Jack White “Entering Heaven Alive” 2022. Third Man Records. Limited Edition “Detroit Denim” colored vinyl. Last night we caught White’s show at the Panther Arena as part of his tour for both this record, his fifth solo release, and his early ’22 LP Fear of the Dawn. Both before the concert and then in between opener Ezra Furman’s set and White’s, local DJ Chris Schulist aka DJ Christreater spun records and played the most excellent hype man (Chris is currently touring with White – he’s a friendly acquaintance of ours and I’m looking forward to hearing stories from his time on the road in the next HotBox class we take together). His picks and banter definitely were part of the night’s highlights: he included songs from some of our local favorites like Rexxx, Slow Walker and Space Raft, some of who’s members were in the audience.

White played a mix of solo, White Stripes and collaborative material. From his solo work, my favorites include “Hi-De-Ho” and “Taking Me Back” (both from Fear of the Dawn) and “That Black Bat Licorice” (from Lazaretto). From his work with Dead Weather he played “Cuts Like a Buffalo” and from Raconteurs “You Don’t Understand Me” and “Carolina Drama.” The White Stripes songs were of course my favorite: “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground” and an extra raucous “Fell In Love With a Girl” (both from White Blood Cells) and “Icky Thump.” Surprising to no one, well at least not me, the final encore was the White Stripes biggest song ever, “Seven Nation Army” (Elephant) which was fitting for the sports arena location.

This is usually the point in the post where I’d include some photos from the show. However, this was a phone-free event: our phones were placed in locked pouches upon arrival and we didn’t get access to them again until we were literally outside of the building. I was not happy and still am not but there’s some great photos of White’s set here but sadly none of Christreater (will happily update this post if anyone has any to send along).

White did play a couple of songs from Entering Heaven Alive: “A Tip From You to Me” and “Love Is Selfish.” As the record is really low key, folky and acoustic-ish, this also did not surprise me. The crowd – and White, I presume – wanted to rock. I prefer Jack White’s heavier rocking material as a whole but  Entering Heaven Alive is a good counterpoint that highlights his quieter songwriting abilities. My standouts include “A Tree on Fire From Within,” “Help Me Along” and “If I Die Tomorrow.” Entering Heaven Alive hit #9 in the US and #4 in the UK.