Live Review: Raconteurs at BoA Pavilion

While a supergroup of sorts (Brandon Benson, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler have all found their past successes), the Raconteurs have become known above all as the Other Jack White Band. Such billing, however, does disservice to the strong core from which the band's sound stems. Yes, White does bring to this band the marketability and fanbase built up with the White Stripes. Tuesday clearly demonstrated that the enthusiastic crowd was waiting for their opportunities to cheer a White turn, whether it was on guitar, keys, or vocals. And for all his demonstrated efforts to blend into the rest of the group, the musician's charisma and striking pale-on-black appearance makes the man stand out.

Yet it is the fact that White's musical chops are strongly complemented by his bandmates that makes the Raconteurs rise above the stereotypical side project. The mop-topped Benson (who must expect the inevitable Frampton comparisons, given his vocal similarities and penchant for long curls) and White have honed their exchange of vocal duties; "Rich Kid Blues" allows Benson to croon before White takes up a sharp "and I know what's going on" scream of a chorus. Keeler and Lawrence wisely maintain their spots in the shadow, choosing not to compete for the spotlight but to provide solid musical foundations.

The electric groove of "Store Bought Bones" and the blistering torch burn of set-closer "Blue Veins" (which gave White ample opportunity to work his blues-loving voice ragged) demonstrated the band's strong commitment to the sound of decades earlier. The strongest reaction from the crowd was, predictably, first single "Steady As She Goes." As White led the jumping, grooving crowd in a chant, it couldn't be ignored that the poppy single is the song most divergent from the rest of the band's sound. But hey, that's the music biz.