So I guess DirecTV still has us on the 3 free months of Showtime and Starz. That’s swell. Time to scan the channels and see what’s coming on.

Oh, look. The White Stripes. They’re always fun. Let’s record that.

Also, let’s forget that we ever recorded it and skip ahead a few weeks.

Next, let’s decide to see if a new episode of Bones came on Thursday. No? Oh well … wonder what other mystery surprises the DVR holds.

Oh look–that White Stripes vid I forgot that I recorded. Wonder how that is.

Pure awesomeness?

Energetic?

Personal?

And we’re back to pure awesomeness.

So I guess the premise behind the video is that they had never played in Canada. They’ve been to tons of other countries, but they had never set foot in Canada. Odd, considering they grew up with Canada practically being their backyard. So at some point, Jack and Meg decided that they would tour all of Canada. Not just the major cities, either. We’re talking Inuit villages, Yukon territory, frozen solid towns … they played a LOT of shows. In every one of them, they had little pre-concert warm-up shows. My favorite was the the first thing shown on the video: One-Note Concert. A crowd of several hundred greet them as they exit their car, get out, and walk to the stage. Jack dons his guitar, Meg grasps her drumsticks with full intent, and they promptly launch into  … one note. Then they leave the stage. The crowd immediately starts chanting for more, which is absolutely hilarious.

What amazed me most about the video is just how personable Jack is with everyone. He and Meg played a warm-up gig at what looked like a convalescent home located just a bit south of the north pole. So at a lot of these pre-gig warm-up shows, they’d play a regular, White Stripe-style show, just scaled, way, way down and back. This particular show, however, featured Jack with an acoustic, Meg with a hand-held percussiony thing (can’t remember if it was a tambourine or some maracas), and they played this folksy little ditty. The tenants loved it so much that they decided to reciprocate with a song of their own. Very cool. They also played “The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round and ‘Round” while riding a bus all through the town. What?!  Yes–all through the town. And the fellow bus-riders were LOVING it … singing along, laughing … awesomeness.

How a two-person band can have that much energy and intensity is beyond me, but they bring it to each and every one of their shows. They live in the moment, for the moment.

So yah. If you have a chance to pick up this incredible documentary concert footage DVD, I would highly recommend it. It’s worthy of your time, your TV, and your disc player. Or if you have cable or satellite, see if it’s on and record it. If you’re a fan of raw and intense energy, pick this up.