Jack White at the Pentaport Rock Festival 2024

I hadn’t heard Jack White’s solo stuff, and hadn’t really listened to The White Stripes much since I was in high school, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised, though, because his set turned out to be pretty much what the doctor ordered.

His style is such a nice blend of folk, blues, and punk rock. It really hit the spot for me that night. We also had gotten a good buzz going, and the sun was fully set, so we were feeling pretty nice around the time he came on.

One thing that I liked about his set was that he basically just played for the full 90 minutes straight. He didn’t really make any innocuous comments in between songs, didn’t tell us his life story, or anything like that. He just jammed the whole time. There were a few songs that he played with a slide on what looked like some kind of resonator or hollow body guitar with a little bit of overdrive on it. The results were very tasty. Now I want to start playing with a slide again!

Plus, Jack White just has such a nice voice, and he uses it in interesting ways. He can do these sudden high pitched squeals and squeaks that really add some texture and variety to his songs; not to mention character and intensity.

One thing that I also liked about his set was that it wasn’t just a live instance of his records. What I mean is, some of his old songs with which I am familiar, like We Are Gonna Be Friends or Fell in Love With a Girl were not played in a way that tries to emulate the original recordings. He has played those songs countless times since they were recorded, and you could tell that they have grown with him over the years. This is no to say they were wildly different, but that when he plays them… he plays them, or rather, plays with them. They feel like living creatures in a way. This is what makes live music special, and I was overjoyed that he closed the night with such a candid and colorful set.