Watch The White Stripes Play "We're Going To Be Friends" To A Room Of Schoolchildren In 2003 [Video]

In October 2003, as The White Stripes stood at the top of their game in the impending garage rock revival, the duo flew to New Zealand to perform at Freeman‘s Bay Primary School in Auckland. The seven-song set found Jack and Meg White tone down their overdrive-laden, simplistic style of rock to something more suitable for young children, yet still captivating enough to hold their attention.

How many of these children knew they were in the presence of looming rock royalty remains unclear, but the awed attention of small children stands as a testament to the band’s ability to entertain any audience. On Thursday, The White Stripes shared footage of the band’s performance of “We’re Going To Be Friends” at Freeman’s Bay from 2003.

Recorded with the video quality one would expect from a grade school ballet recital, the shaky, grainy video comes off something like amateur video of Bigfoot or a UFO. There they are, The White Stripes, playing to a room full of schoolchildren quietly sitting on their hands, but it’s just so hard to believe it’s real. With Jack White’s fitting diddy of “back to school, ring the bell,” the simplistic number comes off like a Beatles For Babies record. Dressed in their trademark red and white costumes, and encased as always in chalk-white skin tone, it’s certainly not a foregone conclusion that a performance from The White Stripes was the strangest assembly these children had all year.

Watch The White Stripes perform “We’re Going To Be Friends” in front of a room full of schoolchildren in New Zealand back in 2003.

The White Stripes – “We’re Going To Be Friends” – Auckland, New Zealand – 10/?/03

[Video: The White Stripes]