Jack White says music is a religion

Jack White says concerts are like going to church.

The White Stripes and Raconteurs frontman loves playing live because it gives him a captive audience, and compares the experience with religious worship.

He said: "The thing I love about live performance the most, though, is that the doors are closed, the lights are turned down, and the audience has to be reverential to what's happening onstage.

"It's not like being at home where you can change channels, fast-forward, turn it off, put the book down, or walk away.

"It's this phenomenon where we all, as a community, go to church and sit and experience this thing together."

The singer also said he envies theatre actors because they get to repeat the same performance frequently, whereas he has to consider new ways to perform his hits.

He added to Interview magazine: "When I go to see a Broadway show and watch someone perform who says the same lines every night, I get jealous in a couple of different

"I want to know what it's like to do the exact same thing every night, or twice a night, or three times on Saturday, like they do in Las Vegas, because I've never gone out and played the same set twice.

"And I want to know what it's like to try to find new life in the exact same words every time."