WHITE STRIPES

At the Roseland Ballroom, 239 W. 52nd St. Tickets for tonight’s show at Ticketmaster, (212) 307-7171.

THERE was something uniquely American about the White Stripes show, and it wasn’t just that guitar ace Jack White wore red pants as he sang the blues.

At the Roseland Ballroom Tuesday, for the first of three shows, White and his partner, drummer Meg White, displayed Yankee self-reliance and the confidence that a record like their recent well-received “Elephant” lends a band.

You heard it first when the Detroit duo bowed to Dolly Parton in a cover of her desperate song “Jolene” a few numbers into the set, and then it was the signature of the entire concert.

Having said some pretty nasty stuff about the Stripes in the past (especially about the group’s Radio City gig), I have to admit that the performance at Roseland made me eat my words. Meg White’s minimalist drumming has improved dramatically – and she has also become more dramatic in how she sets time.

The she-Stripe was even compelling in her single vocal solo on “In the Cold, Cold Night.”

Jack was gripping throughout the night, managing to become a one-man Led Zeppelin with slide work that slipped as hard as Jimmy Page’s and vocals that howled like a young Robert Plant’s.

The Whites even attained a sense of tenderness in their turn on Burt Bacharach’s “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself,” where Jack took the melody in and out of the eye of his guitar storm.

They made a lot of music for just two players and never lost the crowd’s attention in the large auditorium, but it seemed unusual that such a good performance had so little physical effect on the house.

The mosh was non-existent, there was little fan frenzy except in a small pocket at the lip of the stage – and nearly everyone’s dancing bone was stiff in the packed ballroom, even during the raucous encore finale, “Seven Nation Army.”

That’s not an indictment of the music, but praise: The Stripes engaged the audience so that they were really listening.