Jack White’s feud with the White House underscores the need for the CBGB Festival, showcasing 21 generation-spanning bands who embrace the ethos of punk rock across three raucous stages. Punk rock has long emphasized a persistent, grassroots, anti-establishment spirit to champion marginalized voices.
Will White, who is performing on Sept. 27 at Under the K Bridge Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, along with fellow Michigan native Iggy Pop, use the stage as an opportunity to voice his disgust and disdain for the White House?
White, who rocketed to fame as leader of the White Stripes, blasted Trump for “masquerading as a human being,” calling the Republican administration “petty and thin-skinned,” after the White House him a “has-been loser.” The latest lashing followed White’ describing the Oval Office redesign as “vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy.”
White returns to the city for the CBGB Festival – presented in partnership with The Bowery Presents – on the heels of his No Name Tour, which started with pop-up shows in July 2024 and concluded in May 2025, including two sold-out shows in Brooklyn (Feb. 11 at Kings Theatre and Feb. 12 at Brooklyn Paramount). Born John Anthony Gillis on July 9, 1975, in Detroit, White has has released six critically-acclaimed solo studio albums, digs deep into blues and garage rock and cites the creative chaos of Iggy and Stooges as a primary influence, calling Fun House “the greatest rock & roll record ever made.”
Iggy will close out the night with his first New York City performance in nearly a decade, since playing at the United Palace in Washington Heights on April 12, 2016, to support his Post-Pop Depression Tour.
Public opinion “goes up, and it goes down; it goes back around again, it goes backwards but it’s constantly changing. I think people like Iggy Pop can reach a crescendo, and they’re that for life. He’s Iggy for life, and you can’t touch him,” White said when he interviewed Iggy for Mojo Magazine‘s October 2003 Detroit Special issue (Issue #119).
With his band The Stooges, Iggy Pop earned the enduring moniker “Godfather of Punk”, as his raw, primitive sound, and his capricious stage presence served as an archetype for the explosion of musicians rebelling against the perceived excesses and corporate nature of mainstream rock music of that era. Born James Newell Osterberg Jr. on April 21, 1947, in Muskegon, Michigan, Iggy Pop was raised as an only child in a trailer park in Ypsilanti by parents who nurtured his childhood passion for music. Dabbling in the drums from a young age, Iggy began playing drums in high school bands like the Iguanas and the Prime Movers before forming the Psychedelic Stooges (later renamed The Stooges) in 1967.
Iggy and Stooges were already part of the punk fabric of New York City, and became ubiquitous at CBGB, fueling the fury of flourishing bands like The Ramones and Blondie who rose to prominence on the small but mighty stage. Curious people eager for a pioneering, minimalist, high-energy rock and roll vibe nearly always exceeded the club’s capacity of 350 people.
Hillel “Hilly” Kristal opened a music club on the Bowery in December 1973, naming it CBGB, an acronym for Country, BlueGrass, and Blues, but the seminal venue in New York City’s East Village quickly emerged as the epicenter of the nascent punk rock and new wave movements in the United States. CBGB helped to define an era when visual and performing artists dominated the then-cheap East Village and Lower East Side, and their influence continues to have an impact on what is now loosely defined as alternative music and its myriad splinter genres.
Get ready to pogo, slam (mosh for the post Gen-Xers), and trash your way into the CBGB Festival lineup, featuring punk legends Sex Pistols, Johnny Marr, Lunachicks, Marky Ramone, The Damned, and Melvins, along with CBGB-era hardcore staples Gorilla Biscuits, Murphy’s Law, and Cro-Mags, and those who continue to elevate the pantheon of post-punk, including The Linda Lindas, Lambrini Girls, Destroy Boys, Angel Du$t, Scowl, Pinkshift, Teen Mortgage, YHWH Nailgun, Soul Glo, and Lip Critic.
Secure your spot in the pit now at CBGBFEST.COM, Besides a full day of groundbreaking music, fans can buy vintage and new merch, local food and drink, and enjoy immersive CBGB installations, including the notorious bar and stage from the original club.
Hey! Ho! Let’s go!