Concert Review: Jack White, ‘No Name’ Tour, Kansas City’s Uptown Theater, April 4, 2025 – An Electric Guitar Jamboree – Oh, Yes!

Jack White, who just returned from touring Japan in support of his latest LP – the sensational No Name – came to Kansas City last night and played the venerable Uptown theater. He had played St. Louis the night before where he played my favorite Raconteurs song, “Carolina Drama,” I missed it by one night! Jack dynamically shifts his setlists every night which is very cool. According to social media, he made it over to KC in time to get out to The K, to catch the Royals game… although I think it must have been rain delayed so I’m not sure how much baseball he actually got to see. As longtime readers know, I subscribe to the Great Man Theory of history… great men appear at moments in history and define the time they live in (God knows, we could use one of those now). Actually, I believe in the Great Man Theory of rock n roll, and Jack White, my friends, is one of those Great Men! What a show!

It was an unseasonably cold and misty night in Kansas City last night. The Rock Chick and I parked on a side street near the entrance of the Uptown and raced to the theater to get in, shoulders hunched against the cold and the wet. I won’t lie, I missed the opening act because I was in the inordinately long merch line… I don’t buy many concert t-shirts anymore, but for Jack White, I made an exception. The Rock Chick and I quickly shot up to our seats in the front of the balcony and for once, no one was sitting in the seats in front of us. Even she could see the stage clearly.

At approximately 9:15pm the lights went down and the band came on stage: Patrick Keeler (of Raconteur’s fame) on drums; Dominic Davis on bass; and finally Bobby Emmett on keyboards. The band was arrayed – left to right from my seat – drums, bass guy on a riser in the back in the middle, and keyboards on the right. That left the entire stage open for Jack White. He finally emerged from the side of the stage a tick or two after the band, as though emerging from the mist outside the theater itself. He was dressed all in black, with a black leather jacket and fabulous, pointy white boots. With that wide open stage, it gave Jack the room to bunny hop, skip, jump, run, race all around the stage – as far as his guitar cord would let him – and believe me he used every inch of that stage. The man put on a guitar clinic. He showed me last night that he has complete mastery of the instrument. I say that having seen Jimmy Page (Page/Plant), Joe Bonamassa (blues extraordinaire), and Eddie Van Halen (ok, Eddie and Jack differ greatly in style and type of music…Eddie never got into the blues, it wasn’t his ethos… so maybe an unfair comparison).

I must digress to tell you that I’ve been a Jack White fan (and a Meg White fan for that matter) since the Rock Chick turned me onto the White stripes circa White Blood Cells. I saw them twice, once on the Elephant tour and once on the Get Behind Me Satan tour. I absolutely fell in love with their blues rock. I followed Jack into his side projects: The Raconteurs, the Dead Weather. I absolutely loved his first two solo records, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto. He lost a bit on Boarding House Reach and Fear Of The Dawn – an album that made me actually afraid to go to sleep. But Jack got me back with the mostly acoustic Entering Heaven Alive and last year’s return to blues rock/blues punk, the aforementioned No Name. But for whatever reason, I hadn’t had a chance to see him solo… that all changed last night.

After taking the stage, White grabbed his signature strat, blue and black and launched into “Old Scratch Blues” and he tortured that guitar like he was Jeff Beck and he was angry with his guitar. He rolled from there into one of the highlights of the night for me, “That’s How I’m Feeling.” I was up in the balcony but the GA floor, which was packed, went nuts with that one. He picked up this old, battered wide body guitar – he told a story about it the first time I saw the Stripes, about his brother buying it for him – and when he grabs that thing, you know you’re going to the blues and some heavenly slide guitar. He starts playing “Black Math,” from the Stripes and I almost fell out of the balcony… the only thing that kept me up there was the sheer power and volume of the music. I’d have liked the vocals a smidge higher in the mix, but who am I to complain?

After that it was another of my favorite new ones, “It’s Rough On Rats,” with more exquisite slide guitar. Then it was onto “Screwdriver” another Stripes tune. Jack would often, when solo’ing drift to the left of the stage (from my view) and stand by the drum riser and jam. “Love Interruption” gave the keyboard player a time to shine and was almost a sing-a-long. As a huge Stripes fan, as documented above, I didn’t think Jack could surprise me, but he played a Dead Weather song I’d never heard, “I Cut Like Buffalo,” whose start stop guitar was hypnotic. I’ve gotta find that song and buy it. The only song he didn’t play guitar on was “Doorbell” (another White Stripes track) and I liked it, but the Rock Chick thought it was meh. It was odd to see him on stage without a guitar. He was really unhinged… it’s like Meg used to ground him a bit. And I mean unhinged in a good way.

He played a new blues rock thing that he said he just wrote, “Why Walk A Dog?” Here’s hoping that one comes to a new Jack White album near you! From there he went to the old blues tune the White Stripes (and the Stones before them) covered, “Stop Breaking Down.” I had to lean forward and hold my jaw up when he played that deep track. At that point he was soaring. He played the great new, “Tonight Was A Long Time Ago,” “Hello Operator” from my favorite Stripes album De Stijl, and “Underground,” another phenomenal track from No Name. He then launched into the Raconteurs’ biggest hit “Steady As She Goes.” I held out hope for “Carolina Drama,” but alas, it wasn’t to be.

The band left the stage after that but returned for a 3 song encore, “Lazaretto,” followed by Archbishop Harold Holmes,” a jaunty little number. Then he brought the house down with “Seven Nation Army.” When I say “brought the house down,” I mean it… I could feel the balcony shaking. I can’t swear to this, because my ears were adjusting a bit, but I think he may have started the show playing the old, fellow Detroit favorite son, Iggy Pop & the Stooges’ song, “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” My ears hadn’t fully adjusted to the volume so I can’t swear to that.

After “Seven Nation Army” the band took a well deserved bow after a 90-minute-ish guitar work out. The Rock Chick and I slipped out into the misty rain with big smiles on our faces and escaped into the night. If you love blues rock, rock n roll and guitar, this is the show for you. Jack has such a rich back catalog and so many songs to pull from you’re bound to hear a favorite obscurity during the night. As long as this guy is on the road you need to get out and see him. I met a guy in the merch line who had driven over after seeing him in St. Louis the prior evening… I wonder if he’s headed to Omaha for tonight’s gig? I know I’m thinking about it…

Thank you Jack White and your band for an absolutely fabulous evening and a wonderful show. As I always say, wherever you are, these Rock Stars aren’t going to be around forever… buy the ticket, see the show!

Cheers!