The Black Keys Bring the Blues-Rock Thunder to the Salt Shed

Oct 23

By Christopher David

Akron, Ohio’s #1 blues rockers The Black Keys landed in Chicago for a pair of make-up shows this week after smoke from the wildfires forced July’s stop on the Peaches N’ Kream tour to be postponed, and a Keys’ show is always a reminder of how no-frills garage blues should sound.

Drummer Patrick Carney and vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach have so many hits under their belt that they could coast through a tour in their sleep, at this point, and the hits were certainly on full display (“Fever,” “Lo/Hi,” “Little Black Submarines”), though the duo has never rested on their laurels; they’ve continued to release stellar albums like clockwork, some of which have offered some of the best contemporary blues covers one could hope for, like those on most recent album Peaches. A bouncing cover of Willie Griffin’s “When There’s Smoke, There’s Fire” found its way into the set, as did The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Have Love Will Travel,” a Richard Berry cover by way of The Sonics’ 1965 version—certainly one of the Keys’ finest covers and a clear bridge to tunes like “I Got Mine” and “Ten Cent Pistol.”

After all these years, Auerbach and Carney (along with their incredibly tight backing band) still seem to be having the time of their lives onstage—the mark of a band that still has something to prove, if only for themselves.