Friday Night: The Dead Weather at the Fillmore

Better Than: Watching the new White Stripes concert DVD cranked up to 11. 

When The Dead Weather made its Bay Area debut at last year's Outside Lands festival, modern guitar giant Jack White's latest project offered one of the most ferocious sets of the weekend. This despite playing under an afternoon sun that -- judging from the band members' collective pallor -- White and company don't see too much. So it was little surprise that the quartet quickly sold out the two nights at the Fillmore. 

Taking the stage just before 9:30 p.m. Friday after an unremarkable opening set by Nashville-based garage-blues act The Ettes, the Dead Weather made a strong argument for being White's heaviest outfit yet. The group offered 80 minutes of crushing, cathartic rock. 

Flanked by guitarist/keyboard player Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age ) and bassist Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs), White remained firmly in the driver's seat from behind his drum kit. He bashed out furious, heavy-handed beats while sharing lead vocals with The Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart. 

Authoritative as White's leadership might be, it was Mosshart who provided the visual focal point for The Dead Weather live. Howling from a precarious perch atop of her monitors during "60 Feet Tall," she elicited squeals and shouts of delight from the crowd with her feral delivery. Investing every lyric with rage and raw sexuality, the singer was riveting as she thrashed her way through fan favorites "Treat Me Like Your Mother" and "Hang You from the Heavens."