The Black Keys, Live at Tripod

Increasingly, the music scene resembles the football season, with the serious competitive action taking place at the beginning and end of the year and a break in the summer. A week prior to this gig, the hotly tipped Warpaint were in town for a sold-out gig at Crawdaddy, and the all-girl group fairly bewitched us with their brand of moody post-punk (‘Undertow’ is one of the songs of the year).
Unlike Warpaint, who have just released their debut, Ohio duo The Black Keys are practically veterans, having put out their first album all the way back in 2002, and steadily built a following ever since. Their latest album, the US top five hit Brothers, is actually their sixth, and they now boast an impressive roster of high profile fans, including Josh Homme, Metallica and Radiohead (always a good sign).
Inevitably, the duo’s guitar and drums set-up has prompted widespread comparisons to a certain Detroit outfit, and the band’s Zeppelin-esque, bluesy riffs – not to mention the vocal similarities between frontman Dan Auerbach and Jack White – do indeed make it difficult not to reference The White Stripes. However, The Black Keys prove during this show that they’re a damn fine band in their own right.
The performance really catches fire with two pulsating, back-to-back blues jams, all pounding drums and howling guitars. Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney follow it up with a wonderful cover of The Kinks’ ‘Act Nice And Gentle’, before the band expand to a quartet with the addition of a keyboard player and a drummer.
In this guise, The Black Keys are quite a different entity, sounding like a really great ’60s psych-rock band. One track, built around an irresistible riff and featuring a hypnotic vocal from Carney, rises and falls in intensity to sublime effect. And on they go, alternating between Cream-esque psychedelic and wailing blues rockers.
Expect to hear plenty more about The Black Keys in the near future.