No Name Needed: Jack White Mixes New Songs With Classics At Intimate Cambridge Concert

Jack White has been one of the most enigmatic musicians of the 21st century and true to form, his performance at Sinclair in Harvard Square somehow managed to pull back the curtain, while simultaneously adding to his mystique.

His latest release, No Name, was announced, sort of, through its sale at several of White’s performances this summer and true to the title, none of the songs had names. While he’s since gone on to label the tracks, the sixth solo album by the iconic guitarist is comprised of slick, bluesy licks, and catchy hooks that comfortably establish the album as his best in a decade.

In support of the release, he put out a cryptic statement signed “Johnny Guitar (Archbishop Harold Holm3s) III,” announcing that he’d be playing pop-up gigs at smaller venues with little notice. White’s most recent visit to the Harvard campus was a performance for roughly 35,000 people when he headlined Boston Calling in 2018 and at Sinclair, he’d be performing for 525 souls. Those lucky enough to walk through the doors, ticket in hand, knew this was going to be a pretty big deal.

The set kicked off with the first track off the new album, now called “Old Scratch Blues,” and four of the five songs that followed were also off the new plate. White has long been the rare guitar icon whose playing can be detected within a single note and the intimate size of the venue gave fans a real close look at what he’s doing that’s so singular.

Nothing in the way he plays would be considered intuitive by seasoned guitarists. Whether its notes or chords, his default attack is to strike the strings in an upward motion, rather than a down stroke, and if strumming up didn’t seem odd enough, when he played single notes it often appeared as though he’s stabbing his guitar pick into the strings rather than picking them.

White performs with a number of effects pedals, including those released by his label, Third Man Records, but his tone is truest to form when the guitar signal goes straight into the amp with the help of some gain. That said, during some open-form jams, White channeled Funkadelic’s Eddie Hazel ala “Maggot Brain” with a murky tone courtesy of his Wah Wah pedal staying in the heel back position.

In addition to new material, and songs like “Sixteen Saltines” and “Missing Pieces” off his first solo record, 2012’s Blunderbuss, White performed a number of songs from his brief stint with The Raconteurs as well as a handful by The White Stripes.

“Icky Thump” was improved on in quartet form from The White Stripes’ duo structure thanks to a keyboard player who knew his way around the Moog Model D, arguably the most iconic synthesizer of all time, but on “Fell in Love with a Girl,” the four-piece was too much. The song is a gritty garage rock ode to minimalism and adding bass and keys to a tune that was just guitar and drums didn’t improve the song as much as it just made it feel more cluttered.

On The White Stripes songs like “Hello Operator” and “Cannon,” drummer Patrick Keeler channeled his inner Meg White by synching each hit of the skins with a strum of the guitar, and as much as snobs love to hate on the simplicity of Meg’s playing, this rhythmic methodology is reminiscent of Led-Zeppelin’s John Bonham and his approach to playing with Jimmy Page.

Jack White is a private guy and while his character has changed over the years, project by project, whenever I see him onstage, he is very much in-character. With The White Stripes he played the spastic older brother to his wife/”Kid Sister, Meg” and Johnny Guitar was no exception.

On the penultimate song of the night, “Archbishop Harold Holmes,” Johnny Guitar played the part of a false prophet, preaching his gospel with the promise of answers to all of life’s problems.

White then closed the place down with a performance of “Ball And Biscuit,” a White Stripes song that may be the single best example of his guitar wizardry in his entire discography. This meant that he wouldn’t be playing “Seven Nation Army,” a riff so iconic fans of sports around the globe sing it to taunt the away team. While an arena crowd might feel cheated for missing out on his biggest song, playing “Ball And Biscuit” in its stead was a clear signal that if you were in the crowd, you weren’t a casual fan.

And this wasn’t a show for casual fans. As far as Boston-area concerts go, an artist of White’s stature playing a venue this small is up there with U2 at the Somerville Theatre in 2009 and Pixies playing the final show at the 300-person T.T. The Bears Place in 2015 or Tom Morello‘s performance at the same venue in 2007 in the midst of the first Rage Against The Machine reunion.

When it comes to Gen X guitar icons, White is up on that Mount Rushmore with Morello, Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood and Phish‘s Trey Anastasio. This show was historic before it took place, and the clinic White put on over 90 minutes was more than worthy of the canonization this show is certain to receive in the years to come.