Written by Krysta Ayers

MAY 4, Austin, Texas—Jack White is no stranger to Austin. In fact, he was just here in November 2024 for the first leg of the No Name World Tour—which he decided to play at smaller venues (he played to a sold-out Mohawk and Continental Club). On this second leg, the choice of venues seems to be getting bigger. For his nearly two-hour show for night one in Austin, he played ACL Live at the Moody Center (a dramatic departure since the last time I saw him at the Moody Center in 2022) to a completely enraptured crowd.

To watch a Jack White set—especially one outside of an arena and in a more intimate setting—is like watching the Snyder cut of a superhero film. It is all frills. It’s glorious, and each time he stretched a song to its 10-minute capacity, he directed it into a new one, seamlessly. The first hour of the set passed in this way (it goes by so fast, too!). Opening with “Old Scratch Blues,” the blues-punk head-banger, he went swiftly into “That’s How I’m Feeling,” “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” (The White Stripes’ songs creeping in early), and “Me and the Devil Blues,” a Robert Johnson cover that the band turned on its head with amplified guitar whines and thundering drums. It’s a song choice and reimagining that serves as a reminder that Jack White is not only a musical genius, but a student and fan first.

All that we could do as a crowd was watch in awe—quickly resetting with each new song and remembering to clap, nod our heads, and sing back the lyrics. Clad in his usual all-black uniform of jeans, tee, and leather jacket, he hopped around stage plucking each note with ferocious dedication and our jaws were slack and eyes glazed over in wonder. Can you blame us? This is the man who gave us “Lazaretto,” “Steady As She Goes,” and “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” which he co-wrote with Beyoncé for her album Lemonade. The musical chameleon is also to thank for every dude with a guitar playing “Seven Nation Army” at every party ever since 2003.

There was no time for banter. Besides his solo stuff, the Detroit-born musician is, or has been, part of six other bands, so there was a lot of material to get through. The Nashville-friendly “Hotel Yerba” played twangier and faster live. “Broken Boy Soldier” was heavier, and played with longer guitar breaks. Jack White’s voice was perfect pitch throughout, and at some points, seemed to draw on Janis Joplin’s famous wail, honing in on that bluesy, raspy voice, and hitting the high notes. Each song is played like a jam-sesh with friends in a garage; he let the notes breathe, or strangled chords against the fret, and let songs take on new tempos.

His encore was a brilliant eight-song composition, which is the longest encore I’ve ever witnessed and I’m so grateful. He played “Freedom at 21,” “Fell in Love with a Girl,” and, of course, ended with “Seven Nation Army,” the crowd joining in a chorus of “ahs.”

He took a bow with his bandmates and thanked us for spending our hard-earned money to see him. And then, the blue stage lights and spotlight gave way to unforgiving bright house lights and the band exited stage right.

Now, while a live version of this album and tour does exist…sadly, my friends, it’s only five tracks long. If you recall, I said the show was nearly two hours long, so a lot is missing. The Jack White cut is what we really need. Back-to-back blues-punk rock that we can melt into in perpetuity.