The White Stripes' first live performance was in July 1997 when they played three songs at Gold Dollar Detroit's open mic night. A month later they returned to the same venue to play their first full set. I designed and wrote the packaging for the release of these historically significant recordings.
While digging through White Stripes archives for a cover image I came across this photo of Jack painting the now iconic peppermint on Meg's bass drum head:
For the back cover I researched and listed moments of major and minor consequence that took place on the same date as this performance.
The front cover of the LP features an archival photo just prior to Jack and Meg taking the stage. Little did they know where this moment would lead them.
As with the single, the back of the album includes an assortment of other events from that same day.
If you're curious how Jack and Meg sounded at that first open mic night, you can hear the full performance on Spotify.