Jack White Welcomes Nick Valensi, on a Break from the Strokes, at His L.A. Gig

Jack White welcomed an old friend, the Strokes‘ Nick Valensi, at his L.A. show Monday night for a couple of songs: the Raconteurs’ “Broken Boy Soldier” and White’s “Bless Yourself.” The latter performance, a song off White’s 2024 album, No Name, was the first time White played it live.

Video that White posted from the concert, which took place at the Hollywood Palladium, showed Valensi and him in a classic-rock guitar showdown trading pentatonic lead riffs like the Allman Brothers. (White posted more video from the concert on his website, accessible if you click, “Download Live Video.”)

White and Valensi have crossed paths several times in the past three decades as their respective bands ushered in a rock revival around the turn of the millennium. White joined the Strokes onstage twice in August 2002: first at Radio City Music Hall with White playing the Strokes’ “New York City Cops” with the band before repeating the performance later in the month at Reading.

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Valensi was able to make the gig ostensibly because he’s on a “temporary break” from the Strokes. The group announced his hiatus from the group in May, about a month after he played his last gig with them at Coachella. Steve Schiltz took Valensi’s place, playing rhythm guitar on the group’s Reality Awaits Tour, which wrapped earlier in September.

White will play the same venue Tuesday night, so Valensi will have the opportunity to join him again. And if the Strokes have the temerity to complain about him joining White for the gig when he returns he at least can rely on the precedent set by Ross on Friends: “We were on a (temporary) break!”