Former White Stripes frontman Jack White joined Conan O’Brien for ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’ at Newport Folk Fest.
O’Brien, who introduced himself to the crowd as “folk music legend Conan O’Brien” played the festival on Sunday (July 28), in what turned out to be a star-studded affair.
O’Brien’s long-time friend and podcast partner White was the final guest of the evening, which included guest appearances from Langhorne Slim, Nick Lowe, Brittany Howard, Nathaniel Rateliff and Mavis Staples.
The two traded verses on the ‘White Blood Cells’ hit ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’, which is the theme song for O’Brien’s podcast Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. White was on electric guitar and O’Brien on acoustic.
Jack White joined Conan O'Brien to perform "We're Going to Be Friends" at Newport Folk Fest pic.twitter.com/DgKKIgk4SC
— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) July 29, 2024
Throughout the set, the former Tonight Show host was riffing with the crowd, warning them early on: “I am here to prove I can ruin any genre.”
After playing the White Stripes classic, White and O’Brien performed Eddie Cochran’s ‘Twenty Flight Rock’, which O’Brien followed by bringing out singers from throughout the day for a Newport finale sing-along of the traditional ‘Midnight Special’.
Conan O’Brien at Newport Folk Festival 2024 played:
‘Forty Days
‘Ramblin’ Man
‘Found My Heart’ (with Langhorne Slim)
‘So It Goes’ (with Nick Lowe)
‘Cruel to Be Kind’ (with Nick Lowe)
‘Buckets of Rain’ (Bob Dylan cover)
‘Come and Get Your Love’ (with Brittany Howard)
‘Everybody’s Talkin’ (with Nathaniel Rateliff)
‘Let It Bleed’ (with Nathaniel Rateliff)
‘I’ll Take You There’ (with Mavis Staples)
‘We’re Going to Be Friends’ (with Jack White)
‘Twenty Flight Rock’ (with Jack White)
‘Midnight Special’
Elsewhere in the show, O’Brien played an original song courtesy of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, which touched on how bad O’Brien was at telling music stories.
O’Brien and his guests performed a slew of classic rock covers, including ‘Let It Bleed’, ‘Come and Get Your Love’, and ‘Ramblin’ Man’.
Meanwhile, White recently has replaced Queens Of The Stone Age at Øya Festival 2024, with Air also joining the line-up after QOTSA were forced to cancel a further run of European dates as Josh Homme remains under “medical care” in the US..
The post Watch Jack White join Conan O’Brien to perform The White Stripes’ ‘We’re Going to Be Friends’ at Newport Folk Fest appeared first on NME.
