Black Keys leave MTS Centre fans roaring for more

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This article was published 24/10/2014 (3470 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The numbers don’t lie. When the Black Keys last played the MTS Centre in May 2012 — then their second time here in less than year — they drew 7,500 people. In July 2011 — before the release of 2011’s mammoth commercial and critical success El Camino — 6,300 people came out to their show in the same venue.

On Saturday night, 8,600 fans showed up to catch the Akron, Ohio-bred garage/blues-rock duo. Perhaps their latest album, this year’s sprawling, psychedelic Turn Blue, isn’t quite as polarizing as drummer Patrick Carney said it was in a Free Press interview conducted earlier this month — at least not polarizing enough to hinder ticket sales. Indeed, the Black Keys’ eighth record sees the band paint even further outside the lines dictated by being a two-piece drum-and-guitar garage rock band, taking more risks together than they ever had before. The result is a darker (and weirder) album than its pop-filagreed predecessor El Camino.

So, it’s a bit of a shame, then, that Saturday’s show didn’t put the same emphasis on risk taking. Despite the fact that they’re touring in support of Turn Blue, the band only played four songs off the new record — three of them singles — and played it a little safe with the setlist.

Still, fans of the more hook-heavy entries in the Black Keys’ catalogue probably went home very happy — although the historically crowd-pleasing performance of Everlasting Light (and the giant disco ball that comes with it) was conspicuously absent from the set.

The band has certainly arrived as an established arena-rock act. Carney’s kit is still at the front of the stage beside Auerbach where it’s always been, but they feel like a more polished band than they were two years ago. Last time, they finally looked comfortable in a big room. This time, they owned it.

Opening with a pummelling rendition of El Camino’s most anthemic track, Dead and Gone, the band slid right on into the slinky Next Girl, off their 2010 commercial breakthrough Brothers, Auerbach’s ragged, raspy voice breaking in all the right places. He’s a laconic frontman, to be sure — “That’s Patrick down on the drum kit. Let’s keep it moving,” he said simply, before leading the band (which includes the Shins’ Richard Swift on bass and John Clement Wood on keys/organ/synth) through a jittery Run Right Back, which boasted a muscular Auerbach solo. He’s a hell of a guitar player, but Carney’s often the man to watch onstage. He’s an intense drummer and, because he’s not tucked away in the back, we’re actually able to see him perform.

This Black Keys show was injected with a big more arena-rock spectacle; before tearing into Same Old Thing — an early set staple from 2008’s Attack and Release —the backdrop curtain dropped dramatically to reveal an impressive lighting rig and a collage of suspended video screens. From there, the energy soared. The entire floor became a churning sea of pumping fists for the propulsive, riff-rocker Gold on the Ceiling. They kicked it back to Attack and Release again, performing Strange Times, its ethereal chorus floating above Carney’s relentless drums.

When they went really old school, we were reminded of how much their sound has evolved; Leavin’ Trunk, from their 2002 debut The Big Come Up, was pure meat-and-potatoes blues rock. The slinky, soulful Too Afraid to Love You Followed — the night’s best vocal performance from Auerbach — chased by ubiquitous single Howlin’ For You and a cover of Edwyn Collins’ Girl Like You.

It would be nearly an hour in before they got to anything from Turn Blue, charging through a ragged performance of Gotta Get Away before heading into the blues-stomp of She’s Long Gone which was punctuated with searing solos. Fever, the lead single from Turn Blue, comes alive onstage and went over huge. A cavernous version Tighten Up earned the night’s biggest singalong, while the sweat-slicked Your Touch and the frantic, frenetic Lonely Boy ended the main set on an adrenaline high.

The band returned to the stage for a sprawling encore that stood in stark contrast to the set that had come before it. Weight of Love, Turn Blue’s hazy seven-minute stoner-rock opus, was sublime live, bleeding beautifully into the languid, falsetto-tinged title track from the new record. Auerbach, Carney and co. closed the show with the gorgeous Little Black Submarines, with its slow, solo-acoustic build and explosive, breathless finish. They left their fans roaring for more.

It’s hard not to be a little knocked out by opener Jake Bugg. At just 20, the fresh-faced, mop-topped, Noel Gallagher-approved English singer/songwriter has already wracked up his share of buzz on both sides of the pond on the strength of his 2012 Mercury Prize-nominated self-titled debut, which came out in North America last year.

It’s clear from Bugg’s 45-minute set of jangly, driving acoustic indie folk that he was raised on a diet of Dylan, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash and Oasis; he’s got a keen ear for melody and hooks that borrow from both Britpop and old-school Americana — but he distills all those influences into a fresh sound that crackles with youthful urgency. Both his lyrical prowess and musicianship belie his years; the catchy Two Fingers is about going home again but “something is changing, changing, changing,” while the world-weary Seen It All is a dark rumination on street violence. (When he sang that song’s final last line — “I’ve seen the light/but not the kind I would have liked” — it was chilling.) He closed with his rollicking countrified single Lightning Bolt.

We’ll be hearing a lot more from Jake Bugg.

 

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca