A week ago (Friday) Jack White released a new album, played the national anthem before the Detroit Tigers home opener, kicked off his “Supply Chain Issues Tour,” with a show at the Motor City’s Masonic Temple theater, proposed to his singer/girlfriend Olivia Jean on stage during the show and then married her during the encore.
How was White going to top that in Pittsburgh?
Arriving at the Petersen Events Center, on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland, Thursday night, White came pretty close.
Six dates into his tour, White burst onto the stage looking like he was ready to shatter a backboard at the home of the Pitt Panthers basketball teams.
Appearing none the worse for wear after his busy week, with his blue hair thick on top and tight on the sides, White launched into the show with the first three songs on his new disc, “Fear of the Dawn.”
He tore into “Taking Me Back,” a meaty opening tune featuring searing licks from his blue-and-white guitar and a driving beat that immediately put the crowd under his spell.
He followed the opening song with the “Fear of the Dawn” title track, a fiery number that screams for attention, and “The White Raven.”
By then the train was roaring out of the station. White’s concert was like the subway cars in the famous chase scene from “The French Connection,” which is to say that he didn’t stop — one song segued powerfully into the next.
Dressed in a tight black shirt with thin white stripes, black pants and boots, White made it clear from the start that he was in control of the action, a quarterback giving a stare here and a nod there at his band mates, assessing the defense and maybe calling an audible at the line.
There was no time for chit-chat with the audience, no dead time between songs, no wardrobe changes and nothing cute during the evening. White was determined to keep the energy going.
After the three new songs off the top, White’s train took an unpredictable turn into The White Stripes’ “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and the crowd went right along with him as he crushed that old sweet song, strutting and spinning confidently.
“All right Pittsburgh, are you with us now?” asked White in his first words to the crowd.
They were with him. How could they not be?
White and his band were an irresistible force, four guys following the Beatles template. A good rock band doesn’t need more than four guys, especially if it’s these four.
In a unique set-up, drummer Daru Jones was seated on the left side of the stage facing the audience. Wearing a stylish, small black hat with a white band, Jones pounded his kit relentlessly, even standing up at one point, while he remained spot-on, keeping the energy at the level White wanted.
Bass player Dominic Davis, dovetailing nicely with Jones, stayed largely in the background but was kept company by a large statue that bore a resemblance to White, the only way to explain why it was there. And then there was keyboard player Quincy McCrary who provided seamless harmony on songs like “Love Interruption” facing the piano that White occasionally played during the show.
White is almost as good a piano player as he is a guitarist, something that became especially evident on songs like the soulful “What’s Done is Done.”
But clearly guitar is where White really takes command, conjuring up any sound or style he wants, with the crowd really eating up his Latin-flavored licks on the White Stripes’ song “I Think I Smell a Rat.”
It was just one of many White Stripes songs included in the set along with “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “Icky Thump” and “Black Math,” and White’s fans certainly didn’t seem to mind. For that matter, no one seemed to mind that White once again enforced his policy of requiring patrons to place their cellphones in locked bags during the show which, though inconvenient, made for a more pleasurable viewing experience.
And there were Raconteurs songs as well, including of course, “Steady, as She Goes,” the last song before the encore and easily the best one of the night, featuring that seductive signature bass line laid down by Davis from the familiar opening notes.
The encore featured more White Stripes, including of course, the grand finale — “Seven Nation Army” — with the crowd on its feet chanting “Oh oh oh oh oooooh oh,” just as fans do at pretty much every major sports event in the country these days.
When it was over, White stood still at the front of the stage taking in his well-deserved standing ovation before taking a bow with his band.
And so ended roughly two hours of great music and showmanship. It was impossible not to be impressed. Jack White has now clearly joined the likes of Bruce Springsteen as one of the faces of American rock ‘n’ roll.
“Thank you Pittsburgh,” said White. “God bless you and I’ll see you real soon, I hope.”
Setlist
1. Taking Me Back
2. Fear of the Dawn
3. The White Raven
4. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
5. Love Interruption
6. What’s Done is Done
7. Love is Blindness
8. Missing Pieces
9. Black Math
10. I Think I Smell a Rat
11. Ghost Highway
12. That Black Bat Licorice
13. Freedom at 21
14. You Don’t Understand Me
15. Love is Selfish
16. Temporary Ground
17. A Martyr for My Love for You
18. Cannon
19. I Cut Like a Buffalo
20. Lazaretto
21. Fell in Love With a Girl
22.Y ou’re Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)
23. Steady as She Goes
Encore:
24. Icky Thump
25. Sixteen Saltines
26. Seven Nation Army
Paul Guggenheimer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-226-7706 or [email protected].
