Jonathan Geddes verdict: four stars
The last time Brooklyn five-piece Lucius were in Glasgow, they ended their gig singing amongst the crowd. That's harder to pull off when at the SSE Hydro, but their dual-vocalled power-pop charmed enough to earn that modern sign of audience appreciation, with camera-phones popping out.
Such gestures would not be repeated during Jack White's headline set, though. A cheerful chap popped up in advance to ask for those present to put their phones anyway, something unsurprising given White's retro attitude. This was an uncompromising show that paid no need to the venue's size, with little chat and zero video screens or pyro.
At its best, there were no such distractions required, given the finest tracks were primal enough that the Hydro almost felt like a down and dirty club, right from an early, scuzzy Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.
White cherry-picked from his various old groups, but credit must go to his excellent current backing band, who provided both raucous noise on his most feral blues numbers and a saloon bar twang to the more country-flavoured tracks, including a revamped Hotel Yorba and the excellent duet with fiddler Lillie May Rische on Temporary Ground.
Occasionally, White stretched matters too far, and the sound headed for the heavens. Yet his relentless movement always held the attention, while his guitar playing remains terrific. There was chewy garage rock on Top Yourself, Lazaretto's stop-start dynamics and a hit-packed encore that slid through the bouncy Steady As She Goes, a rollicking Fell In Love With A Girl and the football terrace chant of Seven Nation Army. That was a celebratory finale, but the evening retained a stubborn rawness uncommon in arena shows, and was all the better for it.
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