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Contribution from Liz Maher:

Roseland Ballroom - May 21, 2012 - Jack White is touring in support of his acclaimed debut solo album Blunderbuss. Tonight he has the all male band, Los Buzzardos, backing him up; the all female Peacocks will be up the following night. Roadies and guitar techs scurry around in uniform black suits with blue ties and suspenders making sure an army of stringed instruments are tuned in various keys and ready to go. A suspicious red haired photographer in a pale blue cotton dress snaps pictures throughout the show.

Bathed in heavenly blue light, White follows his band on stage to riotous applause. He is dressed in something pulled out of the White Stripes’ costume stock. Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground opens with as much emotive energy pouring out of White’s tricked out, blue-toned Gretsch Duo Jet as when he played the same song with his red plastic JB Hutto back with Meg. This time the drumming is more precise and syncopated yet still minimal. A speeded-up version of Missing Pieces amazes the already dazzled crowd.

White spends most of the next hour and a half jumping between guitars and stride piano, which he appears to play without touching the pedal. Suggestion: stay to the right side of the house to get maximum White exposure, as he frequently disappears behind the keyboardist to play piano. White spends a lot of time in drummer Daru Jones’ face, making for inspired runs through Sixteen Saltines, Hypocritical Kiss, Ball and Biscuit and Catch-Hell Blues. White’s rendition of Dead Weather song, Cut Like a Buffalo is choppy and unintelligible at times, the only weak spot of White’s performance. Maybe if he played drums with the marshmallow-covered sticks it would have been better. Trash Tongue Talker’s piano riffs are crisper and more explosive live while Top Yourself sounds so much better than it did with the Raconteurs. White cools the set down with a sleek 2 against 1. White’s evil punk tendencies re-emerge in Black Math and Hello Operator causing the Los Buzzardo’s drummer to sweat through his vest as he tries not to get smacked by White’s slashing guitar movements. Ever the mad-genius bricoleur, White brings Nashville to NYC playing a "country song," You Know That I Know, which renders the studio version an afterthought. Maybe his oddish, unnaturally white face hypnotized me into forgetting that country music is the leading cause of incest. Blunderbuss and Weep Themselves to Sleep are soporific lullabies to the late night crowd.

White brings the 3 pickup Gretsch out again for Ball and Biscuit (amazing) and Freedom at 21 (more amazement). When not feeding off the drummer, White interacts with the multi-generational sold-out crowd, his mile-wide grin mesmerizing them into a sing along.

White steers clear of cliché by not finishing out the evening with Take Me With You When You Go but instead blazing his archtop through an encore consisting of the White Stripes’ Catch Hell Blues merging Dead or Fishbone-like into Seven Nation Army. White owns his past but promises a brighter future. Just hope he drops the bellhop dress codes.

Opening for White was The Alabama Shakes, a band lacking in traditional marketable qualities and relying heavily on lead singer, Brittany Howard’s Janis Joplin-like vocals. They’ve done some recordings for White’s record company and work cheap. They are playing a free gig later in June in NYC.

Side note for those wondering: The WWII propaganda-inspired artwork on Blunderbuss and related singles is by Israeli cartoonist, Tomer Hanuka. Blunderbuss’ artwork echoes the military theme of the title track.

The (w/ Buzzardos) playlist list went like this:

Dead Leaves & Dirty Ground

Missing Pieces

Sixteen Saltines

Hypocritical Kiss

Cut Like a Buffalo

Trash Tongue Talker

Top Yourself

2 Against 1

Black Math

Hello Operator

Weep Themselves To Sleep

You Know That I Know