The Black Keys launched the UK leg of their European tour with sold-out shows in Nottingham Friday and Edinburgh on Saturday. Up next are more sold-out shows in Manchester, followed by a three-night run in London. The Keys got the "crowd rocking madly, a tight mass of bodies punching the air" at Friday's show, notes the Independent in a perfect five-star review. The band has "turned an old-fashioned sound into something timeless," says the Guardian in a four-star review. "As Nottingham roars its approval, it's another fine victory for pop's unlikely lads." STV calls Saturday's show "spectacular."

The Black Keys' European tour brought the band to Germany over the weekend. Saturday's show in Berlin was "positively devoured by the German crowd," reports MTV News. "Drawing heavily from their breakout Brothers album and the equally successful El Camino, the duo, aided by backing band for extra oomph, tore through 90-plus minutes of sweaty, snarling stuff, a full-bore workout for their triumphant run of U.S. arena shows, which kicks off in March." Up next are shows in Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands before seven in the UK.

The Black Keys launch their 2012 El Camino tour in Europe, with shows in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the UK. The band begins its North American arena tour on March 2 featuring sold-out shows at Chicago’s United Center, DC’s Verizon Center, and two nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden followed by a second batch of dates in April; special guests Arctic Monkeys open on the tour. The documentary This is a Concert by The Black Keys, shot at the band's album-release concert in NYC, is airing now on Palladia.

The line-up for the 2012 Coachella festival has been announced, and The Black Keys will be headlining. Coachella, held at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California, will take place over two weekends, April 13–15 and April 20–22. The Black Keys lead the Friday slots. Headlining the other nights are Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg. The news comes just after The Black Keys announced the second leg of their North American tour with special guests Arctic Monkeys; fan presale for these dates begins today.

The Black Keys will be hitting the road for the second leg of their North American tour in April, with special guests Arctic Monkeys. The newly announced shows include stops in Austin, St. Louis, Tulsa, Denver, Salt Lake City, Oakland, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee. Fan pre-sale for these dates will begin at 10 AM local time January 10.

The Black Keys closed out 2011 with a bang when their latest album, El Camino, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts and made countless critics' Best of the Year lists. Now, the band kicks off the New Year in a similar fashion, landing their first-ever cover story on Rolling Stone magazine, out this week. The band is also featured on the cover of Relix as guest editors of the magazine. "During the past decade, The Black Keys have slowly emerged as one of the most successful independent-minded bands in the world," says Relix. "Using their love of blues riffs as their base, vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have melded their disparate influences in garage rock, hip-hop and radio-friendly indie into a sound that’s distinctly their own."

The NPR Music listeners have spoken, choosing their 100 favorite albums of 2011. "The Black Keys swooped into the No. 6 slot with El Camino," says NPR, "an album just a few days older than the poll itself." "I was pretty thrilled by this list," says NPR's Bob Boilen in the All Songs Considered countdown of the Top 25. Also among the Top 100 listener favorites are Björk's Biophilia and Emmylou Harris's Hard Bargain. Björk's "Virus" is among the NPR Music staff's favorite songs of the year, as is James Farm's "Polliwog."

Congratulations to The Black Keys: the band's new album, El Camino, debuted this week at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 with sales of 206,000 units—far and away the band’s best single-week performance and their highest chart position to date! By comparison, the band’s previous best week was for Brothers, which debuted in May 2010 with sales of 73,000 units. The band will embark on the first leg of their US tour this March, with shows in arenas like Boston’s TD Garden, Chicago’s United Center, and New York’s Madison Square Garden, which sold out in 15 minutes, resulting in the swift addition of a second concert. Special guests Arctic Monkeys open on the tour.

The Black Keys followed a week of performances in NYC celebrating the release of their new album, El Camino, with a weekend on the West Coast. They performed at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas, at which "the guys could have converted almost anyone in attendance to the Church of Keys with the way the audience hung on to every word and guitar stroke," reports MTV, and at the Video Game Awards (VGA). You can watch their VGA performance of the El Camino tune "Lonely Boy" here.

The Black Keys will embark on the first leg of their North American tour this March, with shows in arenas like New York’s Madison Square Garden, Boston’s TD Garden, and Chicago’s United Center, with special guests Arctic Monkeys opening all along the way. The shows are in support of their new album, El Camino, which the Daily Mail calls "a tour de force" and the Daily Mirror calls "a roof-raising, spirit-lifting triumph.” Tickets for most shows go on sale to the general public starting today and tomorrow.

The Black Keys continued the celebration of the release of their new album, El Camino, with a performance of "Gold on the Ceiling" on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS last night. Watch it here. NPR's Fresh Air calls the new album a "reinvention" for the band, with their having "achieved a sound that's frequently brighter, more open and eager." Tickets for the March 2012 leg of the band's North American tour go on sale to the general public tomorrow.

The Black Keys kicked off release week for their new album, El Camino, with a special performance for some lucky fans at New York's Webster Hall Monday night, webcast live on MTV Hive. The duo "sealed their ten-year ascent," says Rolling Stone, "with a tight and feisty" set, "displaying everything they've learned and mastered over that decade." Watch five songs from the show here.