Live Review: The Black Keys, Sydney

23 October 2012

by Poppy Reid

Monday October 22
Sydney Entertainment Centre, NSW

While Nashville blues-rock is always welcome on our shores, The Black Keys gathered an exceptionally feverish crowd at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre last night.

Along for the ride were Sydney band Royal Headache, who despite the groundswell of interest surrounding their excellent debut record, are still coming into their own as a live act; a stagnant opening slot at one of Sydney’s biggest live venue just didn’t sit right for these Pitchfork-touted garage-rockers, and it showed. However, as frontman Shogun entered the audience to hug his parents after the set, it was worth the cringe-worthy parts just to witness a rare moment before the band’s preordained rise.

From their gumption-laden entrance - tall shadows strutting behind back screens - to their powerful hot-lit exit, Sydney watched on with open mouths and tapping limbs as The Black Keys charmed their way through a twenty-song set.

Industrial backing bulbs pulsated white heat in all the best parts of opening tracks Howlin’ For You and Next Girl, each filament fading to orange after the switch. Singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney together created the vast wall of sound every rock band dreams of; positioned side-by-side, sharing equal limelight, the duo took us over the hills and through the valleys of a decade's worth of committed bliss.

:: VIEW ALL THE LIVE SHOTS FROM THE NIGHT

With Auerbach’s cosmic bravado in both his epic guitar solos and soaring vocals, and Carney’s beautiful energy, one could simply watch either member for the set’s full duration and still leave dragging your jaw across the ground.

“We're gonna play just the two of us for a while,” said Auerbach, before new tracks like Little Black Submarines, Money Maker and early tracks like Strange Times and Sinister Kid. Even without touring members Nick Movshon (bass) and John Wood (keyboards), The Black Keys were able to create the same dialling drones and full sound on their own.

Closing with ARIA #2 Lonely Boy (stirring ARIA CEO Dan Rosen to his feet) Auerback and Carney unsurprisingly had saved the best for last. Returning for extended versions of Everlasting Light and I Got Mine (while the crowd were disco-drenched in swirling light), it seems that when The Black Keys are on form, not one touring act in what’s shaping up to be 2012's most spoiled-for-choice month of live music can match their rock steady.