Jack White’s surprise set

Jack White turned a last-minute Coachella booking into one of Saturday’s most talked-about sets, tearing through a 45-minute show in the Mojave tent on April 11. (billboard.com) Coachella added White to Weekend 1 when set times went up on Monday, April 6, after he had not appeared on the festival’s lineup announcement three weeks earlier. He opened the Mojave schedule at 3 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday. (billboard.com) (coachellavalley.com) Reviews from Consequence, Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times all singled out White’s set as a standout on Day 2, alongside larger draws including Justin Bieber, the Strokes and Nine Inch Noize. The Los Angeles Times’ live blog for April 11 grouped White with the day’s headline moments. (consequence.net) (rollingstone.com) (latimes.com) The surprise mattered in part because Coachella 2026 leaned heavily toward pop at the top of the bill, with Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma named as headliners when the festival announced its lineup. White’s booking put a veteran rock act into a daytime slot rather than the main-stage spotlight. (coachellavalley.com) (timeout.com) White also arrived with fresh material. Billboard reported on April 7 that he had just released the new singles “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and “Derecho Demonico,” and Time Out noted that he had performed both on “Saturday Night Live” the previous weekend. (billboard.com) (timeout.com) Consequence said White used the short set to cover his solo work, the White Stripes and the Raconteurs, with little stage banter and few guitar changes. Its review listed “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” “Lazaretto,” “Icky Thump,” “Ball and Biscuit,” “Steady, as She Goes” and “Seven Nation Army” among the songs he played. (consequence.net) Setlist.fm and the Desert Sun both reported that White played 14 songs in all, ending with “Seven Nation Army.” The setlist also included “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “Old Scratch Blues,” “Archbishop Harold Holmes” and the two new singles. (setlist.fm) (desertsun.com) The appearance fit White’s long history with Coachella. Time Out reported that he previously headlined the festival as a solo act in 2015 and had also played there with the White Stripes in 2003, the Raconteurs in 2008 and the Dead Weather in 2010. (timeout.com) It also landed in the middle of a broader 2026 run. White’s official tour page lists Coachella on April 11, followed by European dates beginning May 30 in Sigulda, Latvia, before a North American tour that Consequence said starts in July. (jackwhiteiii.com) (consequence.net) Weekend 1 of Coachella runs April 10 to 12 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, with Weekend 2 scheduled for April 17 to 19. White was confirmed for the first Saturday only, but his 45 minutes were enough to make a daytime surprise set feel like one of the festival’s defining rock moments. (coachella.com) (timeout.com)