Photo by Audrey Leon

The Dead Weather made a surprise appearance at Marquardt Trucking Company in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood as part of a marketing event for Microsoft’s new KIN device. The band played to 500 die-hard fans who braved the heat and humidity in a massive line that stretched around the block.

Chicago’s Marquardt Trucking Company, located Aberdeen at Rundell between Madison and Monroe, was beautifully transformed into a makeshift venue befitting a band such as the Dead Weather; it was dark and lit with hazy blue and green hues.

Drummer Jack White lurked behind murky shadows while singer Alison Mosshart, front and center, perched herself on monitor speakers and contorted her tiny frame to correspond with the the menacing, smoky blues riffs manipulated by guitarist Dean Fertita.

The Dead Weather opened the show with “60 Feet Tall” from its 2009 debut album Horehound. Mosshart easily looked 60 feet tall as she strutted about the stage, often climbing on monitor stacks and peering into the crowd.

Photo by Audrey Leon

For over 70 minutes the Dead Weather took the crowd on a tour of its two albums including the songs “I Cut Like A Buffalo” Horehound and “The Difference between Us” from 2010’s Sea of Cowards.

The Dead Weather played a game of musical chairs, with White and bassist Jack Lawrence swapping drum duties and Fertita switching to keyboard. Mosshart and White, faces separated by mere centimeters, shared the microphone for an intimate vocal performance of “Will There be Enough Water?”

The group ended the extravaganza with a three-song encore that concluded with “Treat Me Like Your Mother” from HoreHound. All four members White, Mosshart, Fertita and Lawrence stood happily shoulder-to-shoulder as it bid farewell to the wild and appreciative crowd.

The Dead Weather is just the latest musical group to align itself with Microsoft to help sell the company’s new camera phone, Kin. The Black Keys, Passion Pit and rapper Big Boi are scheduled to appear in various cities around the US for Kin-sponsored “secret” shows.

Although it’s odd to see Mr. Jack White, who embodies everything that is “cool” about rock and roll today perform a marketing event, the Dead Weather treated it like a regular club gig with no mention or shilling of the product on stage. The band performed with such fire that the venue and reasoning for the show became irrelevant -- the band rocked and the crowd did so with them. Mission accomplished.

(Complete photo gallery from the show coming soon)

The Dead Weather -- “The Difference Between Us” -- 5/22/10 -Chicago, IL -- Via LastOfTheRockStars