Jack White Kicks Off His Solo Tour in Chattanooga
Jack White appeared at Track 29 in Chattanooga, Tennessee for his first-ever solo headlining show, kicking off a brief tour in support of the album, Blunderbuss. The show sold out in minutes, and fans began to line up outside the venue early in the morning to witness White's first solo show on Saturday, March 10th, 2012.
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White and his Band
All matters of local pride in Chattanooga, Tennessee aside, mostly the excitement of seeing Jack White just boiled down to seeing Jack White, as if witnessing him perform under only the thin guise of his own name would somehow finally make everything clear. Of course, then he went and showed up with more bandmates than ever before: a six-piece, all women, one of them pregnant.
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The Songs
White's setlist included a few songs from Blunderbuss, some from his Dead Weather and Raconteurs, and more than seemed prudent to hope for from his six White Stripes releases.
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Carla Azar
Drummer Carla Azar, buttoned into a high-necked, long-sleeved lace dress, pounded like a madwoman to the beats.
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Backstage
White's equipment backstage at Track29.
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Under the Lights
After the opening band and a break, the lights shifted to blue and the six women floated out onto the stage – all of them in shades of silver – with White trailing behind.
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All Female Crew
The same crew had accompanied White's performance of "Love Interruption," the album’s lead single, on SNLthe previous Saturday, and had been traded in for an all-male band for the second song. But in Chattanooga, the only dudes on stage besides White were his roadies, backlit figures in sharp suits and fedoras.
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Packed House
The crowd, some of whom had been waiting outside since 5 a.m. the morning of the show, instantly went wild for the performance.
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Ruby Amanfu
Ruby Amanfu, the Ghanian-born, Nashville-based singer who rasps so gloriously all over "Love Interruption," plied the songs with harmonies and a fairly mad tambourine.
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Crowd Favorites
White Stripes songs were the unshocking favorites; there was a countrified "Hotel Yorba," pedal steel and fiddle and all, and when "Seven Nation Army" closed down the main set, a sizable population of the crowd sang along not just to the lyrics but to White’s jerry-rigged acoustic riff as well.
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Carla Azar
On the drums.
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Love Interruption
Many already knew all the words to "Love Interruption," but it’s hard to imagine any of the other new songs relating in the same way – much of the Blunderbuss stuff seems more in the vein of De Stijl, or of "Ball and Biscuit," still one of the fiercest cuts in White’s catalog.
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Irene, Goodnight
White and the ladies closed with a generous coda of "Irene, Goodnight," the night’s only cover, first recorded by Leadbelly, since played by almost anyone with an acoustic guitar and half a notion of American folk music, and almost never not lovely. White coaxed the audience into singing along.
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Last Song
And when the last chords fell there was a little bow and a toss of a pick and cheering as White saluted the crowd, the women all filing offstage ahead of him.