The guitar hero revisits the desert fest to deliver a career-spanning retrospective

Fresh off a raucous (and hilarious!) appearance on Saturday Night Live, Jack White hit the desert for a typically action-packed set at Coachella today, in a last-minute addition that follows the fest’s recent tradition of dropping superstar veteran acts in unexpected early-day slots. White — who’s performed Coachella multiple times as a headliner on his own and with various other projects including the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather, and an early-career buzz-making set with the White Stripes — hit the stage in his trademark all-black outfit (even starting the set in dark sunglasses, though he lost them quickly) walloping the crowd with itchy guitar work on a quick instrumental before launching into a powerful “That’s How I’m Feeling,” from 2024’s No Name to kick things off.

In case anyone in the audience was concerned about White not reaching into hits from his back catalog, he and his four-piece band smacked right into “Fell in Love With a Girl,” the breakthrough hit from the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells.  That was followed up immediately by another White Stripes classic, “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” with White shredding impossible-feeling solos between every fist-pumping lick.

The set also included both of White’s new songs from SNL, “G.O.D. and the Broken Bones” and “Derecho Demonico” (presumably from a still-to-be-announced new album) as well as the Raconteurs radio hit “Steady, as She Goes.” Songs aside, the true reason to pack into the Mojave tent was to watch one of the great guitar heroes skronk and wail throughout, whopping unexpected breaks and whoop-ready vocals with an aplomb that both feels careless and entirely cathartic.

Of course, the biggest standout moment happened when they launched into closer “Seven Nation Army,” eliciting the entire scrum to chant the eternal “whoa-a-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh” alongside White. 

The podcast 60 Songs That Explain The 90s: The 2000s recently featured “Seven Nation Army” as a song that exists in an ephemeral, time-free zone; almost a song-by-osmosis, and it certainly felt that way here, with the field absolutely floating through every shout-along note and whiplash guitar lick. Especially considering how fractured the music world can feel these days, it was a much-needed dose of unity — one of the rare times when everyone at Coachella felt like part of a whole, rather than a player in their own opera, forevermore.