Years ago, one of my editors made a point about Jack White that I've had in my head ever since: He's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page at the same time. Within the White Stripes, White was more or less forced to play that role. This was a bare-bones duo who wanted to achieve rock-star immortality, so White had to be both frontman and guitarist with mystique. Over a long career, he has excelled at both tasks. But it's fun to see what can happen on the rare occasions when White allows himself to fall into one of those roles so that someone else can do the other thing — someone like the Black Crowes leader Chris Robinson.
Last month, the Black Crowes faced a hostile Tampa crowd when Chris Robinson said something about not being too proud of America at the moment. But Robinson didn't get that same treatment when his fellow old time rock 'n' roller Jack White invited him to the stage in Chicago on Thursday night. White just released his impressive new album Frozen Charlotte, and now he's out on the road, playing no-phones shows at smaller venues. Last night, White played Radius in Chicago. Midway through his set, he brought out Chris Robinson to help him cover the British blues-rockers Free.
Free made a handful of all-time classic-rock staples during their run, but White and Robinson didn't cover one of those. Instead, they did a fairly deep cut: "I'm A Mover," from the band's 1969 debut album Tons Of Sobs. (Checking Setlists.fm, I see that Temple Of The Dog covered that song a few times.) Together, White and Robinson had a fast, flamboyant, spirited take on the song. They looked like they had a blast performing together, and it's fun to watch the two of them go off. And even though this was a no-phones show, White did post his own video of that moment. Check out that video and teh original Free song below.
