Raconteurs Reunite on Jack White’s Second Night at The Truth

Most years are busy years for multihyphenate Jack White, but it feels like Nashville’s foremost rock star has stayed booked to the max in 2026. In January, he released Jack White: Collected Lyrics & Selected Writing Volume 1, a book of poetry and non-White Stripes lyrics. In April, White debuted two new singles during his sixth appearance on Saturday Night Live. In May, he hosted his first-ever public art exhibition, These Thoughts May Disappear, at London's Newport Street Gallery. July saw the release of White’s latest album Frozen Charlotte, a collection of pared-back rippers that we at the Scene named Best Rock Album in our Best of Nashville issue.

Jack White at The Truth, 10/10/2026
Photo: David James Swanson, courtesy Third Man Records

This weekend felt like a culmination of White’s big year. In tandem with his two-night stint at Music City’s newest midsize venue — the Live Nation-owned The Truth — on Friday and Saturday, White hosted Jack White’s Parking Lot Purgatory, a free block party with local bands like Soot and massie99. The events were outside Third Man Records HQ on Friday and United Record Pressing’s historic Chestnut Street building on Saturday. The local love continued at The Truth, with art-punks Snooper kicking off Friday’s sold-out show and indie rockers Bully opening on Saturday.

The Truth has generated deserved controversy during its rollout for shady advertisements outside of indie venues, for logistical issues leading to long lines in construction-hampered Wedgewood-Houston and for being owned by everyone’s least favorite music business monopoly, Live Nation. I had no issues entering the venue, which ended up roughly two-thirds full by the night’s end. And the speaker system was prepared for the aural carnage that a White show entails — it was loud.

Bully, the project of Alicia Bognanno, delivered a sub-30-minute set of melodic alt-rock. Bognanno was joined on stage by drummer Wes Mitchell, who Bognanno made sure to shout out for flying in the day of the gig, and bassist Nick Byrd. The trio won over an antsy crowd with a choice selection of Bully’s throwback Sub Pop grunge-punk jams.

After a brief intermission, White and his finely tuned backing band — Dominic Davis (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums) and Bobby Emmett (keys) — took the stage with a jolt of vigor. They started with one of the most energetic (and political) songs in White’s songbook, the killer White Stripes guitar freakout “Icky Thump.”

It’s hard to maintain the level of zeal White had on the charged opener throughout a nearly two-hour set. But when your catalogue features a seemingly endless supply of corkers, it makes the job easier.

White touched on all eras of his career. There were White Stripes classics of both the electric variety — “Black Math,” “Screwdriver” — and the acoustic (“We're Going to Be Friends,” “Hotel Yorba”). Five of his seven solo albums were represented — everything save for the 2022 two-pack of Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive. White even covered Loretta Lynn’s “Miss Being Mrs.” from the country legend’s Grammy-winning, White-produced Van Lear Rose. Earlier in the week leading up to the show, Third Man announced a deluxe reissue of the album as it made its long-awaited return to streaming services.

White finished his solo set on an expected, but no less effective, note. After 26 years and its sports-chant-ification, “Seven Nation Army” can still get a crowd going. Out of the countless projects White has been involved with, that song will be in the first line of his obituary no matter what. It’s immortal. I wonder how someone with such an obsession with curation and digging through the crates feels about one of his songs reaching that type of status.

Bredan Benson during a Raconteurs reunion with Jack White at The Truth, 10/10/2026
Photo: David James Swanson, courtesy Third Man Records

But White saved the night’s biggest moment for the encore. In an only-in-Nashville moment, and after heavily hinting at it on Instagram, White brought out the other two members of The Raconteurs for the band’s first show in seven years. Brenden Benson — co-vocalist and co-lead guitarist alongside White — and bassist Jack Lawrence joined White and Keeler onstage for a brief but rocking five-song set.

Four of the five songs (“Steady, as She Goes,” “Hands,” “Level,” “Broken Boy Soldier”) were from the band’s debut album Broken Boy Soldiers, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Third Man, of course, just announced a souped-up deluxe edition as its next Vault Package release.

It was a surreal moment seeing all four band members reunited on stage after years of wondering whether or not they had played their last show. As the crowd sang along to the Consolers of the Lonely closer “Carolina Drama,” I thought the boys might have a few more shows left in them.