20120

The Black Keys add 2nd Barclays show (updated dates); Jack White takes jabs at them in new interview, apologizes

Black Keys “live on Letterman” (more by Ryan Barkan)
Black Keys

With the release of their new album, Turn Blue, The Black Keys will be spending the rest of 2014 on tour, including a stop at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on September 24. That show is not sold out, but a second Barclays date has been added, happening the day before (9/23) with Cage the Elephant opening both shows. Tickets for the new Barclays Center date go on sale Friday (6/6) at noon, with Facebook/Live Nation/Venue presales starting Thursday (6/5) at 10 AM

In other news, Jack White took some jabs at The Black Keys (not the first time) in the new issue of Rolling Stone:

There are kids at school who dress like everybody else, because they don’t know what to do, and there are musicians like that, too. I’ll hear TV commercials where the music’s ripping off sounds of mine, to the point I think it’s me. Half the time, it’s the Black Keys. The other half, it’s a sound-alike song because they couldn’t license one of mine. There’s a whole world that’s totally fine with the watered-down version of the original.

After the story hit the internet, Jack then apologized in a lengthy statement on his website that concludes with:

Anyone who can get people to pay attention for more than a second with musical notes in this age, or any age for that matter, deserves credit and applause. Thank you for reading all of this and I hope that the nonsense started by lawyers and strangers to me and perpetuated by tabloid journalism can be left behind, and all of the musicians can move forward in positivity. So, God bless the Black Keys, Danger Mouse, Adele, Meg White, and anyone else I’ve spoken about, and thank you for understanding. Good fortune to all of them, and I’m sorry for my statements hurting anyone.

The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney also offered a response to Jack in an interview with The Tennessean: “I’ve learned over the last year, especially the last couple months, sometimes it’s best to shut the (expletive) up and let someone else dig the hole for once.”

Read Jack’s whole statement, along with updated Black Keys tour schedule, below…


It seems like it’s becoming obvious that to continue the activities I have planned for the rest of my year as a musician, and not be hounded by nonsense throughout those experiences, I should make a statement to clear up a lot of the negativity surrounding things I’ve said or written, despite the fact that I loathe to bring more attention to these things.

I felt in a way forced into talking about very private opinions of mine that are very much in the realm of “behind the curtain” show business conversations, and things to do with my own family and friends. These are things I never talked about publicly, but through the actions of lawyers trying to villainize me in a private legal scenario, my private letters were made public for reasons I still don’t understand. They contained comments that were part of a much bigger scenario that is difficult to elaborate on, and also one that I really shouldn”t have to explain as it was personal and private in nature.

There are a lot of things that only people around me can know about or understand, but despite all of that I want to say this: I wish the band the Black Keys all the success that they can get. I hope the best for their record label Nonesuch who has such a proud history in music, and in their efforts to bring the Black Keys songs to the world. I hope for massive success also for their producer and songwriter Danger Mouse and for the other musicians that their band employs. Lord knows that I can tell you myself how hard it is to get people to pay attention to a two piece band with a plastic guitar, so any attention that the Black Keys can get in this world I wish it for them, and I hope their record stays in the top ten for many months and they have many more successful albums in their career.

Remarks I’ve made about the state of the music business and about how certain acts create new markets in the minds of music lovers are also very difficult to clarify without exacerbating the issue. In an attempt to not give the music magazine Rolling Stone a “no comment,” because I thought they would use that to convey some sort of pettiness on my part, I decided to try to explain a tiny portion of what they were asking. But, they are the type of comments that are to be made to producers, engineers, and managers who thoroughly understand the behind-the-scenes of what we do all day long. I should’ve been smarter to know that it would be pointless to use comparisons like I did to readers who most likely don’t understand the scenario and that my words would seem very negative in nature. That’s not me trying to sound like I’m above anyone, it was just “shop talk” and it sounded a lot more negative than it was meant to.

I wish no slight to the talents of Winehouse, Duffy, Lana del Rey, and Adele. All of whom are wonderful performers with amazing voices. I have their records and I hope for more success for them all as the years go on. They deserve all they’ve gotten. And, I also would love to state that I personally find it inspiring to have powerful, positive female voices speaking out and creating at all times in the mainstream, and all of those singers do just that, so I thank them.

Meg White, who I also talked about to Rolling Stone about our working conversations, or lack thereof, is, of course, a musician I’ve personally championed for 15 years. She is a strong female presence in rock and roll, and I was not intending to slight her either, only to explain how hard it was for us to communicate with our very different personalities. This got blown out of proportion and made into headlines, and somehow I looked like I was picking on her. I would never publicly do that to someone I love so dearly. And, there are mountains of interviews where my words are very clear on how important I think she is to me and to music.

We live in a sound bite, sensationalized age. The “non apology” has become a lawyer’s dodge for celebrities themselves, given to a public that usually doesn’t want to hear it as it disrupts the tabloid “dirt” that we all want to occur. Because the conversations I’ve had that have been made public and recontextualized are difficult to clarify without making it seem even more petty and strange, this is an apology to anyone I’ve offended with my comments about my creativity, their creativity, and the music business in general. I wish for a long, fruitful, healthy family of creative people to continue to grow around me and the musicians I work with, the city of Nashville, America and the world of listeners that this music can reach.

Anyone who can get people to pay attention for more than a second with musical notes in this age, or any age for that matter, deserves credit and applause. Thank you for reading all of this and I hope that the nonsense started by lawyers and strangers to me and perpetuated by tabloid journalism can be left behind, and all of the musicians can move forward in positivity. So, God bless the Black Keys, Danger Mouse, Adele, Meg White, and anyone else I’ve spoken about, and thank you for understanding. Good fortune to all of them, and I’m sorry for my statements hurting anyone.

Jack White

The Black Keys – 2014 Tour Dates
June 20 Neuhausen Ob Eck, Germany Southside Festival
June 22 Scheessel, Germany Hurricane Festival
June 24 Zagreb, Croatia Inmusic Festival
June 25 Pilton, U.K. Glastonbury
June 27 St. Gallen, Switzerland Open Air St. Gallen (sold out)
June 28 Beuningen, Holland Down The Rabbit Hole
July 2 Gdansk, Poland Open’er Festival
July 4 Pas-de-Calais, France Main Square Festival
July 5 Werchter, Belgium Festivalpark Werchter
July 6 Belfort, France Les Eurockennes
July 8 Rome, Italy Rock In Rome
July 11 Lisboa, Portugal Optimus Alive
July 12 Bilbao, Spain Bilbao – BBK Live
July 15 Nîmes, France Festival de Nîmes
July 17 Les Vieilles Charrues, France Les Vieilles Charrues
July 20 Suffolk, U.K. Latitude Festival
July 22 Nyon, Switzerland Paleo Festival
Sept. 5 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center*
Sept. 6 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena*
Sept. 7 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena*
Sept. 9 Milwaukee, WI BMO Harris Bradley Center*
Sept. 10 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center*
Sept. 12 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena*
Sept. 13 Pittsburgh, PA CONSOL Energy Center*
Sept. 14 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena*
Sept. 16 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre*
Sept. 17 Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre*
Sept. 18 Montreal, QC Bell Centre*
Sept. 20 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center*
Sept. 21 Boston, MA TD Garden*
Sept. 23 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center* (2nd Brooklyn date)
Sept. 24 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center*
Sept. 25 Washington, DC Verizon Center*
Sept. 27 Chicago, IL United Center*
Sept. 28 Chicago, IL United Center* (2nd Chicago date)
Oct. 24 Minneapolis, MN Target Center†
Oct. 25 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre†
Oct. 27 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome†
Oct. 28 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place†
Oct. 30 Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum†
Oct. 31 Portland, OR Moda Center†
Nov. 1 Seattle, WA Key Arena†
Nov. 3 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena†
Nov. 4 Sacramento, CA Sleep Train Arena†
Nov. 6 Los Angeles, CA The Forum†
Nov. 9 San Diego, CA Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl†
Nov. 10 Phoenix, AZ US Airways Center†
Nov. 12 Salt Lake City, UT Maverik Center†
Nov. 13 Denver, CO Pepsi Center†
Nov. 15 Houston, TX Toyota Center†
Nov. 16 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center†
Dec. 4 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Arena‡
Dec. 5 Raleigh, NC PNC Arena‡
Dec. 6 Richmond, VA Richmond Coliseum‡
Dec. 8 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena‡
Dec. 9 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center‡
Dec. 11 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena‡
Dec. 12 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena‡
Dec. 13 Greenville, SC Bon Secours Wellness Arena‡
Dec. 15 Ft. Lauderdale, FL BB&T Center‡
Dec. 16 Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Times Forum‡
Dec. 17 Orlando, FL Amway Center‡
Dec. 19 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center‡
Dec. 20 Tulsa, OK BOK Center‡
Dec. 21 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center‡

*with special guest Cage The Elephant
†with special guest Jake Bugg
‡with special guest St. Vincent