Last night at midnight in Central London, Jack White played a secret show in the basement of a disused office block, to fans clad entirely in powder blue medical gowns.
The event was a collaboration between Jack and the Punchdrunk Theatre Group who had temporarily transformed the space into the Vescovo & Co Clinic for contagious diseases, and had staffed this fake medical facility with dozens of their actors playing the roles of doctors, nurses and orderlies at the time of a disease outbreak.
Drawing on the themes of Jack White's current album, 'Lazaretto', a term used to describe a quarantine island, the experience began with an elaborate online treasure hunt. A spoof medical infomercial from 1949 appeared in the archives of online medical resource The Wellcome Trust, which contained various obtuse clues that led Jack's superfans to a website belonging to the fake medical company, Vescovo & Company. Thousands of fans submitted their details to this website as part of an online screening for a contagious disease. A lucky few progressed through the screening process that lead to them receiving a telephone call from Punchdrunk actors inviting them to an out-of-hours appointment at the Vescovo Clinic. The clinic had been created for this one occasion by Punchdrunk Theatre across multiple floors of a disused building owned by The Vinyl Factory.
On arrival, fans were asked to change in to blue medical gowns before being subjected to a variety of treatments testing in a maze of medical rooms staffed by Punchdrunk actors. Chaos descended as an outbreak alarm was raised and terrified fans were herded into a smoke filled quarantine chamber. Finally a screen was dropped to reveal Jack and band in full medical uniform who proceeded to belt out a thirty minute set before Jack himself succumbed to the mysterious disease. The rock star fell to the ground in a fit of convulsions before being strapped to a stretcher and wheeled off to a waiting ambulance.
Happy Birthday Jack!!!
destijl, thank you so much for sharing your awesome experience! LOL, tha’s cool you had a cold beer afterwards!! xo
Truly incredible. Jack seems to exceed, indeed defy, expectations on every turn. An entertainer in every sense of the word… So jealous of you Londoners, but I cant begrudge you this experience for a second! One I will not forget and I wasn’t even there!
@destijl Thank you for sharing your amazing journey and congrats to the TMR team!
Worst outbreak on a record going on right now, and sure will last for a long time. The fever has spread widely and consequences can not be quarantinable at this time. I got infected on June 30th @ l’Olympia and here is how it feels like:
L’Olympia – simply fell in love with it the minute I walked in. If only the black walls could talk, imagine…
Jack – started off blasting his way through the first songs, screaming out, reaching out to the crowd. Sort of explosion, sparks fly all over and then, slowly turning into one electrifying line. And just when you think that we’ve connected and you can join the ride for free, he is taking off again.
LIVE and ALIVE at its best, the way it should be. Bursting with energy, surprises, challenges, battles – on and on. The pressure of Blunderbuss is gone, the need to proof his solo stand and the aim for perfection. Jack is back, loose, wild and the best of all – he enjoys it!
The show – what show? No setlist, just a great get together, starting each song different and then they just let ideas flow, bringing new ones across, take it on and take the song to someplace else, drifting away, making a U turn, inspiring each other, melt all kinds of music directions and move anywhere they wanna go – TO ONE PASSIONATE JOURNEY.
The band – genius at work.
The fear – afraid that every other “live” show will be a nice planned arrangement that is boring me to death.
@destijl Thank you for sharing with so many details your incredible experience. You made us live it as if we were there. Don’t forget to follow Dr. White’s prescription. TMR did a great job with all this experience..congrats Jack and TMR.
@destijl I missed you in chat the other day. So happy you got into this show. It sounds like it was an amazing time. Would love to here more about it next time I catch you in the chat. But in regards to our previous conversations/guess in chat as to what this was going to be. I was correct that it was some kind of taping. But never in my wildest imagination did I think it was going to be what it was. Jack and Third Man were pretty genius that they came up with this and even more so that they had everyone going right until the very end. Just one more reason I love Jack and TMR! So glad you had a great time. BTW – what was your “prescription” from Dr. Jack?
Are these Swanson’s photos? Just wondering.
I’m just glad that IF THERE IS ANOTHER OUTBREAK———>He’s playing in Atlanta, where the CDC is located! Just a thought. The only show I might be able to make.
destijl~ Thank you so very much for sharing, so well described I felt like I was there!
I can understand it being almost scary at times. I can not even imagine what it was like when suddenly Jack was right there in front of you, definitely an unforgettable experience! Thanks again
Must have been an amazing experience!! I can’t even imagine..