Jack White never does things the typical way. Take, for instance, the idiosyncratic roll-out of his latest solo album, No Name, which initially was secretly released on July 19 as a free, unlabeled vinyl to unsuspecting customers at his Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville and London. Though he did release it commercially on August 1 as a blue-colored vinyl LP exclusively to independent record stores, and then as a digital download on August 2, his plan to promote the sneak-attack album is just as unconventional.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday (August 13), White explained his plan for an equally sneaky tour in support of the LP, which will take him to small clubs, back yard BBQs and a few festivals to pay the bills. In another surprise, the tour has already begun, but you won’t know if he’s coming to your town because shows will be announced with little advance notice.
“Hello, and love to all the peoples of the world out there. Lotta folk asking about when we are going to announce ‘tour dates,’ well, we don’t know what to tell you but the tour already started at the Legion a couple of weeks ago,” White wrote of a gig he played at the cozy American Legion Post 82 in Nashville to raise money for a new sound system for the venue. “People keep saying that these are ‘Pop up shows’ we’ve been playing, well, you can call them whatever you want, but we are on tour right now. These are the ‘shows.’”
White and his current band also played a 1,000-capacity show at Detroit’s Saint Andrew’s Hall in his native town on August 5 that served as a kind of album release show for No Name.
The proof is in the pudding, including another pop-up in Nashville on Tuesday night at the 575-capacity The Basement East club, where he tore it up, eliciting urgent questions from fans such as, “Can you perform in my basement, the sound will be absolutely s–tty [fire emoji].” The unorthodox outing is in keeping with White’s longtime allergy to following the rules, from the strict red, white and black color scheme for his previous band, the White Stripes, to the shortest concert ever — a single note — by the Stripes in Newfoundland, Canada in 2007 that consisted of a single note and a cymbal crash.
White continued, “We won’t really be announcing dates in advance so much, we will mostly be playing at small clubs, back yard fetes, and a few festivals here and there to help pay for expenses. Shows will be announced as close to the show date as possible, some shows we won’t even decide to do until that morning. I also want to walk through orchard fields and grab apples off of trees at will and fill my belly full of that fruit if the desire strikes me. I’m looking for that cool breeze you know? Lots of love and rock and roll to you all and you are blessed for giving that love to others, we hope that we see you out on the road soon, if not let’s get coffee and a slice of pie sometime? Music is sacred.”
At press time the only official date on White’s tour itinerary is an appearance at the Desert Daze festival in Rancho Las Perris, CA in October.
Check out the poster and footage from Tuesday night’s show below.
