Dead Weather Play Secret Warehouse Gig in Chicago

As part of the KIN Spot Tour promoting the launch of Microsoft's social networking phone the KIN, Nashville group the Dead Weather headlined a free secret show at Marquardt Trucking Company in Chicago Saturday night. The show's location wasn't announced until four hours before doors opened, but it didn't stop the crowd from waiting for a couple of hours in a queue that snaked around several blocks. The 500-capacity warehouse acted as an intimate venue for a band that's increasing grown in popularity since the recent release their chart-topping sophomore album, 'Sea of Cowards.'

'60 Feet Tall' from last year's debut, 'Horehound,' opened their 75-minute set with smoky flashing strobes, bluesy riffs and lead singer Alison Mosshart standing atop a speaker. Peering at the rabid crowd, she cupped her mic (then dropped it), whipped around her long, black hair and looked like a wild animal ready to pounce. For the first half of the show, the band concentrated on 'Horehound' tunes including 'Hang You from the Heavens, 'So Far from Your Weapon' and 'I Cut Like a Buffalo' before segueing into brand new songs.

"What's up Chicago?" drummer and guitarist Jack White asked the audience. "You alive and well?" Taking a break from percussion, he meandered to the front and performed a warbling cover of Them song 'You Just Can't Win.' Dripping with attitude, Mosshart sang the aggressive new song 'The Difference Between Us' as loud distortion pulsated from the guitars.

White took a moment to introduce the band and told the crowd, "I'm Jack White, and I once lived in the Midwest," referring to his previous home of Detroit. The band rotated instruments for the six-minute 'Will There Be Enough Water?' with guitarist Dean Fretita at the keys, White and Mosshart sharing a mic and bassist Jack Lawrence on drums. Beginning as a mellow instrumental, the song eventually morphed into a whiskey-soaked, blared out anthem with Mosshart seductively staring down White.

The Weather walked offstage and the ravenous crowd immediately chanted "one more song," so the band obliged the fans in a three-song encore. When Mosshart tried to skulk along the stage on new one 'I Can't Hear You,' her mic cord got tangled under a speaker for a minute, but once a stagehand helped her unravel the cord, she continued along her path without skipping a beat. After ending on the headbang-inducing 'Treat Me Like Your Mother,' the sweaty quartet stood onstage together, briefly posed for photos and took a bow.

The Dead Weather kick off their summer tour at Bonnaroo in June.

The Dead Weather on AOL Music