The Feb. 25 episode of Saturday Night Live was a milestone moment for music guest Jack White and host Woody Harrelson, as each joined the show’s exclusive five-timers club.
For White’s fifth performance, he played an electric medley of “Taking Me Back” and the title track from Fear of the Dawn, along with a piano-fueled “A Tip From You to Me” off the companion album Entering Heaven Alive.
As a warmup to his SNL appearance, the Detroit rocker played a short-notice show in the intimate confines of Brooklyn Steel on Feb. 22, treating fans to a 22-song, career-spanning set.
White’s multiple appearances on SNL stretch back to October 2002, when the White Stripes made their debut (and what would also be their only appearance) on the long-running sketch show to perform “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and “We’re Going To Be Friends.” White returned as the show’s music guest in 2012, 2018, and 2020 as a solo artist.
In 2022, White released two albums: April’s Fear of the Dawn and July’s Entering Heaven Alive on his label, Third Man Records, and then embarked on the worldwide Supply Chain Issues Tour. It included a surprise set at Glastonbury over the summer and a rare, intimate club stop at Chicago’s Empty Bottle in December.
The musician also took part in a special CMT tribute to the late Loretta Lynn in October, performing “Van Lear Rose,” the title track from the Grammy-winning collaborative album he made with the late country legend in 2004.
Ahead of both albums, we spoke with White for our March 2022 cover story, which you can read here.
