Jack White Rocks Brooklyn at the Kings Theatre

Jack White’s three New York City area performances, including a last-minute pop-up performance at Irving Plaza, started as the big rock news of this week in the Big Apple. Paul McCartney then stole all the thunder when the ex-Beatle announced two pop-up performances at the 600-capacity Bowery Ballroom. Reportedly, even Jack White attended the McCartney show immediately before performing at the Kings Theatre.

White’s current tour promotes his sixth and most recent solo studio album, No Name, which he released on August 2, 2024. Indeed, at the Kings Theatre, accompanied by keyboardist Bobby Emmett, bassist Dominic Davis and drummer Patrick Keeler, White performed six of No Name’s 13 tracks. By comparison, the setlist included only one song from White’s best-selling Lazaretto album from 2014 and one song from the Boarding House Reach album from 2018. The evening’s repertoire also included catalog from two of White’s earlier bands, the White Stripes (five songs) and the Raconteurs (two songs).

White gave his musicians moments to shine, but he essentially owned the spotlight, whether he was singing strongly at the microphone stand or rapidly pacing the stage while diving into his guitar licks. As the sole guitarist, he worked triple duty, playing non-stop riffs, rhythms and leads. Many of the songs started with hard and heavy riffs, which he repeated until he stepped back from the microphone to scorch his guitar leads.

Led by his fierce guitar work, White revisited the unpolished grittiness he mastered with his ex-wife in the White Stripes in the early 2000s. The raw core of the performance married garage rock with the classic sound of blues-rock bands like Led Zeppelin. Much of the time, White seemed to be improvising spontaneously on his guitar while his band maintained the background, as if the musicians did not know how much longer White would extend a jam. His blaring guitar work at times became noisy simply for the sake of being loud and jarring, yet he shone most brightly when the leads more clearly reflected his love of American blues. This roots approach became particularly potent when he covered Robert Johnson’s “Little Queen of Spades.”

As the main set drew to a close with the White Stripes’ “Black Math,” White’s pedalboard malfunctioned, silencing his guitar. As White and his tech tried restoring the sound, the band jammed, with Emmett improvising subtle keyboard rolls. The audience roared when White’s guitar blazed again. This is what the fans came to hear.

On recent tours, White instituted a ban on cell phones and cameras. Thankfully, he no longer requires his fans to lock all devices into pouches prior to entering a venue. While electronic devices can be distracting at a performance, relaxing this ban made the show far more enjoyable this time around.

All photographs by David Swanson

Setlist

1. Old Scratch Blues
2. That's How I'm Feeling
3. Little Queen of Spades (Robert Johnson cover)
4. It's Rough on Rats (If You're Asking)
5. Let's Build a Home (The White Stripes song)
6. What's Done Is Done
7. Hotel Yorba (The White Stripes song)
8. Broken Boy Soldier (The Raconteurs song)
9. The Hardest Button to Button (The White Stripes song)
10. High Ball Stepper
11. (Unknown)
12. What's the Rumpus?
13. (Unknown)
14. Black Math (The White Stripes song)

Encore

1. Encore Rave Up
2. Steady, as She Goes (The Raconteurs song)
3. Archbishop Harold Holmes
4. Underground
5. Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes song)

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The Manhattan Beat reports on New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.

For a list of Manhattan venues that are presenting live music regularly, swing the desktop cursor to the right of the The Manhattan Beat home page and click on the pop-up tab "Where to Find Live Music."

For a more complete listing of upcoming performances in the New York City area, visit The Manhattan Beat's February calendar.