Jack White and IDLES joined forces for a surprise collab at Riot Fest 2025.
The blues rock icon made a surprise appearance during the English post-punk band’s set at the festival, which arrived just before Green Day closed out the day.
White and IDLES performed the latter’s single “Never Fight a Man with a Perm” together. Watch below.
White previously performed at this year’s Riot Fest on the day before, when he headlined the second night of the Chicago festival.
IDLES’ set also featured a cover of Mariah Carey’s festive classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, before they ended their set with help from Soft Play on “Rottweiler”.
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White is also fond of bringing out a surprise guest during his own sets.
For a rendition of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends”, he brought out one of the Fab Four, Ringo Starr, to assist him at Bourbon & Beyond Festival in Louisville.
Looking ahead, White has an appearance scheduled for Brooklyn’s CBGB Festival on September 27th, where he’ll headline alongside Iggy Pop.
IDLES recently got into the soundtrack game, serving as the house band for Darren Aronofsky’s Austin Butler-starring Caught Stealing. On the soundtrack, the band’s frontman Joe Talbot told Rolling Stone that the experience has “given me a real lease of life. I’m excited to go and finish the album now.”
White has been making headlines away from music in recent months, taking on President Donald Trump on several occasions.
White unleashed a scathing critique of Donald Trump’s recent Oval Office redesign, describing the president’s interior decorating choices as “disgusting” and comparing the historic room to a “vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler’s dressing room.”
The White Stripes frontman took to Instagram to share his outrage over Trump’s renovation of the presidential workspace, which now features harsh yellow-gold accents throughout. White posted an image from Trump’s recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, using it as evidence of what he considers an aesthetic disaster.
“Look at how disgusting trump has transformed the historic White House,” White wrote in his Instagram post. “It’s now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler’s dressing room. Can’t wait for the UFC match on the front lawn too.”
