Jack White speaks his mind inside and outside of the recording booth. The “Bless Yourself” musician’s fiery commentary isn’t just reserved for other public figures.
Yesterday (February 8), Jack White gave fans a piece of his mind following remarks about his concert lengths. In a post on Instagram (viewable here), White addressed ticket holder requests to increase his show’s runtime.
Read Jack White’s full statement below.
Been hearing a lot of chatter throughout the year of this glorious electric touring about how long our sets are ‘supposed to be’ on stage. As if the length of a show determines how ‘good’ it is. I know that we’re living in a current era where people like to say ‘so and so played for 3 hours last night!,’ and brag about it the next day hahaha, I’ll let our fans know now that my mind has no intention of ‘impressing’ y’all in that context. The Beatles and Ramones played 30 minute (ish) sets, and If I could, I would do the same at this moment in my performing life. That’s actually the kind of show I’d like to put on right now. But there becomes this chatter that the cost of a ticket “entitles” people to some kind of extra long show…uh…ok (hahaha) so I’m bridging the gap. I’m not sure y’all are knowing (or maybe remembering?) what a real rock or punk show is like though if you’re thinking that way, I think you’re talking about an arena laser light show with pyro, huge screens with premade videos, singers flying over the crowd, t shirt cannons, etc, that’s not the kind of shows we’re performing. I’ve seen a plethora of rock and roll gigs that lasted 45 minutes and blew my mind and inspired me beyond belief. Read the room, leave everyone exhausted and inspired (hopefully) and most of all wanting more, without needing 3 hours to do it. That’s like saying a film is supposed to be better cause they spent 300 trillion making it, well I’ve never seen that movie. Love to all of our fans, I see your faces every night, and you can be assured I’ve never phoned it in in my life, whether its 20 minutes or 2 hours, I’m giving the room what the room is prompting me to do and share and that doesn’t mean if people cheer louder its going to be longer either! haha. There’s no setlist, and it’s not a marvel movie, or a Vegas residency, it’s rock and roll, and it’s a living breathing organism. See you in the hall tonight friends, love you all so much, and thank you for coming to these shows, standing in line and paying your hard-earned money to help this train keep rolling. And the crew and the boys in the band are loving y’all as much as me, we are grateful, thank you.
