The Black Keys Power Through

By Nicholas Neyhouse on November 12, 2014

This Tuesday I took the opportunity to see The Black Keys perform in Sacramento on their ‘Turn Blue’ world tour. The Black Keys hold a special place in my heart, which automatically puts a strong bias on whatever I say about them, but I believe they take that place in my heart because of the story of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, and of their ability to consistently produce solid albums.

‘Turn Blue’, their newest album, blends the band’s soulful blues rock with a new psychedelic airy tone. The combination creates a slightly experimental outlook on their genre. Surprisingly the band only played four songs off of their newest album, which has eleven tracks on it. I found this odd as the tour is entitled the same as their album, although their selections were the most popular tunes off the album.

Their four Turn Blue selections included: ‘Fever’ (the most pop sounding song off of the album), ‘Gotta Get Away’ (arguably the bands most ‘classic rock’ sounding song, according to the band itself), and ‘Turn Blue’ and ‘Weight Of Love’ (which both include more psychedelic aspects). While this album interests me and showed a new side of The Black Keys, it felt as if it is missing a rawness of the band’s earlier work.

The Key’s set included a variety of songs from many of their albums. A majority of them came from their three newest albums, as those are the ones that their audience is most familiar with. Familiarity with the albums, ‘Brothers’, ‘El Camino’, and ‘Turn Blue’, stems from their radio play and overall large popularity.

‘El Camino’s’ songs are very accessible and easy to sing along to. The crowd’s energy rose during these songs, and so did the band’s energy. Extended solo sections and new arrangements were applied to these more popular songs. The additions made the songs even more exciting for myself, and seemed to keep the band more engaged in these overplayed songs, although the energy of the audience fell until the chorus came around again.

Additionally, The Black Keys performed songs from their first, fourth, and fifth studio LPs. They played ‘Leavin’ Trunk’, which is off of their first album ‘The Big Come Up’. As well they played ‘Your Touch’ off of their fourth album ‘Magic Potion’. Both of these songs utilize somewhat repetitive and simple guitar licks that draw the listener in deep and then blast them back with loud and unexpected raw guitar solos.

The audience’s reaction was subdued during these songs compared to when the band played newer material. This makes sense as the music isn’t necessarily supposed to make you dance or shout, but rather bang and shake your head around. The band’s energy stuck throughout all of their older material, and they seemed rather excited to play stuff they hadn’t touched in a long time.

Ultimately Dan and Pat seemed happy to play music from any point in their career, and it filled me with joy to see that a band can enjoy all of their work and continue to produce songs that make them proud. Their sound may change every album, but their hard work always seems to shine on through.

Photo by: Norine Neyhouse taken: 11/4/2014

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