Jack White to Perform National Anthem at Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day

Jack White will return to his hometown on Friday to perform the national anthem during the Detroit Tigers’ opening day. The set takes place before the 1:10 p.m. start time for the game against Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park.

White and his band will perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” as an instrumental, as The Detroit Free Press notes.

While this is the first time White has performed the national anthem for a baseball game, the musician is a noted fan of the sport. In 2019, he contributed $10,000 to help restore Detroit-area Hamtramck Stadium, one of the last Negro League-era ballparks still standing. In 2018, a Warstic bat he used at a charity baseball game outside Cooperstown, New York was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Warstic is co-owned by the rocker and former baseball player Ian Kinsler. He also threw out the first pitch in a July 2014 Tigers’ game against the White Sox.

The musician’s Detroit appearance coincides with the release of his  first of two new albums this year, Fear of the Dawn and marks the start of his tour in support of the release (he performs at Masonic Temple Theatre for a two-night stint beginning that evening). White’s second album, Entering Heaven Alive, will arrive in July. In September, White will headline the Bourbon and Beyond Festival, alongside Alanis Morissette, during its opening night on Sept. 15 in Louisville, Kentucky.