We knew Jack White would put on a fantastic show when he was announced as the halftime entertainment for his hometown Detroit Lions’ annual Thanksgiving Day football game. We did not realize the performance would feature fellow Detroit legend Eminem, who emerged to rap “Till I Collapse” over “Hello Operator” about halfway through White’s set — a convergence that would have seemed unthinkable in 2000, when the White Stripes released “Hello Operator” parent album De Stijl and Eminem dropped The Marshall Mathers LP, and nearly as outlandish in 2002, when the Stripes reissued White Blood Cells on V2 and Em dropped The Eminem Show, which gave us “Till I Collapse.”
Maybe we should have seen it coming; Em co-produced the show as part of a multi-year partnership with the Lions similar to Jay-Z and Roc Nation’s arrangement with the Super Bowl. And as of this month, both of these guys are Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers. Anyway, it was one extremely bright spot in an otherwise disappointing day for the home crowd, whose Lions fell to the Green Bay Packers for the second time this season and are suddenly in jeopardy of missing the playoffs.
A day later, the official audio from White and Slim Shady’s big moment has made its way to streaming services in the form of a new EP, Live At Ford Field. The big Motor City collaboration moment is bracketed by performances of “That’s How I’m Feeling” from White’s recent No Name and the White Stripes’ eternal stadium anthem “Seven Nation Army.” Even without the visuals, it’s a phenomenal way to spend seven minutes, so stream it all below.
Live At Ford Field is out now on Third Man/Shady/Aftermath/Interscope.
