When we first heard The White Stripes a few years back, we pictured them on the big stage. We imagined them playing packed arenas on a huge rig with lights and props and pyrotechnics. No matter how hard they seem to try, this is not music made for blues clubs and dive bars. These are epic guitar anthems that have always deserved the audience that they are only now getting to play for.

It was a cool, brisk Saturday night down by the ocean in Coney Island. Sweatshirt weather. The perfect early autumn evening. Jack and Meg came out a little after 9:00 on to a beautiful stage set decorated appropriately with, among other things, white ferns, a black grand piano, and two giant red kettledrums. Black, Red and White. Their personal images have shifted dramatically, but some things always stay the same.

We didn't fight to get too close to the stage. Instead, we stood back and watched the show play out from afar. Just as we had always pictured. They tore through a set speckled with a good mix of covers, hits and other tracks from all their various albums. While Meg did a commendable job of keeping the pace, earning her much more respect than would seem to be deserved from only listening to the albums, it is Jack who steers this ship. He blasted through the frantic set with a dazzling array of majestic guitar riffs and howling vocals. It is not an easy task to fill an entire baseball stadium with only two players, but they pull it off so effortlessly it makes your standard 5 piece seem superfluous.

After all these years, this was the first time we’ve ever gotten to see them perform live. It was exactly how we imagined, even surpassing every unrealistic expectation we had built up. Simply a magical evening which we hope to repeat the next time they come to town.

Check out more pictures up on Flickr.