The Black Keys have been on a roll on their sold-out headlining US tour, which concludes this weekend. At this week's stop in Portland, The Oregonian says, "the whole show rocked." The crowd at Sunday's show in Vancouver "couldn't have asked for more," says the Vancouver Sun. "The Keys were unrelenting, sweaty and wild right from the very beginning ... Mind-blowing stuff." Following Saturday night's Seattle set, Seattle Weekly says the songs off their new album, Brothers, "were sensual and shit-kicking all at once."

The Black Keys have kicked off their sold-out headlining tour, performing the first of two consecutive shows at the Hollywood Palladium last night. LA Weekly says Dan "Auerbach's guitar grabbed the crowd by the throat and refused to let go." Pat Carney's drumming "danced nimbly about like a lion tamer lovingly controlling his beast." Together, they "tore through a set that pleased both the purists and the newcomers ... Just two men making hot, dirty blues tunes that growled and crawled up the hips of every person in that place."

Congratulations to The Black Keys, winners of the Breakthrough Video Award at last night's MTV Video Music Awards for their video to "Tighten Up." The band was on the road on tour with Kings of Leon and The Whigs; more group shows and headlining sets are scheduled for this week in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida.

As The Black Keys continue their tour with Kings of Leon on the East Coast this weekend, their music will be well represented at Sunday night's 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. The video for "Tighten Up," off The Black Keys' album Brothers, has been nominated for Breakthrough Video. MTV says, while it's up against some heavy hitters, "it was the Black Keys' clip that made the biggest impression." Watch it here.

Due to the death of a family member, The Black Keys are rescheduling their show at the Charlottesville Pavilion this Thursday, September 9, to Tuesday, September 14, and the September 14 show at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, has been moved to Thursday, September 16. The band apologizes for this scheduling shift and any inconvenience it may cause. They thank their fans for their patience and understanding during this difficult time.

The Black Keys' appearance on NPR's World Cafe airs again today for the show's Best of Summer series. The band hit the road again last night, headlining at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, New York, with The Whigs supporting. Both bands join up with Kings of Leon for a three-week tour starting in Indianapolis tonight, continuing through September 23, after which The Black Keys launch their own fall headlining tour through November.

The Black Keys are set to open for the Kings of Leon for three weeks in September. SPIN caught up with the band at an earlier gig with the Kings, in London's Hyde Park, for a feature profile examining the Keys' career, "as their music has expanded from raw-boned basement blues-rock into spookier, swampier, sexier territory." The Keys are also featured in Relix, which takes a look at the making of "the best record of their career, Brothers."

The Black Keys have a few weeks off from their North American tour before hitting the road for several weeks with the Kings of Leon in September. A recent home-state performance "brought the audience to a fist-pumping fever," reports the Columbus Dispatch, which says the band's new album, Brothers, "casts its essence in musical gold." The band shares the secret of their success in a new CNN interview: "Turn everything up really loud."

The Black Keys will make their debut in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, and Wii on August 17. The Black Keys Pack 01 will feature “Strange Times” and “I Got Mine,” off 2008's Attack & Release, and “Your Touch” off the band's Nonesuch debut album, Magic Potion.

The Black Keys continue to play for sold-out crowds across North America. USA Today includes the band's Lollapalooza set of songs "from their terrific new Brothers album" among the festival's highlights. Time Out says, "The Black Keys sound like contenders these days, even champions." The Toronto Sun says the band delivered "some seriously solid vibes" in that city; Brothers "is practically guaranteed to end up in every critic's Top 10 year end poll."

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.

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."