There can sometimes be that unnerving sense of predictability associated with the blues and the many variations of the genre circling around the perimeter fence of the lowdown, heartbreaking twelve-bar ramble. The Black Keys have enjoyed messing with the traditional blues formula throughout their career to date and exploding out from the blocks with a style that is mostly concerned with high energy beats-driven, riff-rock.
Adelaide’s psychedelic tribal rockers, Lady Strangelove were fresh and explosive in the support slot and above all else – highly unpredictable. Though unfortunately the same praise can’t be heaped on the headline act.
As The Black Keys’ drum kit was wheeled out on a platform towards stage left, a massive inflated tyre filled the back of the stage paying homage to their Rubber Factory release, which was recorded in an abandoned tyre plant. And then the introduction arrives – wow! “Ladies and Gentlemen, hailing from … welcome to the stage … etc etc.” The Akron, Ohio duo of guitarist-vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney flew into a few items off their second record Thickfreakness including the title track and Set You Free before concentrating on material from Rubber Factory with 10 A.M. Automatic and the Magic Potion classic Your Touch. Auerbach’s beard may have grown long and unkempt, but their performance feels slightly staid and predictable.
All songs are played well enough and get the job done for the plethora of Triple J lovin’ kids in the crowd, but there’s a certain drama lacking in the show. A cover of Captain Beefheart’s I’m Glad surfaces, providing some relief from the norm when the pair belt out, “We walk down the street people smile that we meet/And I’m glad glad about the good times that we’ve had.”
The band played about half of the Attack And Release record with Strange Times, Remember When (Side B) and Psychotic Girl providing the encore along with Oceans And Streams. I Got Mine was the highlight of the set, but Auerbach’s guitar lacked any real ‘record sounding’ bite. While the new batch of tunes was fleshed out in the studio with assistance from guitarist Marc Ribot and Pat’s uncle, multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney (both veterans of Tom Waits’ band over the years) as well as Brian Burton aka Dangermouse handling the production, as a live duo the Black Keys struggle to shake their at-times laboured style.
It’s finally time to extend the studio and live show family and for the Black Keys pull out a cracking band and really concentrate on fleshing out these good, but comfortable, highly predictable and limited blues/rock stories.
