A very good day turned into an exceptional Friday night for Jack White.
Amid a roar of surprise from a packed audience at the Masonic Temple Theater, White culminated his Detroit homecoming show by proposing to his girlfriend, musician Olivia Jean.
Returning five minutes later for the show’s supposed encore, White and Jean married Third Man’s Ben Swank in an onstage ceremony. Their respective bassists were the best man and maid of honor, while members of their families, including White’s mother, Theresa Gillis, stood by.
In a long history of memorable Jack White shows in Detroit – stretching back more than two decades to his White Stripes years – this one unexpectedly landed at the top. It was to be expected that the start of his Supply Chain Issues Tour, along with a round of new music, would be a celebratory homecoming for White at the Masonic, his favorite spot in his hometown.
But when he invited Olivia Jean onstage for a performance of “Hotel Yorba” 80 minutes into the set, the show became an instant local legend. The black-haired singer-songwriter – born Olivia Jean Markel and raised in Detroit – was introduced by White as his girlfriend.
“And I love her very much,” White said of Olivia Jean, a member of his label’s Black Belles trio. After performing an opening set ahead of White’s show on Friday, she joined her beau and his band at the boisterous Hotel Yorba.
And then, before the song’s “let’s get married” lyric in the third verse, something seemed to be afoot. White walked to the side of the stage and gestured to his assistant, Lalo Medina, to start the video on his phone. The music fell.
“I have a question for you,” White said to Olivia Jean. “Will you marry me?”
White pulled out a ring for the overwhelmed Olivia Jean, who signaled an ebullient yes. With tears streaming down her face, she helped finish the number before White carried her off the stage, accompanied by humming guitar feedback.
A Masonic crowd, knowing they had just seen something special, awaited the show’s invariable encore. It came – but now with another surprise in store.
Third Man co-founder Swank officiated at the unexpected wedding ceremony as the couple exchanged vows.
The marriage is White’s third: White Stripes bandmate Meg White was his wife from 1996 to 2000, while he was married to English model Karen Elson from 2005 to 2013.
Friday’s concert was the first of two Masonic shows for White as he embarked on his Supply Chain Issues Tour and marked the release of “Fear of the Dawn,” one of two new albums coming from him this year.
It took hours after donning a Detroit Tigers jersey to perform an instrumental version of the national anthem at Comerica Park before the team’s season-opening game against the Chicago White Sox.
opening day: Jack White delivers a searing national anthem at the Detroit Tigers game
More: Jack White’s Detroit record factory is in full swing
At the Masonic – before the wedding took center stage – it was a boisterous, fast-paced set from White, interspersing material from his various band projects.
The show featured concert debuts for several songs: the new album’s “Taking Me Back” and “Fear of the Dawn” opened the night in a thick, driving two-piece, while “Love is Selfish” from the forthcoming July album Entering Heaven Alive followed a few numbers later.
A sizzling cover of U2’s 1991 song “Love is Blindness,” mid-show with a keyboard workout by Quincy McCrary, also made its debut in White’s live repertoire.
McCrary, drummer Daru Jones and bassist Dominic Davis formed a tight, lean combo with White, while a masked mannequin at the back was a reminder of the moment.
In fact, it was the biggest Detroit-focused concert since the pandemic, and it was White’s first solo show in his hometown since his visit to Little Caesars Arena in 2018.
The Freemason has long been close to White’s heart: His mother was once usher at the venue, and in 2013 he privately helped pay off a $152,000 tax debt to keep the building from foreclosure. A side theater there now bears his name.
He ascended the main concourse on Friday for the occasion, complete with the most extensive video and light displays he has hit the streets to date. It was a night bathed in blue, from White’s recently dyed hair to his guitar cords.
Strolling through a 15-song set that included numbers from the White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather, White offered his reliable blend of dynamic push-and-pull and ushered the band into explosive moments of musical transcendence.
Before the Stripes’ “We’re Going to Be Friends,” White dedicated the song to his watching mother — who McCrary had entertained backstage by playing the old jazz tune “Sweet Lorraine,” White said.
And Meg White got a dedication over The Stripes’ “Ball and Biscuit,” a gloriously gnarly 2003 slice of Detroit blues at once menacing and ecstatic.
“I love you so much, Detroit,” Jack White told the crowd before launching into the night’s “Seven Nation Army.”
Minutes earlier, he had ushered in the post-wedding encore with the Raconteurs’ “Steady as She Goes” and his timely opening line, “Find yourself a girl and settle down.”
Contact music writer Brian McCollum at Detroit Free Press: 313-223-4450 or [email protected].