There is no one quite like Jack White.
He’s a garage rocker who is also a blues guitarist. A perfectionist who is also a master improviser. A stadium act who prefers playing in a club. And a rock legend who continues to find new forms of reinvention.
All of these attributes were on display during White’s gig at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night, which came as part of his ongoing tour in support of his newly released solo album, No Name.
As White detailed in a note posted to Instagram earlier this month, the tour marks a departure from the traditional approach of announcing dates well in advance. Instead, he plans to perform primarily at “small clubs, backyard fêtes, and a few festivals here and there to cover expenses.” White signed the post under the name “Johnny Guitar.”
Although it initially went unnoticed, the “Johnny Guitar” persona carries significant weight on White’s current tour. As it turns out, this is a Johnny Guitar tour, not a Jack White tour. He introduced himself as such during Tuesday’s show at the 9:30 Club.
At a Johnny Guitar show, the band — which features Patrick Keeler on drums, Bobby Emmett on keys, and Dominic Davis on bass — plays fast and loose. At times, they’re dishing straight Detroit garage rock. Other times, Johnny Guitar leads the talented group of musicians in extended, jam sessions (such as the case on “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and “Top Yourself”). As opposed to past Jack White solo tours, there are no band uniforms or stage decorations at a Johnny Guitar concert. This is a free-wheeling show.
Johnny Guitar focused much of his set at 9:30 Club showcasing material from No Name, an album tailor-made for a smokey rock club. Songs like “Old Scratch Blues,” “That’s How I’m Feeling,” “What’s the Rumpus?”, and “Archbishop Harold Holmes” sounded absolutely massive at the iconic Washington D.C. venue.
Jack White is by no means the first established rock star to reinvent himself by embodying a new persona at the mid-way point of their career. But on the same day that the Gallagher brothers announced plans to reunite for a stadium tour, there is something quite invigorating watching a rock legend of similar stature choose to forsake a major arena payday in favor of a down and dirty club tour.
I’ve seen White in concert on numerous occasions and in various incarnations over the years — with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and various solo iterations. He’s never put on a bad show. But as “Johnny Guitar,” he came across as more comfortable and content than I’ve ever seen him on stage.
In a small club packed to the brim with only the most diehard of his fans, White was free of the prerequisites that are required of a larger scale tour: sure he still hammered out “Seven Nation Army” to close the main portion of his set, but it was only one of four White Stripes songs in the entire show. The others — including the aforementioned “Dead Leaves” and set closer “Ball and Biscuit” — were significantly reworked as bluesy jam outs that absolutely ripped, but would have no doubt felt a bit out of place in at, say, traditional festival headlining performance.
Watching White play these songs, material from No Name, or any of the other cuts he checked off on the fly Tuesday night, it was evident he was in his element. He’s a rocker meant to be playing rock clubs, traveling city to city in a van, announcing shows at a moments notice. He has a catalog of hits that few of his generation can rival, and yet, like his hero Bob Dylan, he’s not particularly interested in nostalgia.
He will never not be Jack White. But, at least on this tour, White has found a way to strip away the expectations and uncovered a new, reinvigorating path — that, as Johnny Guitar.
Jack White – 9:30 Club Setlist:
Old Scratch Blues
That’s How I’m Feeling
Tonight (Was a Long Time Ago)
(Unknown)
It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking)
I Cut Like a Buffalo (The Dead Weather song)
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (The White Stripes song)
Love Interruption
Top Yourself (The Raconteurs song)
Cannon (The White Stripes song)
Archbishop Harold Holmes
What’s the Rumpus?
Fear of the Dawn
The White Raven
Underground
Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes song)
Encore:
Broken Boy Soldier (The Raconteurs song)
Morning at Midnight
Ball and Biscuit (The White Stripes song)