EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: The Black Keys
Story by Jeff Napier -

December 16th @ The VogueIt could’ve been that X-mas break is upon us, or maybe it could be that Akron’s hottest little two-piece band, The Black Keys, are getting a bit of a following. Maybe it was a combination of the two. But whatever it was, the Vogue was packed to the gills Saturday night for the return of The Black Keys to Indianapolis.

Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney don’t do anything fancy, they just get up and rock as hard and as intensely as they can for as long as they can. Coming on strong with “Thickfreakness” and moving through a set cluttered with blues-rock gems that seemingly outshone each other as they came down the line.Carney was a blur of motion and broken drumsticks, while Auerbach tried to summon all the guitar gods he could thru his Gibson. A bit of Hendrix there, a bit of Duane Allman there, Dan played his heart out for the capacity crowd and the love was returned in spades. Whereas in the past the duo rocked out short-but-intense set of furious rocking, this time out they tempered their two-fisted, rock-out attack with some groovy jams and meandering guitar work-outs. Two tracks from their newest CD, Magic Potion, “Strange Desire” which blended into “The Flame” proved to be the show’s highlight, as the boys from Rubbertown showed off a few more sides to their sound.

“We have to get out of here by 10 so they can have their beer-chugging contest,” Auerbach commented in the midst of the set. “We won’t be here.” He added “We prefer to do our beer chugging in private.” Other then that, there wasn’t a lot of room for comments and stage banter, as Auerbach was rocking his guitar so hard that later in the set he lost a shoe. That right there tells you the kind of show this was - a white-hot display of shake-n-bake blues-rock played so hard that drumsticks and shoes don’t stand a chance.– Jeff Napier —

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