Jack White's surprise set
Jack White — who reportedly wasn't even on the Coachella lineup two weeks before the festival — delivered what many outlets called one of the weekend's standout sets. His published setlist included “That’s How I’m Feeling,” “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” “Old Scratch Blues,” and “G.O.D.” (consequence.net).
Jack White walked into Coachella Weekend 1 as a last-minute add and left Saturday with one of the festival’s most talked-about rock sets. (consequence.net) Coachella posted its Weekend 1 set times on April 7 and slotted White into the Mojave tent on Saturday, April 11, after he was absent from the original lineup announcement. (consequence.net) By Saturday night, outlets including Consequence, The Orange County Register and USA Today had singled out the set as a standout from Day 2 in Indio, California. (consequence.net) (ocregister.com) (usatoday.com) The surprise mattered in part because Coachella’s 2026 bill leaned heavily on pop and electronic headliners, with Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma topping the weekend. White’s set landed early on Saturday’s schedule and gave the festival a high-profile guitar-rock slot before the night acts. (consequence.net) White had 45 minutes in Mojave, according to Consequence, and used the slot for a 14-song set drawn from The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and his solo catalog. (consequence.net) (setlist.fm) The published setlist opened with “That’s How I’m Feeling” and ran through “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” “Old Scratch Blues,” “G.O.D.,” “Icky Thump,” “Lazaretto,” “Ball and Biscuit,” “Steady, as She Goes” and “Seven Nation Army.” (setlist.fm) (consequence.net) Consequence said White kept stage banter to a minimum, while USA Today reported that he closed by declaring, “Long live rock and roll.” (consequence.net) (usatoday.com) The timing also lined up with a busy stretch for White: setlist.fm shows he played “Saturday Night Live” on April 4, and Consequence reported that he had just announced a 2026 North American tour starting in July. (setlist.fm) (consequence.net) For Coachella, the set showed how much attention a late schedule change can pull when the artist arrives with familiar songs, a short runtime and a tent-sized crowd ready for a catalog run. By the end of Saturday, the “surprise addition” tag had become the main story of White’s return to the desert. (consequence.net 1) (consequence.net 2)
