Watch Jack White Play a Guitar Designed for Him by Eddie Van Halen on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Jack White was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and he used the opportunity to give a special tribute to Eddie Van Halen, who died last week after a “long and arduous” battle with cancer.

For the song “Lazaretto,” the title track from his 2014 solo album, White strapped on a bright blue electric guitar that was designed for him by none other than EVH.

Leading up to the performance, White posted this on Instagram showing the guitar and previewing what was to come:

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. 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.

View this post on Instagram

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. 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.

A post shared by Jack White Live (@officialjackwhitelive) on Oct 10, 2020 at 1:03pm PDT

Here’s the performance:

This special tribute was one of two performances from Jack White on the evening. The other was a medley featuring his White Stripes classic “Ball and Biscuit” interspersed with “Don’t Hurt Yourself” (White’s collaboration with Beyoncé on her Lemonade album) and teh gospel standard “Jesus Is Coming Soon”:

“Ball and Biscuit,” by the way, happens to be the only song announced thus far from the upcoming (and first-ever) White Stripes Greatest Hits collection, which was announced last week and previewed with a rare 2003 performance of the song:

In all, a very entertaining guest spot on SNL from White, who was a last-second fill-in replacing country singer Morgan Wallen, who was disinvited from the program after being seen “partying mask-less, breaking COVID-19 protocol,” per Rolling Stone.