Jack White at the Chelsea, Friday August 24, 2018

Due to either the Chelsea's or White's decision to make this a "no phone" night, I have no pix and was not able to take notes so some basic impressions.

Got there in time to see the opener, Olivia Jean (I believe) - a female fronted four piece, alt-rock band with hints of Lene Lovich (Olivia's style) and a good drummer, but not particularly memorable songs.

An acoustic guitarist, William Tyler (again, I think that's his name), followed, playing all instrumentals. Talented player, but it got a bit same-y after a set's worth of material. We both thought it sounded like good backing tracks that needed melodies on top - whether vocal or instrumental. Of course, being one person, he was limited, even with the occasional use of a looper pedal.

Jack came out with a full band that included two keyboardists, bass and a female drummer (quite good). He was the sole guitarist and was a little self-indulgent at times, but I like his style, overall, and he changed up the guitars, including playing an acoustic for a couple of numbers, such as a new arrangement of "Carolina Drama". No "I'm Shakin'" this evening, which was too bad, as I dig his version of that great song, but the final encore was "Seven Nation Army" that had the crowd bouncing and singing along.

Obviously, very different from the time we saw the White Stripes 20 years ago with a couple of dozen people and his dress style was pretty poor this time out (unusual for him), but he still entertains. Not amazing, but still good. We'll see what he comes up with next in his ever-changing career.

(It was kinda funny that the majority of the audience was older and pretty square - and that's this old man saying that. Does he not appeal to young people any longer since he plays guitar? Or has he become yesterday's news to them?)