It’s been eight years The White Stripes called it a day. The band played their swan song in 2007 in Snowdon Grove at the border between Mississippi and Tennessee. Their final performance has since become the stuff of legends, and now, for the first time, you can relive the magic with live album, The White Stripes: Live in Mississippi.
The band made their way through 24 songs during the monolithic set, including a four-song encore. Performing blistering renditions of fan favourites ‘Icky Thump’, ‘In The Cold, Cold Night’, ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,’ ‘Hotel Yorba’ and more.
The archival recording is available to stream and for digital download here.
“As the crowd thinned, Meg White and I were the last ones left standing there. Apropos of nothing, cups in hand, not even in a conversation at that point, Meg said to me, ‘I think this is the last White Stripes show.’ Confused, I responded Well, yeah, last show of this leg of the tour.’ She replied ‘No…I think this is the last White Stripes show ever’ and slowly walked away,” explained Ben Blackwell of Third Man Records on a letter posted to the website.
“I was dumbfounded. I had no idea what she was talking about. I had no idea what she meant. I had no idea what to do. I looked around to see if anyone else heard what Meg had said, but I was all alone.”
Blackwell explains that he then madly scrambled to gather whatever documents and mementoes he could. He also scribbled down the setlist and took note of important moments throughout the set.
In the letter, Blackwell reminisced on Jack White’s closing message to the crowd; “I can’t believe how long it has taken us to get here,” White shared. “Thanks for waiting. Thanks for coming. Thanks for buying our records. Thanks for buying a ticket. We love you very much. Thank you. God bless you, Son House. God bless you, Robert Johnson. Thank you so much.”
In related news, The White Stripes recently announced plans to reissue their debut record, announcing an expansive box set for the album’s 20th anniversary.
