See Jack White Pay Tribute to Eddie Van Halen With ‘SNL’ Performance

Jack White paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen and performed tracks from across his career during his last-minute musical guest spot on Saturday Night Live.

White’s first performance featured a medley built around the White Stripes’ “Ball and Biscuit,” with the rocker reworking the Elephant favorite to feature both a snippet of his Beyoncé Lemonade collaboration “Don’t Hurt Yourself” as well as “Jesus Is Coming Soon,” a traditional gospel song written during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

Later in the show, White busted out a guitar designed for him by Eddie Van Halen as a way to pay tribute to the legendary guitarist following his death earlier in the week.

“i thought it could be a nice gesture for me to use this blue eddie van halen model guitar for one of the songs tonight on SNL,” White wrote on Instagram prior to his performance of “Lazaretto.”

“the guitar was designed by eddie (with a few customizations i had added). eddie was very kind to me and saw to it that this guitar was made for me to my specs. i wont even insult the man’s talent by trying to play one of his songs tonight. thanks again eddie for this guitar and rest in peace sir.”

White was a last-minute addition to the Bill Burr-hosted SNL episode after original musical guest Morgan Wallen was disinvited after he was caught partying mask-less, breaking Covid-19 protocol.