Everlasting night with The Black Keys
The Black Keys rocking out at the Staples Center Friday, Oct. 5. (Zack Simone / Flickr)
Downtown Los Angeles was rocking to the sweet tunes of The Black Keys on Friday, Oct. 5, at the Staples Center.
The band formed in 2001 in Akron, Ohio, is composed of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney.
Their most recent album titled “El Camino” peaked at number two on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
The show kicked off at 7 p.m, with Canadian girl band Tegan and Sara as the opening act.
Fans were treated to a near two-hour show from The Black Keys, starting with their radio hit “Howlin’ for You.”
Their bluesy, hard rock driven sound made it almost impossible for them to come up short at a live show. It seems as though each song of theirs was meant to be played live.
Throughout the performance every song was pristinely executed with a perfect touch of hard rock and roll and a seventies-style groove.
One of the more endearing parts of the two-man act had to be the lack of glitz and production.
There were cool light productions, yes, but other than old school pictures and colorful lights on the screen behind the band, the music rather than the theatrics drove the show.
It was just two guys playing good, raw, rock music.
Unfortunately, hardcore fans who were hoping to hear tracks from the band’s first albums, were sold short. Most of the songs played at the show were from their most recent album, “El Camino.”
Saddleback student Ali Breault, 19, undecided, was a bit disappointed that she didn’t hear many old school ‘Keys’ songs.
“All of their songs are great, so I can see that it would be hard to pick only a select number of songs,” Breault said.
“I really wish they played more from ‘Thickfreakness’,” Breault said when asked what she would have liked to hear more of.
Perhaps the highlight of the night began just before the boys came back onstage to perform their three-song encore as two disco balls descended from above, one from the top of the stage and the other from the middle of the arena.
As the band took the stage for the second time they performed the soul-shaking, grooving tune titled “Everlasting Light.”
The disco balls illuminated and transformed the arena into what seemed like a disco dance club from the seventies.
Concert attendee and Saddleback student Monse Ortiz, 19, business, felt the encore blew the show over her expectations.
“It was the best part of the show for sure. The disco ball was the perfect touch,” said Ortiz. “It was so rad.”
Overall, The Black Keys played a show to remember, leaving the audience longing for more.
Keep up with The Black Keys tour dates:
http://www.theblackkeys.com/shows
Catch the encore:
For everything on The Black Keys: