Jack White at the o2

thecolourbox

So I went to see Jack White at the o2 Arena last night, and very good it was too. I know like any act he has his detractors, but for those of us who are big fans, it was a terrific show. No big screens, a groovy light show including the III logo in huge blocks hanging above the stage, and I think he played for about two hours.

Support Act and Intro
The support band were Lucius (I think), they weren't too bad, very reminiscent of Haim I thought to be honest, They had three people playing drums, so it was quite percussive in style but the singers could sing and did cover a few different styles of song, finishing with a cool Kinks cover (Strangers I think, “we are not two we are one”)

As with his last tour, between the support and the main event, a cheerful chap did a little intro telling people to put their phones away, as the show was much bigger than a smartphone screen etc, and that a professional photographer was taking photos which would be available for free after the show, which I always like. People still kept their phones out

Main Event
I think he was on for a good two hours. It was a good setlist (well, as in a good mix of songs as he does not use setlists!), which covered a good variety of White Stripes, Raconteurs, and his solo stuff. There was no Dead Weather this time though, I did quite enjoy Cut Like A Buffalo on the last tour. He did mix it up a bit. Of course there were the straight out rockers, but there were also the lighter slower songs, and an excellent Yee Haw version of Hotel Yorba.

There was much of the usual screeching fuzzy whammy solos that we all know and love, he was stomping and jumping about all over the place, including the crowd pleasing “stand on the monitor” chestnut. He also played piano, and acoustic. As usual the interaction with the drummer was a highlight. The drummer is excellent, the different rhythms to the usual you’d hear for rock really do give a good feel to the songs. The bass, pedal steel and keyboard player all were great, as was (in particular) the lovely violinist/vocalist who seemed to be very jumpy and springy (it reminded me of the photos you see in the papers on A Level results day) but played a mean fiddle and held her own vocally with Jack.

Gearwise he was mainly playing his custom Tele which sounded great, he did switch to another very quickly at some point but it wasn’t out long enough to check that one out properly and then he threw it on the floor, silly man. Also making an appearance (I think!) was the old White Stripes slide guitar, I couldn’t quite see if it was the same old Kay Hollowbody one but it was only used for Seven Nation Army. He has custom amps these days, so sadly no gas could be gained from that. He did have a couple of cool new fx though, One vocal mic seemed to be distorted and oscillating feedback which was a cool effect. Also on a few of the solos he seemed to have some kind of auto dive bomb effect, so played a note and it dived down an octave like a siren, the same as it would if you rocked the treadle of a whammy but more consistent and he wasn’t stood anywhere near the whammy. Ooh they had a theramin as well!

Soundwise, I was quite impressed. There was a bit of a slapback echo coming from the back of the hall but my ears got used to ignoring that after a while. The support act were too heavy on the bass so I was a bit concerned but there were no such issues with Jack’s band. I presume it was all the drums in the support act, there were a lot.

All in all, I loved it though I am a big fan. He did keep making the point about turning a huge arena into a small club, not just playing a big arena set list to please the hit paraders. I think he pulled that off pretty well.

Recommend the show and the venue!

EricTheWeary

Theramin!?! Jack is the alt Joe Bonamassa. Glad you enjoyed it.

capo4th

I saw him at Hammersmith a few months back which was a fantastic gig.

thecolourbox

Or is Bonamassa the staid Jack White? Ha ha i dislike Bonamassa I'm afraid, never quite got him

ive seen him in a few iterations now, the Raconteurs gig they recorded live and picked up the cd 20 minutes after the show had finished, which was a nice touch.

I wouldn't have learnt guitar without hearing Hardest Button to Button and Fell in Love With A Girl, so he is something of a guitar hero to me...