Jack White returned to his hometown and played a memorable halftime set at the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day Classic last night, in which he was joined by another Motor City music icon: Eminem.
White kicked off his three-song set by playing That’s How I’m Feeling from his 2024 album No Name before bringing on Eminem, who appeared from under the stage to perform his own track Til I Collapse accompanied by White on guitar.
The entertainment was then wrapped up with – what else? – Seven Nation Army, while the Detroit Lions cheerleaders were going through their paces on the field.
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Alas, the presence of those two hometown heroes couldn’t inspire the Lions, who went down 31- 24 to the Green Bay Packers in the end.
Thanksgiving Day football games are quite a thing in the States, and in Detroit in particular, for some reason - it’s a similar tradition to the Boxing Day football (ie soccer) programme in the UK. In recent decades half half-time concerts have also become part of the ritual, gigs which, in terms of importance, are second only to the Super Bowl halftime show.
So White and Eminem weren’t the only ones doing their thing last night. Post Malone performed at the Dallas Cowboys – Kansas City Chiefs game and Lil Jon provided the entertainment for punters watching the Baltimore Ravens/ Cincinnati Bengals encounter.
It’s been a memorable month for White – the White Stripes were inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame a few weeks back. The guitarist attended and gave an acceptance speech, but the band did not perform on the night – Meg White couldn’t be coaxed out of retirement on this occasion.
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