Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Black Keys



(Little Black Submarines, Live)

This week I went to see the Black Keys at the Target Center in Minneapolis. This video clip is from a different concert, but very similar to the version I saw. It was my favorite performance at the concert. The Black Keys have SO much good music to pull from, that the entire concert was full of great songs. While at some concerts the crowd will sit down at times (for  a slower, less popular song)... this was not one of those shows!  The entire arena was on their feet from beginning to end. It was a true rock n' roll show.

The two Black Keys, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, were accompanied by two other musicians. With the extra instrumentation, the integrity of the band's rhythmic and pulsing rock was in no way altered. It was a very straight forward performance. The show sampled heavily from Brothers and El Camino, but also pulled from great tracks earlier in their career. It was really fun to have a reason to go see an 'arena rock' show. I don't think many bands can carry that much energy through an entire show, but the Black Keys made it look effortless and fun. They are not a chatty band, but we didn't pay to hear them talk! We went to hear the music, and they had the amps turned up to 11.

My only regret from the concert is staying at the bar down the road a little too long and missing Arctic Monkeys. We caught the last song, which sounded fine. I'm sure they played a good set. My favorite memory will always be my giddy concert partner... a 33 year old man turned into a 13 year old with a silly perma-grin, playing air guitar... happy belated birthday DB!

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