Jack White was only added to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival lineup on Tuesday, and thank goodness he was for his Saturday, April 11, set in the Mojave Tent might be the rock-and-roll highlight of the festival’s first weekend.
To be sure, rock has taken a backseat to pop, Latin, hip-hop and electronic music in recent years. But it’s still a vital force in music as White, and later the New York City band Geese showed in the early afternoon hours of Saturday at the desert fest.
White and his three-piece band came on stage at 3 p.m. sharp and kicked off his set with “That’s How I’m Feeling,” a bluesy hard rock song of the type he’s specialized in recent years.
“Fell in Love With a Girl,” the first of five White Stripes songs in the set, got huge cheers from the crowd, as did “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” another Stripes’ song that followed.
Solo songs such as “Lazaretto,” also got big responses from the fans who packed the tent.
His set was intended to run 45 minutes but White played on. After “Steady, As She Goes” by the Raconteurs, it seemed like that might be it.
But then the familiar six-note melody and theme of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” sounded, and fans who’d started to slip away turned and ran back to Mojave.
White finally ended his fifth appearance at Coachella at the hour mark, saying, “You’ve been incredible, I’ve been Jack White.”
Geese
The New York City band Geese took off last year based on talent and the kind of buzz that a band like the Strokes, set to play later on Saturday, once generated.
The band’s off-kilter melodies and rhythms aren’t as smooth as those of the Strokes but their oddness gives Geese a unique sound.
“Husbands” opened the set with singer Cameron Winters warble sliding between the angles in guitarist Emily Green’s riffs.
“Getting Killed” and “2122” followed, the latter incorporating a snippet of “Baby” by Saturday’s headliner Justin Bieber.
Theresa stark light of the sun lowering in the west brightened half the stage for most of their 45 minutes. As golden hour arrived, and the light quickly softened, Geese played “Au Pays du Cocaine,” one of their loveliest and most popular songs.
Two songs later, “Trinidad” closed the set in shadows, its gentle-then-frantic changes creating a massive mosh pit each time the band hit the gas.