{"id":486058,"date":"2026-10-05T19:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T19:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/486058\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T19:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T19:54:09","slug":"review-jack-white-delivers-master-class-in-shredding-at-the-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/486058\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Jack White delivers master class in\u00a0shredding at The Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Man<\/a>Jack White\u2019s performs at\u00a0The Sound\u00a0on Sept. 30, 2026. (Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

The\u00a0hoopla\u00a0surrounding\u00a0Jack White<\/a>\u2019s performance at\u00a0The Sound<\/a>\u00a0began outside the Del Mar Fairgrounds\u00a0concert hall.<\/p>\n

The Detroit-based\u00a0guitar\u00a0virtuoso, formerly one-half of The White Stripes,\u00a0offered\u00a0local students $20\u00a0all-in\u00a0tickets at the box office two hours before the doors opened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u00a0also\u00a0surprised some\u00a0concertgoers\u00a0by requiring\u00a0everyone\u00a0to lock their phones in a Yondr\u00a0pouch\u00a0before entering the venue on Sept. 30, encouraging them to\u00a0experience\u00a0the show\u00a0firsthand\u00a0rather than fixating\u00a0on their\u00a0screens.<\/p>\n

White\u00a0is clearly\u00a0an artist\u00a0who\u00a0deeply respects\u00a0his craft\u00a0and appreciates his audience.<\/p>\n

That was equally evident\u00a0during his relentless,\u00a0high-energy, 20-song\u00a0set,\u00a0featuring\u00a0a blend of\u00a0The\u00a0White Stripes,\u00a0his\u00a0solo\u00a0catalog and\u00a0material from his\u00a0time\u00a0with\u00a0the super-group\u00a0The Raconteurs.<\/p>\n

Dressed\u00a0head to toe\u00a0in black, White opened with \u201cThat\u2019s How I\u2019m Feeling,\u201d\u00a0which\u00a0kicks into high gear after the first\u00a0verse,\u00a0then\u00a0kept the pace\u00a0going\u00a0with a blistering\u00a0rendition\u00a0of \u201cDead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0packed\u00a0crowd sufficiently fired up, White surprisingly shifted\u00a0gears for\u00a0a more acoustic interlude\u00a0that\u00a0included\u00a0\u201cLove Interruption,\u201d\u00a0featuring keyboardist\u00a0Bobby Emmett\u2019s hypnotic\u00a0strain,\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cTemporary Ground.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a nod to longtime bassist\u00a0Dominic Davis, the thick groove of \u201cLazaretto\u201d ensued.\u00a0Rapping the lyrics while prowling the stage, White\u00a0coaxed\u00a0mind-bending sounds from his guitar\u00a0while serving\u00a0as the band\u2019s conductor. The foursome moved in complete lockstep, delivering a tour de force that showcased each member\u2019s\u00a0prodigious\u00a0talents.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a>Jack White\u2019s band put its improvisational instincts\u00a0on\u00a0full display at The Sound. (Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

This wouldn\u2019t be the only time the band\u2019s improvisational\u00a0instincts\u00a0were\u00a0on\u00a0full display. All eyes\u00a0remained\u00a0on White as he\u00a0unleashed\u00a0fiery, seemingly unrestrained\u00a0guitar solos or passed the baton for impromptu jams, as on\u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s the Trick?,\u201d\u00a0when drummer\u00a0Patrick Keeler\u00a0brought the sonic train\u00a0roaring\u00a0to a fast and furious finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

White said little between songs, limiting his comments to thank-yous and\u00a0tour-stop shout outs. Instead, the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee<\/a> delivered a\u00a0master class in\u00a0shredding worthy of his legendary\u00a0status.<\/p>\n

Known for changing up\u00a0his\u00a0setlist from night to night,\u00a0White\u00a0leaned heavily on\u00a0The\u00a0White Stripes and solo material\u00a0at The Sound. He skipped crowd favorite \u201cThe Hardest Button to\u00a0Button<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0however, and\u00a0played\u00a0just\u00a0one\u00a0song from\u00a0The Raconteurs, opting for\u00a0\u201cBroken Boy Soldier\u201d over the better-known \u201cSteady,\u00a0as She Goes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also didn\u2019t\u00a0perform\u00a0any blues covers, as he\u2019s often done on this tour. Still, the genre\u2019s influence on his sound was\u00a0prevalent throughout the night, from\u00a0the rousing climax of\u00a0\u201cLittle Bird\u201d to\u00a0\u201cBall and Biscuit\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cOld Scratch Blues,\u201d\u00a0off\u00a0his\u00a02024\u00a0album\u00a0\u201cNo Name.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The setlist also\u00a0featured\u00a0songs\u00a0from his recently released\u00a0seventh solo\u00a0album, \u201cFrozen Charlotte,\u201d including \u201cDerecho Demonico\u201d and \u201cG.O.D. And The Broken Ribs,\u201d a\u00a0stompy\u00a0romp saved for the encore, which included \u201cIcky Thump\u201d and the\u00a0Grammy-winning \u201cSeven Nation Army,\u201d transforming\u00a0The Sound into a chant-filled stadium.<\/p>\n

Even if you weren\u2019t already a big Jack White fan,\u00a0it would have been hard to leave this show without newfound\u00a0respect\u00a0for his dazzling talent and unwavering commitment to his craft.\u00a0He asked the audience to put their phones away, then gave them every reason to forget they ever had one.<\/p>\n

Donovan Roche\u00a0is a longtime music writer and regular contributor to Times of San Diego.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack White\u2019s performs at\u00a0The Sound\u00a0on Sept. 30, 2026. (Courtesy photo) The\u00a0hoopla\u00a0surrounding\u00a0Jack White\u2019s performance at\u00a0The Sound\u00a0began outside the Del…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8504,52008,330,74,76,75,25016],"class_list":["post-486058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-del-mar","tag-del-mar-fairgrounds","tag-music","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-the-sound"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}