I always knew Jack White was going to be good but tonight, he was exceptionally good! Bathed in blue light he did a career spanning set that enthralled and delighted. If you like your guitar heroes to have swagger and charm then Jack’s your man. I first came across Jack White on John Peel when he played a White Stripes track from their debut LP that he’d picked up in Holland whilst attending a festival. Initially they were ‘husband and wife’ but later stated they were ‘brother and sister’. Peel had them on live a few times and it was obvious they were a bit special. On one visit to Peel Acres, John had mentioned a track he loved over lunch and they squeezed it into the set for him.
I first got to see them at 2002’s Glastonbury when they played early on in the day on the main stage and did an awesome version of ‘Jolene‘. The interplay between Jack & Meg was a joy to watch – he’d obviously go ‘off script’ (that’s assuming there was one) and you could see her laughing and follow his lead. The 2003 ‘Elephant’ LP rightly took them major success. It was a shame, though enevitable to see him move on to other things. ‘The Raconteurs‘ and ‘The Dead Weather‘ produced a couple of LP’s for each but it wasn’t until this year that he released his first solo LP ‘Blunderbuss‘
He had his ‘all boy’ band with him tonight – they played for over 2 hours and it felt like 20 minutes – always a good sign. I was chuft that his back catalogue wasn’t to be shunned – There were old White Stripe numbers and the wonderful ‘Steady as she goes’ (the ‘Saturday Live‘ theme tune) as well as a good dollop from his newie – the current single being my fave – “I’m Noirvous”
There wasn’t much banter between songs but when you can let your guitar do the talking for you as eloquently as this, there wasn’t much need for it. As ever he seemed to feed off and inspire his fellow band mates with a lot of eye contact and intense burts of energy. I loved it!
Official photos of the evening can be seen here We were asked not to take photos but as I don’t use a flash I thought that’d be ok……..
Bob the Chiropodist