Jack White joined IDLES on stage at Riot Fest 2025 over the weekend – watch them perform ‘Never Fight A Man With A Perm’ together below.
- READ MORE: IDLES tell us about “the end of an era” and working on “more driven” new material
The soloist and former White Stripes member made a surprise appearance during the Bristol band’s set at the event yesterday (Sunday September 21), following his own slot the previous day (20).
They treated the audience to a joint live rendition of ‘Never Fight A Man With A Perm’ – a single from IDLES’ fifth studio album, ‘Joy As An Act of Resistance’ (2018).
“It’s a great honour… I’d like to welcome onstage Jack White the third,” said frontman Joe Talbot midway through the song, before White began shredding on his guitar in a raucous instrumental breakdown.
You can see fan-shot footage of the performance here:
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Riot Fest 2025 took place at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois, from September 19 to 21, with Green Day, Blink-182 and Weezer all headlining. IDLES were also joined by Soft Play during their set for ‘Rottweiler’, per Setlist.FM.
Earlier this month, White appeared with Ringo Starr to perform The Beatles‘ ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ at Bourbon & Beyond 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Meanwhile, the singer-songwriter recently praised Nine Inch Nails‘ current tour, saying he was “enthralled” by their live show.
In other news, White has reportedly sold a portion of his back catalogue to Sony Music for an unknown price. His latest solo album, ‘No Name’, was released last year, ahead of a 2025 UK and European tour.
Elsewhere, IDLES spoke to NME over the summer about marking “the end of an era” with their big Bristol homecoming gigs last month. They also revealed that they were working on a “more driven” new album, following on from 2024’s ‘Tangk’.
“We’ve recorded a bunch of songs,” Talbot explained. “We’ve got like 10 songs and we’re going to go back and do a bunch more. We’re doing some other projects in between, but we’re going to come back to the album later in the year and get it finished. We’re recording with Kenny [Beats] and Nigel [Godrich] again. It’s really magic, I can’t wait.”
He teased then that IDLES had “got plenty coming” in 2026.
Talbot has since opened up about his desire to make his own film, and recalled the “once-in-a-lifetime” experience of IDLES scoring Darren Aronofsky’s new crime thriller, Caught Stealing.
He recently performed with Gorillaz as the band debuted a brand-new album in full in London. Talbot’s bandmate Mark Bowen has contributed to Florence + The Machine‘s upcoming new record, ‘Everybody Scream’, as well as its lead single of the same name.
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