Review by Jess Zubkevych
On June 23rd Akron Ohio’s The Black Keys graced the circular room of the Roundhouse in Camden to a sellout audience. The lofi drums and fuzzy guitar lineup is not a new thing and while The Black Keys are frequently compared to The White Stripes, similar sounding names and their instrumentation is where all similarity ends for me. The Black Keys are much more bluesy and less frenetic as their more famed compatriots but with equally as strong songwriting and just as big of a sound.
Tonights show came on the back of the release of their 6th album in a fruitful 10 year career, Brothers, which was released on May 17th and produced by Dangermouse (who I spotted in the VIP section enjoying the show), and on the eve of their first appearance at Glastonbury on the weekend.
Opening was the delightful Pete Molinari and his 4 piece band with a cool 60s vibe, sounding somewhat like Bob Dylan on helium (this was a good thing), and at 9pm The Black Keys came onstage to thunderous applause and kicked off the show with the bluesy growl of Thickfreakness. Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney’s minimalist lineup of guitar and drums was belied by the raucous sound coming from the speakers. In fact when their extended band of bass and keys were brought out for the tracks for their later two albums the sound didn’t seem as big with the guys playing with more intensity and passion when it was the more familiar two of them.
The 2 hour setlist was a good mixture of early tracks from their bluesy debut album The Big Come Up through to new songs from their latest record Brothers which is more song oriented. My only criticism is that at times the older tracks started to blend into one, with similar riffs and vocal melodies and if it wasn’t for the need to change the onstage setup for the new tracks the setlist would have benefited from interspersing the new songs and the old songs. Highlights included the blues of Stack Shot Billy, 10 AM Automatic and latest single Tighten Up with its sunny first half of the song and heavy groove at the end. The appreciative crowd brought the guys back for an encore, in which an ecstatic fan managed to jump the barrier and get onstage with the band before being hastily removed by their guitar tech, ending the possibility of a second encore. Overall The Black Keys proved that 2 guys can rock as hard as four and that the blues can be brought into the 21st century and to a new audience who probably don’t realise thats what they are cheering for.
Photo: Fat Possum Records
