The Black Keys kicked off the first leg of their months-long North American arena tour with performances in Cincinnati, Detroit, and Columbus and hit the East Coast this week. Friday night's tour opener was "90 minutes of their patented hard-chopping blues," reports MTV. Playing arenas is "an amazing accomplishment for a group that has put in more than their share of road work and had the kind of slow-and-steady climb that rarely happens in this era of rocket-straight-to-the-top pop stars or grind-'em-out club bands." The Columbus Dispatch reports from Sunday's show: "The tunes were loud, the musicianship tight but relaxed and the vibe just right."
The Black Keys kicked off the first leg of their months-long North American arena tour, featuring music from their new album, El Camino, with performances at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati on Friday, Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Saturday, and the Schottenstein Center in Columbus on Sunday. The band has now headed east and plays the first of several shows along the East Coast with a concert in Portland tonight, followed by the TD Garden in Boston, Verizon Center in DC, Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and Madison Square Garden in New York City in the coming days. For additional details, go to nonesuch.com/on-tour.
This summer, before they head off to Europe for to perform at major festivals, The Black Keys will perform at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto with The Shins. Fan pre-sale begins this morning at 10 AM local time at theblackkeys.com.
Friday night's tour opener in Cincinnati was "90 minutes of their patented hard-chopping blues," reports MTV's Gil Kaufman. At one point in the show, Kaufman suggests, it would not have been surprising for those in the audience to come to the realization that "'Man, this is 2012 and a blues band has packed this arena, which hosted Justin Bieber last year!' A blues band. That's an amazing accomplishment for a group that has put in more than their share of road work and had the kind of slow-and-steady climb that rarely happens in this era of rocket-straight-to-the-top pop stars or grind-'em-out club bands."
After band member Dan Auerbach offers his closing words from the stage—"What a way to start this tour ... It's beautiful." —Kaufman closes his review: "And if you root for the underdog, or for rock, you had to agree."
Read the complete concert review at mtv.com.
"That was what you would call a good start," says the Cincinnati Enquirer's Chris Varias of Friday's tour launch. "The Black Keys kicked off their 37-date North American spring tour at U. S. Bank Arena with a performance indicating that the Akron band is ready and able to take on the biggest rooms in the land." Read the review at cincinnati.com.
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"The Keys' move to arenas was greeted with expected concern and skepticism from longtime fans recalling basement and small club gigs," writes Billboard's Gary Graff in a review of Saturday's show in Detroit, "but Auerbach and Carney are taking the plunge without losing what got them there. The music, of course, has always been capable of filling large spaces, and is even more so now thanks to more ambitious arrangements and the presence of two backing musicians to muscle up the sound. But the fun of the 21-song, 85-minute show was watching the Keys play with that size and ultimately using it to complement rather than compromise its garage-y blues-rock aesthetic." Read the concert review at billboard.com.
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"The tunes were loud, the musicianship tight but relaxed and the vibe just right," says the Columbus Dispatch's Kevin Joy in a review of Sunday's show. "A three-song encore closed the show, with an enormous mirrorball that sparkled during 'Everlasting Light' adding the only glitz to an evening that was otherwise perfectly raw and weathered." Read the review and see photos from the concert at dispatch.com. Joy also spoke with the band about the tour and their recent successes for a feature available as well at dispatch.com.
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