The Black Keys at Barclays Center Brooklyn - 9/24/2014

Melanie and I saw The Black Keys last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was a fun night and I enjoyed the band's performance.

I've never been a fan of concerts in arenas, which are built for sporting events with little consideration given to acoustics. It was also weird going to a big rock show in the middle of the week. Since it was a school night I wasn't in Party Mode especially, but we enjoyed a couple of beers and once we settled in, it was easy to forget we had to get up the next morning for work. Oddly, the Barclays Center stopped serving beer fairly early, before 10:00p. I don't know if that's because it was a weeknight or if that's their usual policy, but I thought it was odd. Unfortunately, for the bigger acts, arenas are often your only way of seeing them.

The Black Keys are one of the few modern groups I listen to and follow. Not surprisingly, part of that is because they're a kind of rootsy, blues-based rock unit. I love their stripped-down aesthetic - they're like The White Stripes that way - and the lack of gimmicky studio production on their albums. They're kind of garage-bandy and are noticeably influenced by the blues. One of their albums, the EP "Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough," is all covers of the bluesman Junior Kimbrough.

At their core, the band is made up of just two guys, Dan Auerbach on guitar, vocals, bass, piano, organ, keyboards, and synthesizer (though not at the same time), and Patrick Carney on drums and percussion. They tour with two additional guys, Richard Swift on bass and vocals, and John Clement Wood on keyboards, vocals, organ, synthesizer, guitar, and tambourine. That's the unit we saw last night.

I love the look of these guys, kind of nerdy cool. These aren't faces that normally sell records to teenage girls. But the band is big, and their approach and music heartfelt and organic without a lot of posturing. Not to say they aren't dynamic because they gave an energetic performance. Because The Black Keys are such a stripped down band, you could easily imagine them playing in a local bar, and part of their appeal is that such a basic band got to be so big.

The sound of the venue was obviously compromised, but the drums were mic-ed well. You could hear and feel the solidity of Carney's playing, the sharp thwack of his sticks on the skins, and the pounding of the kick drum in your chest. I like how prominent the drums are in this band. For a small group without a lot of embellishment or pretense, these guys rock with energy.

I've gotten most of their catalog over the years and they played the bulk of their familiar songs. Not surprisingly, they seemed sharpest on the material from their new album "Turn Blue." Even if you aren't familiar with the band, you'd probably be surprised at how much of their music you've heard before.

Great show.

Now if I could only catch them at The Rockwood Music Hall in the Village...