The Black Keys – Brixton Academy, London 02/11/10

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Click on any image to enlarge | All photographs by Andy Squire

Cries of “but how will you get back?” and “you’ll never make it,” greeted the announcement that I was heading down to Brixton to catch The Black Keys. Fortunately, for once, TFL were on my side as I breezily hopped on an eerily quiet Victoria line train to south of the river.

Tonight’s sell out show means the floor fills out quickly from opening doors. With all the aloof hanging-at-the-back vantage points taken I wade in, front and centre for what promises to be a blistering show from the Ohio based duo. Having formed way back in 2001, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have been producing their own particular brand of fuzzy blues infused rock ‘n’ roll for quite some time now.

Stepping out in a supportive capacity this evening is veteran New Yorkers The Walkmen. Offering up a rasping howl, Hamilton Leithauser’s spits lyrics with vitriol on tracks like ‘Victory’ and the thus far career defining ‘The Rat’ whilst switching to a more frustrated, melancholic tone in self-pitying numbers like ‘Woe is Me.’ Infectious and captivating, Leithauser paces back and forth, clutching onto the mic for dear life whilst the bass line twists around the screeching guitar hooks. Having seen The Walkmen step out on their own headlining tour a few months back it seems strange that they should be the opening act this evening, performing to muted cheers.

Running late, The Black Keys take to the stage to the rapturous applause of a floor so rammed revellers are unwittingly rocking out cheek-to-cheek. Kicking things off with ‘Thickfreakness’ and ‘Girl Is On My Mind’ Auerbach unleashes a dizzying array of buzzing guitars with the whisky-drenched soul of southern blues, whilst Carney thrashes the drums. Playing for well over an hour, they run through intense guitar-led tracks such like ‘10AM Automatic’ and ‘Stack Shot Billy’ with its stop-start rhythm. The infectious rolling bass line of ‘Howlin’ For You’ is preceded by a mass clap along as the duo are joined on stage by some friends to help out with the instrumentals. They soon launch into crowd favourite ‘Tighten Up’, whose whistled intro rings out over a wealth of matted long hair and sweat, before Auerbach’s gritty vocals howl against the gently grooving rhythm.

Returning to the stage for a blazing encore, they launch into ‘Sinister Kid’ followed by Your Touch’ It’s no wonder why he’s swaggering up and down the stage like he owns the joint, as the crowd eat up every twisted hook and every word that these good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ rollers have to offer.