I never saw Jack White perform as a solo artist and in fact had not seen him in any way, shape or form for 10 years when I last saw him with the Raconteurs. When he announced he was swinging by San Diego in support of the five month old wonderfully weird album Boarding House Reach I knew I would be attending, just not the details. The details ended up being buying a last minute ticket from Larry and going by myself. Larry ended up having to travel for work and my friends Calvin and Jane that were there had apparently bought tickets during the presale.

This was the first show I have been to that utilized something called Yondr, which is essentially an opaque pouch you were forced to lock your phone in upon arrival so you could not use it unless you went outside to a specific “phone zone.” I have been saying for awhile now to anyone willing to listen that the way to get everyone to put their phones away at concerts was for the artists to hire a professional videographer/photographer and make the videos and pictures available to everyone that had attended. Why would you take some shitty video if you knew you could get professional quality videos? Why not just include it in the price of the ticket? I would pay extra for this and I am sure I am not the only one. This is what I envisioned was going to happen since the show ticket came with a disclaimer that said “our official tour photographer will be posting photos and videos after the show at jackwhiteiii.com…repost our photos and videos as much as you want.” So far the only thing posted on his website are some photos but zero videos. Good idea but the execution part still needs some work.

I only had a digital ticket on my phone and did not memorize my seat before locking my phone into the Yondr pouch so I just took a seat in the vicinity of where I knew my seat was. I did not think this would be an issue since there were many open seats (not sold out) and I was literally sitting at the top rear of the arena, but when people started filling in the open spots they were adamant on sitting in their assigned seat. By this point the cookie I ate was in full effect so I am glad I stuck to water at the show because the no phone zone started to get weird sitting by myself stoned out of my mind wondering if I was in the right seat.

There was no opening band advertised so I thought this paranoia would soon wash away at 8 pm when the lights went out and the show started but we all got tricked. The show did start at 8 pm but instead of Jack White we got a guitarist named William Tyler who played by himself. He was a great guitar player but in a live setting bigger than a coffee shop it did not translate song after song. It could have been the cookie but it seemed like he played forever. What was especially funny to me is that he had these elaborate song titles for songs with no words, just him playing guitar.

The time had finally come for Jack White and he was well worth the wait. His band consisted of two males playing keyboards, one male playing bass and one very hard hitting female drummer. The most impressive part of this journey is that they were improvising the setlist. Jack would just kind of wave his hand, shoot them a look or play a small part of something to get them on the same page and they were off. His guitar sounded fantastic and made the songs sound so much heavier live, especially “A Martyr for My Love for You,” “I’m Slowly Turning Into You,” “Steady As She Goes,” “Sixteen Saltines” and my personal favorite “Hello Operator.” Jack White is an innovator, a guitar god and musical genius. I am pretty sure I made the right decision to come alone rather than not come at all.

SETLIST: Over and Over and Over, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, Lazaretto, Corporation, Cannon, Respect Commander, Hotel Yorba, Love Interruption, Battle Cry, Get in the Mind Shaft, Trash Tongue Talker, A Martyr for My Love for You, I Cut Like a Buffalo, Humoresque, Hello Operator, Just One Drink, I’m Slowly Turning Into You, Steady As She Goes, Sixteen Saltines, Connected By Love, Seven Nation Army