Swirls of red and white swish past your eyes, making you think you’re stuck in a gigantic peppermint candy. Then, all of a sudden, you are surrounded by noise-cacophonous but beautiful, savory and sweet. No, haven’t ingested hallucinogens-you’re at a White Stripes concert.
     Playing the second of two sold-out shows at The Warfield in San Francisco on April 29, Detroit blues-rock duo The White Stripes brought down the house.
     Decked out in their trademark red-white-black colored clothing, the Stripes took the stage by storm (or in singer/guitarist Jack White’s case, by serpentine crawl), opening with an explosive version of “Let’s Shake Hands” that quickly segued into the hit song “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.”
     And the hits kept on coming. Seemingly carefully planned, the rest of the band’s set contained a good mixture of songs from the band’s four albums, but with a focus on material from their latest, critically acclaimed album, “Elephant,” including crowd favorite “Seven Nation Army.”
     Speaking of crowd favorites, when drummer Meg White took center stage to sing the sultry “In The Cold, Cold Night,” there was not an eye was not absolutely transfixed on her, even band mate Jack’s.
     Indeed, the two have truly has a special relationship. Claiming that they’re brother and sister, but in actuality ex-husband and wife, the duo has a visibly intense connection onstage. To watch them interact with each other while they channel some sort of cosmic energy makes one feel like they’re in on some sort of band secret.
     It is no secret, however, that the Stripe’s quality of musicianship is amazing. Meg’s simple but solid drumming is the perfect companion to Jack’s wild solos and power chords. For a band to be able to fill a large venue like the Warfield when only armed with drums and guitar is no fluke-it is a work of genius that has been rightfully earned.
     Opening act Whirlwind Heat might also one day fall into such a category. Working with similarly stripped-down equipment, the band brought a very heady, artistic (and different) sound to the stage. Though not having as full a sound as the Stripes, the fuzzed-out bass, frantic drums, and single-octave Moog synthesizer filled the auditorium with their obtuse noise, singing songs with only colors for titles (e.g. “Pink”).
     In the end, the Stripes returned to thunderous applause to perform encore songs “You’re Pretty Good Looking,” and “Boll Weevil”-songs they perform when they are pleased with a show. Before sinking off into the night, Jack and Meg tossed red and white roses into the audience, spreading their love out to the world and the audience.