On Friday, August 21, 2002 Jack and Meg White concluded their mid-afternoon main stage slot at the Reading Festival with a gloriously noisy, dismantling of Buddy Holly classic Peggy Sue. Jack climbed up onto the drum riser alongside his “sister” and the two of them, nose to nose, attacked their instruments whilst staring intently into each other’s eyes one before tossing their kit to one side and walking off.
Captured tightly for the cameras, it looks like the kind of intimate, spur of the moment happening that you’d see at any tiny, basement garage rock show... except when the camera pans back it reveals a headliner sized crowd of tens of thousands. The White Stripes, ragged, unrefined, minimalist, really shouldn’t have worked in this environment, but the enormous crowd erupted, and the band stole the day from The Strokes, Pulp, Janes Addiction, Weezer and anyone else unfortunate enough to have to share a stage with them that afternoon.
