Jack White @ Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 21 Oct

Finishing off the European leg of his tour, before an unprecedented ten day break, Jack White seems determined to throw out every last drop of energy tonight at Usher Hall. Even before grabbing one of his ten guitars he's up to the stagefront, hyping the crowd and demanding as much from them as he's about to give.

The first half of this monster set is mostly comprised of his solo material, demonstrating the more fully realised, experimental nature of his post-Stripes work. And while it's undeniably impressive to witness the freewheeling fretwork of High Ball Stepper or the strut of Corporation or Lazaretto, there are occasional stretches of guitar-noodling, or an energy-zapping song like Why Walk a Dog? that can meander a little too much. It's ultimately the old stuff that thrills the most: a honkytonk-ish Hotel Yorba is the first big hit, and the main set closing Ball and Biscuit – where White gets himself lost in the audience – gives a taste of what the encore is going to bring.

Kicking off with Icky Thump and Freedom at 21, the encore is more like part two than the usual addendum. At more than ten songs and lasting around an hour, it doesn't seem like White wants the show to end, a feeling shared by much of the crowd. Including such hits as The Hardest Button to Button, My Doorbell, Steady, As She Goes, Black Math and the imperious closer, Seven Nation Army, White keeps his band (and his roadies) on their toes as he's seemingly picking songs on a whim, making for an unpredictable and fascinating experience.

Though we maybe didn't need a bizarre cover of Devil's Haircut, or as many reprises and breakdowns (even by his standards it was pretty excessive), the sheer spectacle of this epic two and a half hours provided so many treats (a rare cover of Milk Cow Blues, for example) that it's unfair to criticise a little indulgence here and there. Balancing perilously on top of a piano at the show's end, guitar aloft, White surveys the audience, a knowing nod turning into a wry smile before the whole exhausted band take their bows. Despite playing about 80 shows in the last six months, White and co. are still clearly loving what they do, and the feeling is well reciprocated.