Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Donald Trump’s legal team, the hardest-working people in lawbiz, have another case to add to the teetering pile of charges and appeals. This one arrives from the world of rock music — a copyright infringement suit filed by the two former members of the White Stripes, Jack White and Meg White, who are suing Trump for the alleged unauthorised use of their hit “Seven Nation Army” in a since-deleted campaign video.Perhaps Jack White was ranting about the ex-president at the start of his solo gig at Islington Assembly Hall in London. I caught the words “will get arrested”, but the rest was indecipherable due to the tumult around him. A drummer, bassist and keyboardist were getting into the groove in the bish-bash-bosh style of a battering ram. Meanwhile White marched around the small stage like an angry man with a point to prove. Feedback howled from his guitar in a costive wall of noise. “Scream, audience, scream!” he cried — a syntactic echo of Trump’s rally slogan “Drill, baby, drill!”The ex-White Stripes leader is on the campaign trail too. It’s in support of his new album, No Name, the sixth he has released as a solo artist since the duo disbanded in 2011. A surprise release, it was initially given away, Willy-Wonka-style, as an unlabelled vinyl gift for shoppers at stores owned by his label, Third Man Records. Now he is touring it with pop-up shows in small venues, starting with a bar in his adopted hometown of Nashville last month. His London date took place in an Art Deco hall with a sprung floor used in the 1930s for tea dances. Its capacity of 890 people was a fraction of the numbers that White could draw. “This isn’t the kind of rock and roll you’re going to get at Wembley Stadium for £400,” he barked at one point, in a swipe at Oasis’s expensive reunion shows. His own fans might reasonably complain that playing venues at the other end of the scale means only the lucky few get to see him. But it fits the purpose of his current campaign, as became clear from the full-tilt, no-safety-net staging that he put on.The tone was set by a blaring version of “Looking at You” by MC5, the garage-rock radicals from White’s original hometown, Detroit. A series of songs from No Name followed, including blues-rock piledriver “Old Scratch Blues” and the pell-mell punk rock of “Bombing Out”. Their affinity with the raw sound of the White Stripes was highlighted by a choice selection of tracks by White’s old group, from the minimalist blues-punk of “Little Bird” to the majestic Led Zeppelin routines of “Ball and Biscuit”.Bathed in flashing blue lighting — White’s current signature colour, although his clothes and hair tonight were back-to-basics black — the 49-year-old was joined by Dominic Davis on bass, Bobby Emmett on electric organ and Patrick Keeler on drums. White used various guitars, sometimes impatiently changing them mid-song. Wah-wah pedals and slide effects gave him a wide palette of tones, while fast and furious solos erupted in songs like electrical storms.The throwback style of new tracks such as “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking)” and renditions of White Stripes classics such as “I’m Slowly Turning into You” gave the evening a nostalgic pull. But White was determined to resist it. Songs were shaken up with improvised jams and extended breakdowns. The audience was worked as hard as Trump’s legal team, with the singer demanding ever-louder responses. The venue’s curfew prompted a disbelieving cry from him about the state of rock and roll in London, while its sprung dance floor was tested by the mass jump-around to “Seven Nation Army”. To purloin a phrase, White is on a mission to make rock great again.★★★★★jackwhiteiii.com
