White Stripes Play Bingo And Shortest Show Ever

ST. JOHN'S — By now we had all heard of the antics pulled by Jack and Meg White during their cross-Canada tour, particularly the afternoon secret shows. As St. John's was the last stop on the tour, we assumed that it would be no exception.

News first came that Jack White had been spotted in the city on Sunday night taking in a couple of hours of bingo at a local hall. While there's no evidence that he won anything, all reports say that he was joking around and chatting with the patrons and staff for the entire night. If it doesn't already sound like a perfect evening, he exited with a rendition of the classic tune "Good Night Irene," sung to Irene, the woman with whom he shared his table.

As Monday went on, rumours began to grow more numerous and absurd. A show in the town of Dildo (which I'm sure you've all heard of) was a popular one, but the hour driving time from St. John's made people question why The White Stripes would do it.

"Wouldn't you want to say you played there?" quickly became the winning answer, but without an official confirmation, it was a risky decision to make. It was at this point that I decided to brave the rain that had begun to fall heavily and investigate the radio tip claiming that the band would play on George Street at 4 p.m.

On my way there, I was met head-on by a pack of 40 to 50 stampeding fans and decided to follow, but inevitably found nothing. Three group sprints around downtown St. John's later, I decided to duck out of the wetness and find a more reliable source online.

And there it was: the official word that, at 6 p.m., The White Stripes would play a one-note set on George Street. I arrived at the outdoor stage to find the familiar black-suited entourage unloading vans and setting up equipment as the crowd quickly grew. Now that we'd finally found the location, the idea of the "one-note set" became the topic of conversation for most of us, with bets being placed on what note it would be.

The band rolled up to the stage on time and were met with roars of excitement from the several hundred people who had gathered. They got themselves ready to play and plowed into it, hitting a note that lasted for an entire second.

"We've now officially played in every province and territory in Canada!" shouted Jack to the still enthusiastic crowd before jumping back into the van. While there were some bewildered faces that didn't get the "one note" part of the message and were wondering what had just happened, we knew that we had just witnessed a very unique moment in the quirky history of Jack and Meg.

And in case you're curious, the note was F.