LIVE
JACK WHITE
Islington Assembly Hall, London, September 13
“You won’t get this at Wembley Stadium” – electrifying show makes the case for in-yer-face rock’n’roll
Preacher White commands his congregation
DAVIDJAMESSWANSON
Relentless: (l–r)
Patrick Keeler, Dominic Davis and Jack White
JACK White is bullish. He bounds onstage and heads straight to the front to bait the audience, before booting over aguitar rack –all before the first song has even begun. You could gauge asense of the mood from the pre-show music at Islington’s Assembly Hall, amedley of garage-rock classics that included three numbers by The Stooges. From the moment he hits the stage, clad in black and with ashock of unkempt hair, White is an agitated, restless, domineering presence. And true to their leader’s amped-up approach, the band –the stoic Dominic Davis on bass, Patrick Keeler on drums and perma-shaded Bobby Emmett on keys –never stop playing, anxiously battering drums and jamming on organ between numbers as if silence is an evil spirit that must be kept at bay.