For those that had waited four years for the duo ofguitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney to return to the stagetogether as The Black Keys, some would have to wait a little longer. Hundreds stood outside of The Wiltern theatrein mid-city Los Angeles on this hot summer night, swelling the sidewalks withincreasingly frustrated fans, as a snafu reportedly created by asecondary-market ticket broker log-jammed the entrance lines. As sporadic chants of “Let us in!” croppedup, and security worked diligently to separate those with proper tickets, theshow scheduled as a special tour precursor rewarding the Lonely Boys and Girlsband fan club developed an unintended heightened sense of anticipation.
So, when Auerbach and Carney emerged onstage a few minutesafter 9 p.m., as many scrambled to get into the venue, they were greeted with sustainedcheers of overdue welcome and relief. Buttressedby two guitarists and a bassist on risers behind the duo, the pair launchedinto the heavy crunch of “I Got Mine,” and the frenzied crowd, too, hadtheirs: The Black Keys were back.
The band will tour the country this fall playing almostexclusively in arenas, leaving this warm-up date at the intimate, 2,000-seatGilded Age movie house as a prized anomaly. It sure didn’t feel like a warm-up. Auerbach was razorblade sharp from the start, pushing his raging,overdriven tone through an imposing wall of Fender amps and Marshall speakers,bobbing to the pushing and pulling downbeat of Carney’s thundering herd ofdrums.
As well, their trio of support players excelled, managing tobe visibly present and relatively motionless and, despite Auerbach’s mid-showintros, basically remained anonymous and in-place on their platforms. Inconspicuously but powerfully their layeringfilled out the triple-guitar-powered setlist that balanced a host of Brothers cuts with the latest from theKeys’ new album, Let’s Rock. The neo-blues band (really, a duo) that isThe Black Keys emerged from Ohio in 2001 and has seen its existence threatenedat several junctures over that near-two-decade span. To have them return, with a new record thathas garnered strong reviews and a performance like this, is more than encouraging.
On even calmer entries such as “Fever,” or during thesing-along chorus during a subdued “Little Black Submarine,” there was adefinitively boisterous bonding of band and feverish crowd, like they hadsurvived something, peaking on the arrival of the first notes of “LonelyBoy.” Anyone curious as to whetherAuerbach’s relocation to Nashville and/or his recent, more singer-songwriteroriented repertoire would dampen any of The Black Keys’ flame need notworry. If anything, this 90-minutethank-you, and preview, for their faithful showed the duo and their addedensemble to be ready, willing, and eager to rock; and at no better time than aftersome of their most ardent supporters were sweating it out on the sidewalk.
