Jack White made a surprise appearance at Newport Folk Fest on Sunday, joining his friend Conan O’Brien to perform “We’re Going to Be Friends.”
The performance came as part of O’Brien’s collaborative set, billed as “Conan O’Brien & Real Musicians,” which also featured appearances from Nick Lowe, Dawes, Brittany Howard, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Mavis Staples.
White, whose friendship with O’Brien dates back more than two decades, was the final guest of the evening. “We’re Going to Be Friends” was an appropriate song selection, as The White Stripes played the track during O’Brien’s final Late Night talk show episode in 2009 (it also proved to be the final live performance of The White Stripes’ career). The song is also used by O’Brien as the soundtrack for his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.
After their duet of “We’re Going to Be Friends,” White stuck around on stage to back O’Brien on a cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock.” O’Brien, White, and the rest of the evening’s guests then concluded the set with a closing performance of “Midnight Special.”
Stay tuned for Ben Kaye’s full report from Newport Folk Fest 2024, which will go live later today.
White’s appearance at Newport continues a string of surprise actions he’s undertaken in recent weeks. He dropped a brand new album into the bags of unsuspecting shoppers at Third Man Records, and played a surprise gig at an American Legion Post in Nashville this past weekend. He also continues to line up additional live performances across both the US and Europe.