Despite kicking things off over 10 months ago, Jack White has only just completed his mammoth Supply Chain Issues world tour, and recently capped off the tour’s Asian leg with a performance at the Zepp Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Malaysia.
Though the concert contained many of White’s 2022 setlist stalwarts – including tracks from his two new albums, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive – the White Stripes legend also took the opportunity to pay tribute to grunge trailblazers Nirvana with a cover of their 1993 track, Heart-Shaped Box.
It featured fairly early on the setlist and followed two White Stripes cuts – Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and When I Hear My Name – with White opting for his crazy custom blue Fender Jazzmaster for the occasion.
Captured via fan footage, White wielded his unique offset for a swampy take on the Nirvana number, and layered on a healthy amount of gain to deliver the chorus’s speaker-smashing sucker punches.
Despite using his unique Jazzmaster, White decided against using the guitar’s built-in pitch-shifting powers, instead keeping things sonically streamlined and relatively faithful to Cobain and co’s original cut.
For those wishing to see the wild six-string in action, White has already demonstrated its tonal capabilities on many occasions. The experimental gear hero first took to Instagram in an effort to make Tom Morello jealous, before putting the guitar through its paces during his Glastonbury Festival secret set.
The Jazzmaster is just one of a number of crazy instruments White has taken on the road with him. Also making up White’s guitar arsenal is a custom blue sparkle Telecaster, a one-off Acoustasonic Jazzmaster, a fretless Tele bass and a unique Acoustasonic Telecaster. All of these guitars could be seen in action during White’s set at the Olympia in Paris earlier this year.
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White’s rendition of Heart-Shaped Box wasn’t the only cover on the setlist. Shortly after, he treated attendees to a version of U2’s Love is Blindness. The guitar star also took a trip down his extended repertoire, delivering performances of tracks from his other groups, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.
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Matt is a Senior Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.
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