The Black Keys played the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston over the weekend, and the Boston Globe called the show "a searingly superb 85-minute set." In his review, Jonathan Perry describes the band's style as a "sizzling fusion of hill-country blues and indie-rock attitude." The Boston Herald, too, complimented the show: "In the best of ways, The Black Keys can make a multimillion-dollar venue sound like a dive-bar stage." The video for "Tighten Up" has been nominated for Best Breakthrough Video at MTV's Video Music Awards.

Steve Reich celebrates Drumming's 40th anniversary in Woodstock ... The Black Keys rock the East ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, Natalie Merchant, Rokia Traoré play Cambridge Folk Festival ... Christina Courtin joins NYC Gulf benefit ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica  tour Europe ... Kronos Quartet takes in the BBQ at Rancho Nicasio ... The Low Anthem, Punch Brothers play Newport Folk Festival ... Stephen Sondheim is fêted at Ravinia, BBC Prom ... Sara Watkins opens for Ricky Skaggs in West Virginia ... and more ...

The Low Anthem and Punch Brothers are set to play the famed Newport Folk Festival this weekend. NPR will provide complete coverage of the weekend's events online at NPR.org. Newport Now describes The Low Anthem's live set as “a mix of ecstatic and contemplative energies.” Punch Brothers are also due to be featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.

Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday in March in a Lincoln Center concert that will be broadcast on PBS this fall. The festivities continue this weekend as Sondheim is the focus of two concerts on the same day, nearly 4,000 miles apart: at the Ravinia Festival Pavilion outside Chicago and at London's Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms Saturday night. Sondheim is the BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week.

The Black Keys performed their second and third consecutive sold-out shows in New York City last night, at SummerStage in Central Park and at Terminal 5. The New York Times says: "At their best and starkest, they can make a growling riff feel loose and woozy, tempos fluctuating as if on a column of air." The New York Post says they "made an incredible amount of music for two guys who obviously know size doesn’t matter when it comes to the blues ... [T]he guys were unstoppable."

The 45th annual Cambridge Folk Festival gets under way tonight at Cherry Hinton Hall in Cambridge, England, and three Nonesuch artists are set to take the stage there this weekend: Natalie Merchant headlines Saturday night, Carolina Chocolate Drops perform both Saturday and Sunday, and Rokia Traoré performs on Sunday. BBC Radio 2 will broadcast highlights next Wednesday.

Natalie Merchant's tour resumes in the US next week following a stop in the UK for the Cambridge Folk Festival this weekend. Fans on both sides of the Atlantic can now pick up an iTunes Session from Merchant with reimagined original music and cover songs. The Grand Rapids Press gives 3.5 of 4 stars to a recent show, full of "compelling songs, tight musicianship and Merchant's strong vocals."

The Black Keys have kicked off their North American tour, offering the home-state crowd in Cleveland their "most superlative-sapping local performance to date," raves the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Eardrums were ravished. Minds were blown. And when singer-guitarist Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney finally made their exit, sweat-soaked and utterly spent, it was no small wonder that the downtown skyline was still standing." Pat and Dan's fathers appeared on WKSU radio to offer their unique perspective on the band.

Ben Folds plays Kansas City and Louisville, talks to Australia's Triple J ... John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony receives Australian premiere ... The Black Keys kick off US tour ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica finish at Finnish fest ... The Low Anthem tours East Coast ...  Audra McDonald performs at Aspen benefit ... Natalie Merchant tours Midwest ...  Pat Metheny Group concludes European tour ... Punch Brothers are up in Alaska ... and more ...

Natalie Merchant brought her Leave Your Sleep tour to the Chicago Theatre for what the Chicago Tribune calls an "uplifting show," in which Merchant's "multimedia presentation enchanted with childlike wonder and wide-eyed imagination." The Tribune cites her "refreshing enthusiasm and approachable demeanor" and, most important, her "tender, intimate voice."

Audra McDonald performs in the Aspen Music Festival's Season Benefit this weekend. Her performance at The White House's A Broadway Celebration airs October 20 on PBS; she'll be on PBS again November 24, when Great Performances airs Lincoln Center's Stephen Sondheim: The Birthday Concert. "The brilliance of Audra McDonald," says the Boston Globe in a review or her recent Tangelwood recital, "is not just her ability to move through" the many styles comprising musical theater, "but that one never notices the change of channel."

The Black Keys' Tonight Show performance of "Tighten Up," off their album Brothers, is now at nbc.com. With their US tour set to start tomorrow, Time Out New York selects the three New York City concerts the Top Live Show (or, rather, shows) for the week.Time Out says "there’s a realness to what the Black Keys do, along with a lack of pretension that sets them apart from pretty much every other act in Billboard’s top ten (Brothers entered the chart at No. 3)."