LIVE: The Black Keys - Colston Hall, Bristol - 7th July 2010
Friday, 09 July 2010
Written by Jon Stickler
I can count on two hands the amount of times Ive seen some real, stripped down, raw guitar music, and make no mistake The Black Keys are probably one of the best in the business for it at the moment.
Playing Bristol’s Colston Hall Wednesday night, it was pretty easy to see that The Black Keys are all about the music. There are no snazzy video screens, there are no lazer shows, all there is, is a drum kit and a selection of guitars and that’s all that’s needed.
Preferring to leave the bravado and charisma out of their set, the talking is done via the thunderous drums of Patrick Carney and the howling blues-bar guitar from singer Dan Auerbach. Flying through ninety minutes of practically non-stop hard rock for a packed Colston Hall, eating up every moment of it too, you cant help but forgive the duo for their lack of crowd interaction when such an admirable racket is being created by just two guys.
Also, you cant help but compare the guys to fellow US retro-bluesy pairing The White Stripes. Sounding very similar and with a familiar set-up, Auerbach’s simple mic, guitar, amp and a few side speakers alongside Carney’s stripped-down drum kit gives off the impression that The Black Keys wont be doing much in the sense of entertainment other than belting out an extensive list of their older and newer material.
Exactly that, as I don’t think Dan Auerbach said more than ten words all night. The Black Keys have been on the scene since 2000 and have never been more popular than they are right now. Perhaps its all a bit of a shellshock for the pair who appeared to be extremely grateful for the impressive turn-out at Colston Hall that saw Dan the guitarist thank the audience what felt like fifty times between songs. That was about as far as the interaction went and where the similarity to The White Stripes ended. Can you really see Jack White staying quiet for that long? Me neither!
Racing through their older material as well as tracks on new album ‘Brothers’, the music is full of sinuous grooves and raw guitar riffs. Shredding through songs – and I wont pretend which song came when – such as “Thickfreakness”and the slow-burning “Everlasting Light”, the duo played a set that was both energetic and extremely popular with the crowd. Backed by two additional musicans – were they really needed? – for their newer ‘Brothers’ material, the swanky “Tighten Up” was excellent, as were clear concert highlights “Your Touch” and “I Got Mine”.
With The Black Keys now probably one of the most popular rock bands in the US, there rise in popularity here in blighty got me thinking that perhaps their fans were to become a more “mainstream” audience after the band’s recent commerical blow-up by the likes of NME. It seems however that the fans love of being in on something small and special is still evident. How long that lasts I don’t know as there seemed to be a few hipper-than-thou kids present, looking to be part of the next “cool” thing and not even watching the show.
I think given a few more shows and as confidence grows, the difference between The Black Keys being a great band and an AWESOME band will be when Dan Auerbach starts working the crowd a little more. Ok, we don’t mind being treated to the mind-blowing guitar hooks and some foot-stomping drums loops, that’s what we’re here for, but let’s get talking hey?
On saying that though, I think their performance on Wednesday night was a true case of The Black Keys putting a message across that, in thier case, action definitely speaks louder than words.
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