I don't think I ever enjoyed a "big event" New Year's Eve, I kind of liked quiet ones at home until I moved to Scotland, where it is (or was) a bigger deal than Christmas. Among the celebrations they go from house to house "first footing" (uh showing up drunk lol), it's more of a small town thing but the few years we did it were pretty fun.

A gig on NYE would probably be fun, I saw Elliott Smith on Dec. 30th once which felt apt. This sounds like a weird turning point for both bands made the gig less great than it should have been. A less egotistical outfit than The White Stripes might have realized this and chosen to be the opener - I have seen this happen before with other band lineups, where the "hotter" band respects what is best for the concert (or maybe it was just the organizers putting their foot down). I don't know much about The Flaming Lips but they were obviously meant to be the epic closer on NYE from any live performances I have seen they really bring it. I have always found White derivative and a little boring tbh. Still a good moment in time to have seen these bands I imagine, thanks for sharing! Your memories are impressively vivid, one of my regrets about concerts past is that I was never sober enough to remember them in this kind of detail. Ah, youth!