The opener was Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three. They play a mixture of pre-rock and roll styles of music including things like Western Swing and jazz and other styles from that era. The band is very solid – especially his guitarist – and as a singer he is definitely authentic, but this is pure revivalism and hard to take as anything more than just very, very competent nostalgia.
Jack White was backed for this show by the all-female band for this tour, aka The Peacocks.
White played what could be called “the hits” (though the show was relatively – relatively – free from singles). There was a good selection of White Stripes song from the entire discography (or nearly all of it), a couple of Raconteurs numbers in the encore, at least a third of his solo album. (Though honestly I only listened to it when it came out, so I can’t be sure.) He also played some songs I didn’t know, which I assume were Dead Weather songs. Pretty much every song was different from studio, which is what I want.
A few times they did some rather strange things with silence, where they added really long breaks mid song. The other odd thing was “Seven Nation Army.” Every time I hear it I think I’m at the Dome. They mixed it up a bit, but it was still a little like “Really? This is the most over-played song in the world.”
On the whole, it was a very solid show, with some very nice solos from White. The band was pretty tight too, but what can I say? It wasn’t the White Stripes. I missed my chance when I had it.
The Peacocks:
- Ruby Amanfu, Guitar
- Carla Azar, Drums
- Lillie Mae Rische
- Maggie Bjorklund
- Brooke Waggoner, Keyboards
- Either Bryn Davies or Catherine Popper, Bass