Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have likely followed the epic touring schedule of Jack White over the past year. Since the release of his album No Name in 2024, the former White Stripes frontman and soon to be Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer has been on an epic barnstorming mission starting with surprise shows at intimate venues across the world (and yes, I mean world) and gradually building into a more solid schedule of sold-out performances at larger venues. White is the epitome of classy cool, the sultan of swagger, and he has somehow broadcast all of his endeavors across social media, only building up the hype surrounding each show. Though he has been involved in many iterations of solo projects since the White Stripes broke up, his current lineup of players may be his leanest and meanest to date. On Saturday, May 24th, White and this cast of badass bandmates brought their seemingly endless tour to Troutdale, Oregon’s Edgefield just outside Portland to kick off the summer outdoor concert season with a sold-out performance.
Flanked by a lineup that included fellow Detroiters and longtime collaborators Dominic Davis on bass and Bobby Emmett on keyboards, as well as Patrick Keeler of the Raconteurs on drums, White donned a slick white jacket covered in spiders as he strapped on his signature Triplecaster Telecaster to initiate a potent warm-up jam. After the stomping blues-rocker “Old Scratch Blues,” the band launched straight into “That’s How I’m Feeling,” a standout track from No Name that stands among his greatest hits and, in the live setting, served as a full-on party anthem. While White can get away with just about anything at this point and could easily lean into his solo work, he gave the fans plenty of other material throughout the 100-minute set that touched on his other bands. Much of this was The White Stripes, starting with the early placement of a particularly raucous “Dead Leave and the Dirty Ground” with White layering in a glitched-out solo that morphed into a hard-charging riff before unleashing a torrent of delicious slide guitar work as he march-jammed across the stage while playing Robert Johnson’s “Phonograph Blues.” New tune “It’s Rough On Rats (If You’re Asking)” was almost dizzying in its wild chord changes and ferociousness. The Stripes’ country-boogie “Hotel Yorba” was a more light-hearted moment that segued into the soulful R&B of “What’s Done Is Done.”
Ever the showman, White screamed, scowled, and practically duckwalked around the stage throughout the night to amplify the intensity of each tune. The Raconteurs’ “Broken Boy Soldier” smoldered with a tease of the blues classic “Smokestack Lightning” before his almost bird-like guitar wailing on the Stripes’ “Cannon.” The band kept it loose as they stayed on The White Stripes with “The Union Forever,” “I Fought Piranhas,” and “The Hardest Button to Button” sounding as strong and forceful as they did when they first hit the scene. The Dead Weather song “I Cut Like a Buffalo” saw the band fully jiving with Emmett’s soulful keys front and center while “Archbishop Harold Holmes” soared with sinister, sludgy riffs and the set-closing “Ball and Biscuit” saw White practically setting his guitar on fire with the sheer amount of blues-rock shredding. As they have been doing throughout this tour, the band returned to the stage for a slew of encore tunes that included a version of the Raconteurs’ hit “Steady, as She Goes” with White looping vocals and getting almost medieval in his guitar playing before segueing into the Stripes’ breakout tune “Fell in Love With a Girl” that was frantic and unhinged in its garage-punk power. “That Black Bat Licorice” was a sneaky and feedback-laced vehicle for White to play around with, while “Lazaretto” stood out for its jaunty, jagged rock and roll sneer.
By the time the band wrapped with an explosive performance of “Seven Nation Army,” White and his band had delivered a masterclass in rock and roll consistency. They left no stone unturned while balancing instrumental prowess with showmanship and pure chemistry as a unit. Sure, White is undoubtedly the star of the show, but what makes his current project so exhilarating is the way it sheds ego for a flag-waving call to celebrate the glory of guitar-driven music. This combination of sheer skill, songwriting and singing, persona, and just the right balance of interaction with fans should be an aspiration for every young rocker.
