it is as rain. Think of it as us having a shower together.”
As Rolling Stone’s J. Edward Keyes pointed out, “if it was going to rain at any point during the day, it was appropriate that it happened when the Dead Weather were onstage. The group hung like a black cloud in the center of a festival dedicated to the notion of joy and community, their music as ferocious as it was grim and nihilistic.”
Prior to launching into set opener, “Forever My Queen,” White jokingly took credit for the rain, telling his audience that he had “called in three weeks ahead for that.”
But according to Spin, there was something to his claim.
“And rain it did, as if his backwoods bluesman persona had summoned the dark clouds with his two flailing drumsticks,” wrote William Goodman. “The Dead Weather’s set was a fitting romp of unhinged roadhouse licks, complete with big shiny Gretsch guitars, as she-devil Alison Mosshart tossed herself around in a leopard-print cardigan, tight jeans, and black makeup galore.”