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| Jack White |
Jack White is the keeper of the light of rock and roll.
It's not just because he creates awe-inspiring music from his endeavors with The
White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and his solo
projects. White built his own vinyl record processing plant in his hometown of Detroit. He also produces music for legends such as Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, and Elton John (to mention only a few). White formed his own music wonderland with his label Third Man
Records. That's where collectible multiple colored hand-etched hologram vinyl records are concocted. Jack White conceived and funded an endeavor that played a record in outer space simply "to inject imagination and inspiration into the daily discourse of the music and vinyl lover." Jack White has brought wonder back into
a world that desperately needs it.
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| Jack White - All Photos by David James Swanson |
Wednesday
night in Broomfield, CO was no exception. Political rants and improvisational musical tales have been a regular occurrence on his current tour. On this epic night, White skipped all of the rambling and concentrated on the rock. The band
started with Over and Over and Over from the new album Boarding House
Reach. The heavy guitar riff song set the tone for a night of pure
intensity. I haven't seen Jack White play that many White Stripes'
tunes since … he was in The White Stripes. The songs ranged from When
I Hear My Name from The White Stripes debut self-titled album to I'm
Slowly Turning into You from their final 2007 album Icky Thump.
I though he could never top his legendary 2014 Red Rocks
Amphitheatre performance in the rain and lighting. However, the show I just witnessed abandoned his Nashville influences and brought back Jack White's inner Rock God. His band has two
keyboardist Neal Evans and Quincy McCrary who were on one side of
the stage engaging in electronic wizardry. Bass player Dominic Davis (White's life long friend) and Autolux drummer Carla Azar were on the other side. This made Jack White the center of attention with three
microphones and six guitars. All were used and abused throughout the
performance (the instruments not the musicians).
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| Jack White and his band |
The phone free show took the audience away from
their screens and into the music. White initiated the tour's policy after noticing
more phones than faces in the crowd. Now when he looks into the eyes of his fans, a childish grin appears across his face. White encouraged the crowd to
clap and sing while he fed off their energy throughout the night. The only draw
back was losing communication with fellow concertgoers lost in the sea of
humanity of General Admission (Sorry Jeff). The featured photos were taken by Jack
White's own photographer and later available for download on his website.
White explained to the sellout arena that some
people stay at Lonely Hearts Hotel, but he stays at The Oxford Hotel
when he's in Denver. This was an introduction to one of the biggest sing-alongs
of the night The White Stripes' Hotel Yorba. The Oxford Hotel's
bar The Cruise Room is where White shot the video Would You Fight for
My Love during his last tour. The haunting song was played later
that night - "People do their best to not let passion begin/It's dead before it has a chance to start/And so there I am, the caretaker of sin/To your abandoned and malignant heart." The rock ruckus concluded
with the iconic Seven Nation Army.
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Tyler Childers
Illustrated by The Old Guy at the Show
Sorry - There wasn't any pictures available
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Tyler Childers was tasked to "sing
at you" as the supporting act for a few stops on Jack White's
tour. His Appalachian Mountains inspired songs and have recently caught the attention of fellow
Kentuckian Sturgill Simpson who produced his latest album Purgatory.
The singer-songwriter won over the rock crowd with a humorous song about self-love entitled Ever Loving Hand. Childers introduced each band member with a rhyming vamp that easily could turn into his next hit song. Tyler Childers thanked Jack White for inviting him on
the tour adding "it's been a trip." He will be back performing in Denver in November.
See you at the next show. I'll be the one without a phone sketching the artist.
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