Jack White, Liverpool Echo Arena, 20/10/18
Jack White recently stopped by Liverpool on his latest U.K. tour and Wired Noise’s Daniel Cook is here to tell the tale.
With half an audience stood shit-scared at the concept of spending two hours without their smart phone due to Mr. White’s no phone policy, the night already had a musk of bittersweet eeriness as we got settled for his set.
Demob Happy played their hearts out while everyone was getting in the long line for a beer, or outside for a much-needed October smoke. Hopefully their North American support run with the doomy sludge outfit Grave Yard will give them a slight bit more of exposure, nevertheless they’re a band well worth giving your time to if you enjoy some good old stoner rock.
Jack White was slightly late to the set, but not for reasons we had previously imagined, at least. White rather vainly ran up on stage after his band had showcased some groove and were ready for the man himself.
Opening with the track ‘Over and Over and Over’ he, without doubt, warmed the crowd up with a track that undoubtedly utilises the fact he’s got a full band at his mercy. ‘Over and Over and Over’ has all the beast-like qualities you want from a Jack White opening number: no bullshit with interludes sounding close to Primus. I’m pretty sure he grabbed the phoneless punters by the balls. Following straight into a classic with the song that could very well define most of our unwanted delvse into Autumn, he grabbed his electric guitar of choice and graced Liverpool with the opening riff of ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ to much welcomed excitement. As cheesy as it sounds, he could not of chosen a better song to ignite the crowd with, he almost could have sat down and let Liverpool sing for him… it’s that time of year, we've all felt that satisfying crunch of a dead leaf on the dirty ground.
Next was an uneasy performance. considering the pure brilliance of ‘Corporation’’s music video, it unfortunately just didn't pack the punch it did live as it does on its heavily produced video. No discredit, it’s a belter; but just not a song written for a live performance in my eyes.
With around eight guitars and an obscene number of amps and effect pedals surrounding him, I really enjoyed the element of unpredictability. White then finally gave a restless Saturday audience a moment to have a good old dance. With a slick grab of a semi-acoustic guitar, he got us all moving with a gypsy-like, straight off the wagon version of the White Stripes classic ‘Hotel Yorba’; followed by maybe a lesser-known track off the White Stripes’ debut album, ‘Cannon’.
This then led to what we all knew to expect, a fair few tracks off his solo albums. The highlight of this part of the set was the track ‘That Black Bat Licorice’, taking full use of his three microphones, bass guitarist and two keyboard players, where White’s solos often sounded rather empty during the days of the White Stripes, they hit like a ton of bricks.
Then finally we got to what we had waited for, some tracks from ‘Elephants’ starting with a beautiful rendition of ‘You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket’ which gave the audience a chance to have a breather before my personal highlight of the set. A song I was waiting to hear, but had the feeling wouldn't be played, the wild ‘Back Math’. When the chorus dropped, the audience for the first time during the set started to bounce around like it was 2003 and ‘Elephants’ was back in the charts. Of course there were songs missing from the set everyone wanted such as ‘Icky Thump’, ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’ and ‘Ball and Biscuit’, but with the back catalogue White’s released over the past two decades this was always to be expected.
One thing that was also very clear during his set, was that he wasn't hammered drunk falling into drum kits like his infamous 2014 Glastonbury performance. He was on top form and looked happy to be there, as weird as Jack White’s world has got since the Stripes split. With various side projects and controversy with his Twitter slagging off Foo Fighters and the whole Tidal endorsement failure, it was great to see a musician back doing what he does best. Melt faces.
The encore was full of hits; The Raconteurs ‘Steady as She Goes’ was always going to be thrown into the set. There was even some surprising crowd interaction… it was almost like he had taken a few tips out of Dave Grohl’s handbook. Then, into which undoubtedly in my eyes is White’s best solo tune, ‘Lazaretto’. Driven by its fuzzy bass and chunky riffs, White left his solo material to come back to what we all knew was coming - possibly why a fair percent of the audience was there in the first place, the mighty ‘Seven Nation Army’ which he of course extended within an inch of its musical life. White put his guitar down, waved and left the stage.
For some, they may have left disappointed by the lack of familiar material played but the trained ear we knew we had seen one of our generation’s greatest frontmen do what he does best.
