Despite living in Ohio my whole life, and only a very short drive away from The Black Keys’ hometown of Akron, I’ve never actually seen these guys live before! I had the opportunity back eight years ago at Bunbury Music Festival down in Cincinnati, but just as they were due to play there was quite a bit of thunder and lightening. I wasn’t really prepared to die for The Black Keys that night.
In a complete 360 weather-wise, Friday night was a gorgeous evening to see The Black Keys play their hometown show to thousands of people. The crowd’s enthusiasm was inspiring, and I hope they, along with openers Early James and Band of Horses also felt the love. They opened the show with seven hits in a row, with my favorite being “Fever,” followed closely by “Tighten Up.” Then the set moved into covers territory, where they played a chunk of songs off of their 2021 covers album, Delta Cream. Not my favorite stuff, but I could surely appreciate the musicianship involved with those. Finally, they rounded out the set with a few more hits, and a trio of songs off the new record, Dropout Boogie. For the tour being named after the album, I’m surprised they didn’t pick more to play from it. It’s not like the record just dropped yesterday or anything.
Either way, the crowd, myself included, were into it. I am a big fan of the lead single, “Wild Child,” but I also enjoyed “Your Team in Looking Good.” It was also interesting to me that only one song each off of Turning Blue and Let’s Rock made the cut. I guess those albums were as popular as the others, and Delta Cream had never been toured on. Anyways, regardless of all the song choices, the band sounded great. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting though. Sure, Dan and Patrick probably record everything themselves for the record, as most two-pieces do, but they likely require some help when their on the road. What I wasn’t prepared for was the additional five people hopping up on stage with them to play. Kind of took away from the coolness of a two-piece effort, but they did really sound good.
Overall, it was a good show, with great music, and a pumped crowd. That’s pretty much all you can ask for, and at the deal I got the tickets for during concert week, I seriously can’t complain. Who knows, maybe I’ll make the effort to catch these guys again in the near future.