It’s been an interesting Canadian tour for Jack and Meg, and last night they ended their shenanigans on a good note. An “F,” to be precise. We’ll let reader Colin Ryan explain…

The White Stripes finished up their Canadian tour (covering every Canadian province and territory) tonight in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with an amazing set. But the afternoon was just as interesting, seems Jack and Meg had a bit of fun with the fans here. Since every Canadian date prior to St. John’s was preceded by a ‘secret show’ somewhere in the town where the show was taking place, lots of Stripes fans in town were sniffing around all day for rumors and clues as to where the show was… a radio station leaked that Jack and Meg would be showing up at a downtown bar at 4pm, and when I arrived around that time about a hundred fans were waiting for them to show (in the pouring rain). But the bar was closed, no sign of the Stripes. The same radio station then reported about a half hour later that they were going to play at another bar, about a 15 minute walk/run away, which was met by a horde of 20-somethings sprinting through the streets of St. John’s… upon arriving, still no Jack or Meg, with the owners of the bar confused. After most people had gone back to the original bar supposedly housing the Stripes, another tip came via radio: Stripes playing at a particular downtown hotel. Again, a hundred or more Stripes fans running through the streets, blocking traffic, into the lobby… again, very confused hotel staff not knowing what was going on, and no Jack or Meg.

What interested me and the friend who I was running back and forth with was the car we saw, filled with guys in black suits, black hats, and red ties, one of which had a camera and was yelling at people, “where’s the show? where’s the show?”… clearly people in the Stripes crew (I’m going to take a stab and say they were filming a DVD). When we again went back to the original bar, and waited another 20 minutes or so (still raining)… and an equipment van pulls up, and guys in the same red and black suits come out and tell us: “the White Stripes will be here in half an hour, and will be playing an outdoor show that consists on ONE NOTE.” One note? “Yes, ONE NOTE, and ONE NOTE only.” So we wait another 30-40 minutes while the roadies set up the stage, full drumkit, keyboards, mics, tuned guitar, amps, Stripes colors, complete set. Many people saying, “They have to be playing more than one note…” By 6pm about 300 or more fans had gathered on George Street, when Jack and Meg finally show up and take the stage. Crowd goes wild, Meg sits at the drums, Jack lifts up his guitar, and…….. BAM. One chord on his guitar and a simultaneous strike of Meg’s snare and…. that’s it. Instruments are abandoned, and Jack tells the crowd, laughing, “We have now officially played in every Canadian Province and Territory,” and leaves quickly with Meg in a car. Hundreds of fans left looking at each other. All in all, hilarious time, since it was followed by the Stripes rocking out for 2 hours at Mile One Center about an hour later, the whole thing seemed like an elaborate ruse to make for great viewing on DVD. Thought you guys would get a kick out of this, I sure did, even if I did get soaked. What can I say, I have a sense of humor.

Here it is in all its one-noted glory.

Make that the only time you’ll ever hear a concert end in “One More Note!” chants. The YouTube uploader has a sense of humor, too, noting the setlist as:

1) F

Looks like the Stripes picked the right crowd to joke with! See below for a spread of Colin’s photos from the one-noter and later at Mile One Center.

ROADIES MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS TUNED PERFECTLY





“I REITERATE THIS SHOW WILL CONSIST OF ONE NOTE”



CROWD WAITS FOR … ONE NOTE



THE ONE NOTE



“WE HAVE NOW PLAYED IN EVERY TERRITORY AND PROVINCE IN CANADA”

