Jack White Quits NYC Concert After Less Than One Hour
By Cynthia Herbert :: 12:24 AM
Rock musician Jack White, formerly of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, played a show in New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Saturday night, and suddenly quit after less than an hour on stage.
Fans, many who had paid several hundred dollars for their tickets to see him, became enraged, and many took to Twitter to voice their outrage with White’s behavior. Some fans are so angry, in fact, that they have been returning their tour merchandise to the vendors.
An official explanation has not been obtained from White’s management or publicist yet, but a Tweet from a spectator at the venue claims that security officials told him that White was unhappy with the sound setup at the concert.
Saturday’s show was the first of two planned New York City shows. Another show is scheduled for tonight at Radio City Music Hall before White moves on to Canada to play in Quebec and Ontario.
Below are a few selected Tweets from the angry mob of Jack White fans:
I hate to say it, but the Jack White show was supremely disappointing. Who only plays for an hour?Paid too much for tix to be ok with that
— Christine Pickel (@Pickelmouth) September 30, 2012
Even $45 for a show is steep to me. I can’t imagine paying double that and only getting an hour… Thought jack white was better than that
— she (@nowthatsclasssy) September 30, 2012
@jackwhitetweets jack white robbed the fans at radio city music hall tonite. Dbag.
— joe (@popefrady) September 30, 2012
Just left #jackwhite concert after he bailed. What an ass. Wanted the opening act cd&tee, now I don’t care just like Jack White. #radiocity
— Russell (@rcwakelin) September 30, 2012
Jack White at Radio City before he bailed after an hour set.@ Radio City Music Hall instagr.am/p/QL13bnJQ-o/
— Brent Goldman (@awordinedgewise) September 30, 2012
Mystery solved: Security guy @ Radio City said Jack White “wasn’t happy with the sound I don’t know why he pulled that” #JackWhiteDebacle
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) September 30, 2012
“@hunterw: People are returning they’re Jack White merchandise at the gift shop. I am not kidding†they should !
— NYCMUSICLOVER (@nycmusiclover) September 30, 2012
what a little punk. i was there, and the scene after the lights came on was disgusting. at first we thought there would be another set. the security really didn’t seem to know what was going on, and it looked like they were in on the joke. then after about 20 minutes, there was still just the house lights on, and no word from the venue.
im absolutely disgusted that one of my favorite musicians could just have a little hissy-fit like this. i mean, this was a huge gig. radio city! with your solo band! good luck living that down.
Jack owes me 80 plus dollars & an apology.
So disappointing… when he left the stage after 50 minutes and the lights came on, I and everyone else was in disbelief, but continued cheering and clapping to get him back on stage. We all stayed, even when an usher came by around 10:40 saying the sound guy even left, it’s time to go. It wasn’t until about 10:45 that an announcer came on saying the show was over. Never in my life have I heard boo’s like that. Oh wait, there’s was Morrissey back in ’93, but that’s something he would do… but Jack?? Again, so disappointing. Will there still be a show Sunday night, considering the assumption was sound? Isn’t that why they have sound checks?? The opening band (who rocked) said the echo was three-fold on stage; is that what annoyed Jack? At one point when he was at the piano he said sternly “Shhhhh I can’t even hear myself think!” We all thought he was joking… Jack, you better make up for your behavior at Saturday’s show… everyone I spoke with wants their money back, and I don’t blame them. $70 for 50 minutes is wrong, and that’s just the ticket price. I met people who flew in from South Carolina and Georgia, and another who drove hours from Pennsylvania just to see him tonight, and he ends the show midway through?
I was at the jack white show tonight at radio city. What a bunch of crap. My girlfriend was so excited to see him and he pulls something like this? Everybody was pissed and i saw them returning shirts and stuff that they bought. We deserve our money back and a apology but we all know thats not gonna happen. Good luck to anyone who is gonna see him tomorrow.
This was my eleven-year-old son’s first “real” concert. And it wasn’t exactly cheap. Lousy behavior on Jack White’s part.
what a dbag. I was at the concert. it seemed like it was the usual encore but then the curtains went up. I really like his music but I will never listen to him again. what a bad taste he left. what a diva.
For a guy that’s supposedly all about “the live experience”, he has made me not want to go to a gig again for a very long time. Tried in vain to get tickets from the box office. Ended up paying an outrageous amount for seats and this is how we get treated. So disappointed with Jack White’s behavior.
Never understood the hype of Jack white and the White stripes but got a ticket to see what it was all about… My suspicions were right on. He is an overhyped, overrated pop star who thinks he is better than he is and gets entirely too much credit for what he does which are reworked blues riffs. How good does the sound need to be for the 3 chords he plays over and over while caterwauling through each song? He is a big loser in a trendy suit and all of his fans should desert him for a cowardly act such as this.
I was close enough to see Jack White interacting with a small group in the front row. He kept motioning for them to stop doing something. I did not see security do anything. I assumed they were taking pictures. After the last time he did it, he ended the song and said goodnight. I snuck past a security guard and spoke to an usher – who sincerely apologized to me and said “Mr. White did not like their clapping – how can I tell fans not to clap?” Beyond insane. Thanks, Jack, you’ve murdered the music for me.
The truth at the New York Radio City show on Saturday September 30, is that an audience member annoyed John Anthony Gillis and subsequently he could not get past his gargantuan ego. Around the 20 minute mark of a 45 minute show, Jack at the end of consecutive songs, came charging over to stage right and had a hissy fit at a guy in front.  For what I didn’t quite hear but it was something like clapping or not clapping or talking during songs and Jack’s professional advice was to tell the guy to follow his instructions for “at least the next three songs”. Now this guy was no match for the the alternative scene chosen one, in fact he looked like a complete dork in a white shirt, sweater vest, light blue jeans and sneakers. After the show (well waiting for it to continue more accurately all of the ushers and security people who had been backstage or on the radio said that Jack was unhappy with the sound. During the 45 minute show, Jack did not once go over to the sound engineer for the stage mix to complain or adjust anything, nor did he say anything through the PA or talk off stage to the front of house engineer (who by the way did a brilliant mix) about sound quality issues.
The truth is that someone pissed Jack off and then backstage because he realized he could not get out of the massive hole he had dug, threw his engineers under the tour bus to take the fall. Engineers who are probably world class, fiercely loyal and have partners and kids and bills to pay. What kind of a human being gets pissed off with one person and then punishes 6,000 others along with his family, friends and employees that are all close by?
The over arching message here is that Jack’s ego has no room for sincerity, the fans role in his life is to increase the balance in his checking account. Jack will always have beautiful clothes, decor, amps and people around for the rest of his life and doesn’t give a damn about the narcissistic fraud he perpetrated tonight in New York. Jack cant stand loosing, just like a 4 year old can’t. Did you always have to win when you were little Jack? I bet you did and the sad thing is that can’t be fixed in a 37 year old who never matured and will continue to create wreckage, additional divorces, tantrums and so on and so forth.
It goes to show you that jack is greedy and self-absorbed. You don’t treat people this way who admire you and pay to see you perform. You don’t hide backstage like a coward while thousands of adoring fans are cheering and expecting you to finish the show, much less an encore. Who does an encore after less than an hour anyway? Jack got his money, sold lots of custom merchandise for the show, performed the bare minimum and left. That’s all.
A secirity guard told me that (Diva) Jack was upset because the audience was taking pictures. Don’t know who to believe.
Don’t know what to think. Total d-bag for leaving us all high and dry. Looked forward to the show for a month and a half. But the music and his talent is still amazing. Do you just write him off and say you’ll never listen again? I don’t think i can do that, and if anyone really can, then were they fans of the music to begin with? You just expect more from such a prolific talent. He’s certainly not the first artist to sh-t on his fans. Van Morrison was also known for being a bit of an a-hole on stage. A huge set of b-lls for pulling that in NYc at Radio City, of all places. This isn’t some rinky dink club someplace in Nowheresville. ( Not to say it would be OK there either)
I won’t ever pay money to see him live again, but I would love to be there tonight just to see how the crowd receives him and if he has anything apologetic to say.
Watch now, he’ll play for two and a half hours, and have guest musicians join him, play an incredible show, so the story will then become the contrast between the two shows, rather than the debacle from Saturday night.
I was at the Radio City show last night. First of all, the tix I bought from StubHub didn’t work at the door. The seller sold them multiple times. Easy fix, you should only be able to sell hard tix on the secondary market. We had to purchase a second pair of tix at the box office. Buyer beware when using StubHub. My ticket ordeal made the slap in the face that Jack gave us even worse. Indeed, there were plenty of older money people, and a lot of your too cool hipster types making some of the crowd seem lame. That said, there were also plenty of us avid fans who were screaming and singing along. We did not deserve this outcome. I think the not happy with the sound rumor is nonsense because if that’s the case, you act professional and play through it for your fans. I know that Jack doesn’t believe that the crowd’s job is done once they’ve paid their 2 bits(or $265 for me), and I agree. I understand that playing to a dead crowd can bring you down, but man up and play for the real fans who payed a lot of money to see you. I’m a huge Jack White fan, but I can’t help but have a sour taste in my mouth about last night. I’m gonna hold onto my tickets in hopes that Jack somehow makes things right.