The Jack White Setlist Annonated And Spotified For Your Please

Icky Thump This

The problem with Jack White is that, now Lou Reed is dead, he must be the hands down biggest asshole in pop music. I am not guessing here, I have a very good friend who worked for him a couple of years back and can’t mention his name without spitting. White is an egomaniac, a screamer, a paranoid fink and a man without a good word for anyone much.

But, my friends dislike of him notwithstanding, White is an indisputable master of the rock idiom, who impressed me so much at Radio city Music Hall in 2014, I went two days in a row and don’t regret a second of it.

My feeling is Saturday night’s gig is gonna be a disappointment if only because the radio City gig was both surprisingly great and surprisingly great while promoting a surprisingly great album…

1. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (The White Stripes song) – A great firsts ong, everything you loved about the duo in this heavy duty blues rocker – A

2. Missing Pieces – The opening alvo from his masterful first solo album takes a highly addictive repetition of a couple of notes and builds a blues number round it – A

3. High Ball Stepper – The first single off the sophomore solo is fuzzed out electric blues track – B+

4. Temporary Ground (Live Debut) – Quieter then usual duet, about as country as he gets – B

5. Alone in My Home (Live Debut) – Piano rocker, very effective melody – A.

6. Fell in Love With a Girl (The White Stripes song) – This is one of his proto-teen nursery rhymes, it sounds like a sort of fairy tale of desire – A

7. You Know That I Know (Hank Williams cover) – Actually White wrote the music and not particularly well

8. Hotel Yorba -(The White Stripes song) – A high kick square dance of a song with one of those nursery rhyme choruses he excels at – A

9. We’re Going to Be Friends (The White Stripes song) – One of his greatest moments, a childhood dream like it escaped from a chapter of Tom Sawyer with its very own Becky Sharp – A+

10. Lazaretto – Disappointing but not deadly, saved by an excellent fuzzed out guitar solo, though the tempo changes don’t quite work – B

11. Hypocritical Kiss – You gotta to love the cascading piano that opens this terrific song – A

12. Icky Thump (The White Stripes song) -In which Jack gets his Robert Plant on – B

13. Sixteen Saltines – The second song on Blunderbuss and unbelievable enough, better than the first song – A

14. Freedom at 21 – Great drumming, the beat is everything here – B+

15. Hello Operator (The White Stripes song) – Opens with a blues break and just gets better from there – B+

16. Cannon (The White Stripes song) – Spooky Black Sabbath wannabe except for the vocals – B+

17. The Rose With the Broken Neck (Live Debut) – I haven’t heard it but can’t say I’m crazy about the title.

18. Three Women (Live Debut) – Opening track and completely killer – A-

19. You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket (The White Stripes song) – Indelible slow moving blues – B

20. Top Yourself (The Raconteurs song) – They really sucked when I saw em open for Dylan a coupla years ago – C

21. My Doorbell (The White Stripes song) – Sorta 60s English pop meets jack – B

22. Steady, As She Goes (The Raconteurs song) – Their greatest moment has a fine vocal hook and a Joe Jackson rip for the ages – B+

23. Seven Nation Army – (The White Stripes song) – Their most loved songs lives on as a brutal drum pattern