I was in my ’93 Chevy Lumina the first time I heard the hard-chargin’ 1969 Chevelle that is the Black Keys. From the first bending bombast of electric blues that is “Thickfreakness” I was at full attention, staring at my AM/FM-cassette car stereo – daring it to tell me more.
As the vocals kicked in, I wondered how I’d never heard of these 50-year-old electric bluesmen – and waited for the underpaid college DJ to list off the last few songs he played.
“The Black Keys,” he said. I pushed the pedal in my family sedan to the floor and my obsessive-journalistic side took over. No way would have my ear missed such a stellar sound – and I was right. These cats were brand new – and my age.
These near-23-year-olds bounced up out of Akron, Ohio and polished their road skills on a tiny club tour. Months later, they came to the First Avenue Mainroom stage, which they adorned with a few stacks of used tires – a big up to their “Rubber City” origins.
The few hundred in attendance were treated to an epic, skid mark-leaving torrent that left the keys with “no songs left” to play. So for a third encore, they played The Stooges “No Fun.” Appropriate, as the show was a display of raw power by two young men with old souls – ready to take on all comers.
In the Mainroom appearances since, they had seemed weary and worn. They lacked the torque they displayed in ’03, and showed some rust spots. Six years and endless road miles after that epic show, they returned.
Fresh off a tune-up and tricking-out via uber producer Danger Mouse -- who tweaked their strict guitar-drums sound by adding strings, keys, blips and bloops -- the keys appeared a rebuilt machine.
Their stage featuring a 20-foot inflatable tire, through which the Akronites nodded to their humble beginnings while winking at things to come.
Confidently igniting into their triumphant return with a track off the new “Attack and Release” album, Frontman Dan Auerbach popped a piston – I mean string – on his guitar and went scrambling to tune one of two others leaning on stage while drummer Patrick Carney held the beat down.
Within two minutes the false start was forgiven, and they keys spanned their catalog in classic form, mixing in a few new tracks without the mouse trappings – they even pulled a trick out of the leavin’ trunk with a whiskeyed Captain Beefheart cover.
In the 14-some song showcase, the Black Keys proved that despite the high mileage and pimped-out new sound, they’ve got plenty of gas left in the ride.
-Leif
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