I don’t know how I can make it with so little sleep these days, since concerts during the week are tough, but when the ticket is free (thanks Amoeba!) how could I resist to a sold-out Black Keys’ gig? And anyway it was way too hot to sleep yesterday night after the scorching temperature of 113ºF downtown LA (a record breaker) reached during the afternoon.
Yes, we are in the middle of a terrible heat wave, but on Monday night, the cool air-conditioned Palladium got heated from the inside by the raging and mad blues of the Black Keys.
These guys were only two on stage most of the time, but the monster they unleashed from start to finish seemed difficult to control, like an untamed noisy animal bigger than the stage, bigger than the room itself. The massive creature made distorted sound, blasted with bluesy and pulsing rhythms, did some heavy lifting, agonized on the ground, and rebounded on its feet larger than ever.
You could say there were three elements in the loudness made by the duo consisting of Daniel Auerbach, who had the physic of a Tom York but pulverized his guitar like Jimi Hendrix, and the tall Patrick Carney who, constantly bent on his set, completely tore down his drums: The loud, distorted and explosive guitar, the huge pounding, pulverizing sound that came from the drums and Auerbach’s voice rising all the time over this open-field space, sometimes deep and powerful, sometimes more like a high-pitched falsetto.
Songs like ‘Girl is on my mind’, ‘10 AM Automatic’, ‘Busted’, ‘She’s Long Gone’
or ‘I got mine’ with their psychedelic blues overtone, seemed to be obsessing about a single riff over and over, repeating it, digging that same groove, progressing two steps ahead, moving one step backwards, making a large hole in the Palladium space. But if these songs were more interested in the groove and atmosphere they produce, others were more concerned by the hook like ‘Tighten up’, and others (‘The Breaks’) were more concerned by making distorted weird noises. You could even detect some gospelish flavor on ‘10 Cent Pistol’ or the influence of more exotic rhythms (reggae-esque?) on ‘Howlin’ For You’.
Their first set was made of old songs from their previous albums, then Auerbach and Carney were joined by two friends on bass and keyboard to play many new songs from their 2010 album ‘Brothers’. At that point a gigantic disco ball filled the room with a multitude of sparkling stars just in time for the song ‘Everlasting Light’.
I don’t know if it was because my ears were getting used to this smashing music, but I found the sound exulting from the songs of their first albums (‘Thickfreakness’, ‘Rubber Factory’) wilder and more distorted than those of their last album.
Two songs in particular were very recognized and loudly acclaimed by the crowd, which was visibly made of many fervent fans, singing all the lyrics: ‘Tighten up’ and ‘I’ll be your man’ used in the series ‘Hung’,… these HBO series sure know where to look to dig good soundtrack material.
There was an encore with 3 other songs as people did not want to let them go and they ended the show with ‘Your Touch’.
Of course, this muddy angry blues thing is not really new, you could say the duo from Ohio owns a lot to Hendrix, Junior Kimbrough (whom Auerbach cites as a big influence), and many other black musicians, but seeing how wet Patrick Carney’s shirt was at the end of the show, seeing the fervor of the crowd reclaiming them after 20 songs, you realize these guys are not there for faking it.
At the end of the show a crazy guy, managed to escape from the security watch, jumped on stage and launched his body over the crowd’s head, doing the best mosh-pit of the evening at the big surprise of everyone. This is what too much muddy blues can do to you.
Set List:
1. Thickfreakness
2. Girl Is On My Mind
3. 10 AM Automatic
4. The Breaks
5. Stack Shot Billy
6. Busted
7. Act Nice and Gentle
8. Everlasting Light
9. Next Girl
10. Chop and Change
11. Howlin’ For You
12. Tighten Up
13. She’s Long Gone
14. 10 Cent Pistol
15. I’ll Be Your Man
16. Strange Times
17. I Got Mine
Encore:
18. Too Afraid To Love You
19. Sinister Kid
20. Your Touch