Jack White 2014

Ah yes - I see you guys are talking Newport here. My bad - I agree a folky set somewhere like there would be great. I just think in front of 80,000 people in great stage park it will go over very well.

Excited to see his show! Just found out Jack White was in the band Goober and the Peas, and I am sure many of you already know that. I wish I was more aware back then but I caught a Goober show years ago, and little did I know Mr Jack White was the one tearing that guitar up. Cool memory which will make seeing him on the big stage that much better.

He busted out "You Don't Know What Love Is" last night in Texas.

This bodes well for a VERY good summer.

Looks like I was as unaware as I thought, thanks for the heads up. It was around 1994/95 so who knows. If I am not sure who I saw then, what the frick does it matter. All I know is that he has the potential to liquefy my face, so my expectations remain the same. That is such a good thing!

Got an email saying my vinyl of Lazaretto shipped out today. Hopefully I can get this in and have some time with it before Bonnaroo next weekend!

Well then you didn't see Jack because he was their DRUMMER.

Vault packages are shipping so my split color Lazaretto Ultra LP might even arrive before Roo! OMG.

After one listen, I was hoping it would be heavier.

I'm confused - how do you stream it on iTunes? I just pre-ordered it and all but no streaming.

it may be a different story live ...

Jack White played in Shreveport, LA last night; about an hour away from my home city. Some friends went, and from what I was told - it was quackin amazing. Will update with a set list if I can get one from them.. will be hidden under "spoiler" of course, for those that want to be surprised at Roo.. although I feel like his touring set list and the Bonnaroo setlist will be pretty different - while maintaining the key points of course.

Rock 'n' roll needs Jack White. A guy who speaks his prematurely crotchety mind, then issues an apology that may or may not have been sincere, or even necessary. A guy who has the wherewithal to build his own cottage industry based in large part on vinyl recordings. A guy who is very much a guitar hero of the moment, but who favors old-fashioned accouterments such as suspenders and guitar cords.

The early stops on White's spring/summer tour include several rooms with a history: Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Okla. The Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport. The Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. He likely could have played a larger local venue; his Saenger show on Tuesday, June 3 sold out quickly. But a downtown, Depression-era movie house restored to its former glory is much more in keeping with his aesthetic than a basketball arena.

White's show was meticulously curated, right down to his crew's attire (ties, fedoras). Lighting was limited to shades of blue. A "Jetsons"-style monitor displayed only the three vertical bars of White's Third Man Records operation – matching the three bars of the lighting rig above it -- or static.

The placement of Daru Jones' drums to the left of the stage as seen from the audience, and Ikey Owens' keyboards to the right, framed a tight space for the players. Within that frame, White and his five accompanists spent an hour and 45 minutes showcasing sonics as much as songs, emoting as much as emotion. It was completely compelling, stylish and sweaty, even if it at times it felt a bit cold.

Before pulling back the customized curtain, an emcee advised audience members not to use their cell phones or seats. A few cheated and whipped out the former; most in attendance had no intention of relying on the latter.

Jones, Owens, bassist Dominic Davis, and pedal steel guitarist/mandolin player Fats Kaplin were holdovers from White's 2012 male touring band, the Buzzards. Violinist and singer Lillie Mae Rische was the only representative of his 2012 female band, the Peacocks. The combined ensemble was airtight, capable of raising an immense racket.

Jones served as White's primary foil. His bare-bones kit, angled toward the center of the stage, was slung low. The most efficient drummers, they say, move only their wrists. Jones, by contrast, windmilled his arms like a percussive Pete Townshend. And yet he was as precise as he was powerful.

Both attributes were necessary. The opening "High Ball Stepper," a mostly instrumental, fuzz-tone guitar freak-out on White's new "Lazaretto" CD, hit like Led Zeppelin in full-on hammer-of-the-gods mode. Just as quickly, they seemingly abandoned the song, letting it fall away to almost nothing save White's barely there blues guitar noodling -- only to pick it up and pound away again. In the first of many gear shifts, Owens' organ carried the subsequent "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground."

"New Orleans, you're there, I'm here!" White barked by way of introduction.

The great sheets of guitar in "Sixteen Saltines," a track from his 2012 album "Blunderbuss," resolved into white-noise feedback. That feedback continued while he switched to an acoustic guitar for "Temporary Ground," another "Lazaretto" cut. "Magellan, quote, unquote Columbus, they had it easy/they discovered nothing new," he spoke/sang.

He stayed on acoustic through the White Stripes' "Hotel Yorba," which featured upright bass and a pedal steel solo. By "Hypocritical Kiss," he had plugged in once again. "Missing Pieces" featured an eerie solo conjured by Kaplin on the theremin, an electronic device whose frequency oscillations are controlled by hand movements.

White took a turn on an upright piano for the new track "Three Women," a show highlight. He concluded it with a shout-out to the late great New Orleans piano legend James Booker. (Later, Mother's Restaurant also received an acknowledgement in song.)

"Love, Interruption," the breakout track from "Blunderbuss," was nothing fancy. A mash-up of the White Stripes' "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" and "We're Going to Be Friends" was. White harmonized with Rische, then tore into his electric guitar, charging the drums like a matador. The Raconteurs' "Steady, As She Goes" detoured into "I Cut Like a Buffalo," from another of his projects, the Dead Weather.

He directed his cast with a sure hand. His voice ranged from his trademark yelp to a rap-like, staccato patter. He dropped fewer bombs-away solos than he did on a cold night in City Park during the 2012 Voodoo Fest. But when he did tee up and take off -- as when, early in the encore, he hit high notes barely audible to anyone other than dogs – the results were electrifying. He concluded a blitzkrieg "Ball and Biscuit" on his knees.

Appropriately, the extended encore whiplashed between old and new. He harmonized with Rische again on the White Stripes' "You've Got Her in Your Pocket." A pretty piano melody carried "Alone in My Home," followed by another, relatively sedate "Lazaretto" cut, "Just One Drink." By contrast, "Seven Nation Army," the searing White Stripes call-to-arms, was a delirious orgy of distortion.

"I can't be in Louisiana and not play this song," he said before Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene." The repertoire of a long-dead blues-folk singer from north Louisiana figures more prominently in White's consciousness than that of his audience; initially at least, many in attendance seemed mystified by the semi-acoustic romp.

But by the time White cued the crowd to sing the final verse a cappella, they had picked up on the thread. Not surprisingly, he had succeeded in bringing them around to his point of view.

- www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2014/06/guitarist_jack_white_showcased.html

I'm on approximately listen #6 and loving every single song. This is definitely a step up from Blunderbuss with Lazaretto, Want and Able, Would You Fight For My Love, and Temporary Ground as my personal favorites. It seems to be very cohesive even with the varying styles within it. I think Jack has finally found his "solo album" voice and the music he has produced here is pretty awesome. The time sig changes, the dynamics with the female vocals on Temporary Ground, the base of country-ish steel guitar in several songs, ect, it seems every little thing he does here is on point. Needless to say, I can't wait for High Ball Stepper to ring out over the field next Saturday night.

This review is giving me the shivers! Can. Not. Wait.

So pumped that Daru Jones is the drummer for the condensed band. When I saw on the last tour, I got a show with the Pearoosters and the only part I was disappointed with was not getting to see him drum (Carla Azar was more than great but Daru is quacking ridiculous)