Jack White will perform as Saturday Night Live's musical guest on Oct. 10, a last-minute replacement of country singer Morgan Wallen, who was previously booked and was dismissed for violating COVID-19 safety protocols.
'Rest in peace sir': Jack White pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen on 'SNL' by playing special guitar
Jack White dedicated his "Saturday Night Live" musical performance to another fellow rocker: Eddie Van Halen.
In a touching tribute to the late Van Halen who died of cancer at 65 on Tuesday, "The White Stripes" frontman abandoned his own guitar to instead use a cobalt blue model designed by Van Halen for White himself while performing his song, "Lazaretto."
The show then featured a short clip of Van Halen's guitar performance in February 1987 on "Saturday Night Live." Host Bill Burr ended the show by saying "rest in peace, Eddie Van Halen."
Hours before his appearance, White, 45, teased that he would be using his "Saturday Night Live" performance to honor the musical legend, whom he described as "very kind."
White belted out a roaring cover of the 1928 blues classic "Jesus is Coming Soon," originally performed by blues artist Blind Willie Johnson, and written about the 1918 Spanish Flu.
"The noble said to the people/close your public schools/until death passes you by you better close all your churches too./ I'm done talkin. Yes I'm walkin'/ God is coming soon," White sang. "The great disease was mighty and people were sick everywhere/ It was an epidemic and it traveled through the air."
https://www.nme.com/news/music/watc...white-stripes-ball-and-biscuit-on-snl-2779647
https://www.weareclassicrockers.com...als-custom-eddie-van-halen-guitar-snl-tribute