This year’s Hamtramck Labor Day Festival will culminate with a performance by local rock ’n’ roll heroes the Hentchmen, who will be joined by none other than former bandmate Jack White for a Monday evening headlining set.
That’s according to a press release sent by the festival Thursday evening, which states that the garage rock group’s “onetime and occasional bandmate Jack White will join them on stage for a few songs.”
It’s also in accordance with White’s unorthodox promotional tour for his surprise new album No Name, which has seen him and his new band hit small venues and festivals, sometimes with little advance notice — including his first-ever headlining show at Detroit’s Saint Andrew’s Hall earlier this month.
Other acts scheduled for the free festival include Detroit rappers Esham, Sada Baby, Bruiser Wolf, and Gmac Cash and Nashville rock band Be Your Own Pet on Saturday; Canadian rock band Sloan on Sunday; and local acts Double Winter, Loose Koozies, and Amino Acids on Monday.
The family-friendly festival also features carnival rides, a parade, International Big Time Pro Wrestling, a pierogi-eating contest, and a “canoe” race, where “representatives from the town’s many local bars compete in homemade three-wheeled vehicles that might generously be said to resemble canoes.”
“We’re so proud that our festival is still around, and free, and volunteer-run” says festival chairman Konrad Maziarz in a statement. “It’s a lot of work to put on but we can’t imagine any other way to celebrate all the weird and wonderful cultural and artistic achievements of Hamtramck. We’ve got an amazing food scene, so much great art and so many fantastic musicians this year. It’s really a showcase for the creative community here.”
More information is available at hamtownfest.com.
White joined the Hentchmen on bass for their 1998 album Hentch-Forth, cheekily billed as “the Hentchmen with Jack White.” Little did anyone know White would go on to become a major player in rock music with his famously bass-less band the White Stripes. White’s label Third Man Records reissued Hentch-Forth in 2017.
