Five days and a few thousand miles between concerts — and the official release of his new album, without a name — gave Jack White a good excuse to show one of his houses where his heart lies.
Just two days after playing the Pentaport Rock festival in South Korea, White and his quartet took the stage Monday night (August 5) at Saint Andrew's Hall in his hometown of Detroit, tearing through a characteristically frenzied, nearly 100-minute set that served as the album release celebration for without a name.
White released the 13-song set in secret on July 19, when copies with white covers slipped, free of charge, into customers' bags at Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville and London. The album was officially released last Friday, the same day tickets for the Detroit show went on sale (and, with less than 1,000 available, sold out immediately).
Notables included White's wife, Olivia Jean, John Fogerty (who played suburban Detroit the night before) with his wife and manager Julie and members of his band and tour party, and Kirk Gibson, Major League Baseball all-star, now. a broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers. (White took part in a game on Sunday, shortly after arriving from overseas.)
The atmosphere was festive, both onstage and off, and certainly more intimate than White's inaugural Detroit gig at Michigan Central in June. “This is my town! That's my town, right there!” White said after a spirited early-show call-and-answer during “That's How I'm Feeling,” one of seven without a name tracks included in the 21-song setlist.
The largely straight-forward, hard rock material – including “Old Scratch Blues”, “Morning at Midnight”, “Where's the Rumpus?”, a joyous “Underground” and “Archbishop Harold Holmes”, with a vocal rhythm that doesn't similar to fellow Detroiter Eminem — he fit in well alongside the garage-sourced material from his White Stripes days, though he touched on solo favorites like “Love Interruption,” “Why Walk a Dog?” and “Lazaretto,” which bisect the latter's funky gait with a frenetic horror jam.
And White paid tribute to some other Michigan heroes, the Stooges, with a stirring rendition of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” in between parts of the White Stripes' “Cannon.”
While White had played at the venue, a Detroit music landmark before his White Stripes days, it was the first time he had taken the stage there in more than two decades. “I've seen so many shows in this building, but I've never really played here,” he told the audience. And before the White Stripes' 'Hotel Yorba,' meanwhile, he quipped that “I've got to be careful. the last time I played this song in Detroit, I got married” — referring to his onstage proposal and marriage to Olivia Jean on April 8, 2022, opening night Browse supply chain issues at the nearby Masonic Temple Auditorium.
He also called out to his 93-year-old mother, who he said was watching from the balcony of St. Andrew's.
Mostly, though, White and the band – longtime bassist Dominic Davis, keyboardist Bobby Emmett and Raconteurs/Greenhornes drummer Patrick Keller – savaged everything they touched, filling the performances with improvisations, vamps and musical asides without never lose control of MUSIC TRACKS. Keeler's style in particular brought a garage kind of drive to the mix, but with chops that elevated 'Ball and Biscuit', 'The Hardest Button to Button', 'Little Bird' and 'Hello Operator'.
White reached even deeper into one of his early bands, The Go, with “Keep on Trash” before offering the Raconteurs' “Broken Boy Soldier” and “Steady, as She Goes.” “Seven Nation Army,” of course, brought the show to a grand close, with White ending on top of his amps, swinging his guitar over his shoulder to greet the crowd.
“Thank you for all the love you gave tonight,” she told fans who would clearly have stayed for another 100 minutes if she had offered it. “I hope we gave you this much love. Music is sacred!”
White then heads to Gothenburg, Sweden to play the Way Out West festival on Thursday, August 8, the start of a three-day run that includes shows in Norway and Denmark. His only other gig on the books right now is October at Desert Daze in Lake Perris, California, with an exact date yet to be announced.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/jack-white-no-name-detroit-concert-1235746437/
