If you’re a fan of going to concerts, you’ve probably got a concert bucket list. I’ve got one that I’ve fortunately been able to scratch many artists off of in the last few years. Foo Fighters, Cage the Elephant, The Maynard Trifecta (Tool x 2, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle), Arcade Fire, Beck, Mumford &Sons, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats, Amos Lee, Hozier, Bishop Briggs, Portugal the Man, Foster the People…so many great bands that I’ve wanted to see for years. The longest back I can remember wanting to see was Foo Fighters, but the one band next to them, that I’ve wanted to see for a long time and so badly…The Black Keys.
I’ve seriously wanted to see them live for years and years, I remember discovering them between 2008-2010 on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto IV. Then they started showing up on my favorite show from back in those days, The Colbert Report. Then their SNL appearance and more great albums. I was sold, I loved their modern/retro sound, their Blues-Rock style, it’s simply my favorite.
So last April, when they released their latest album, Let’s Rock, and announced the Let’s Rock Tour with Modest Mouse and more, I searched for how close they were coming by. It was going to be fairly close and not too expensive, but all the way in November. So my boyfriend of only about a month at the time already knew about my love for The Black Keys, so he got us two tickets, in April, for my birthday, which is in May, to go see them in November.
It was a long time to wait, but thankfully, I think I’ve finally found the one, and he made the wait fun and easy. And we made it, last week, I finally got to cross one of my Top 5 favorite bands off of my Concert Bucket List.
So they named the album Let’s Rock, and they absolutely rock on studio-recorded albums, so I’ll admit, my expectations on how hard The Black Keys should rock on the Let’s Rock Tour were very high. I’m happy to report, they not only met but exceeded, my expectations for Rocking.
The sound was great, they rocked so much harder than I’d expected. Probably because previous appearances I’d seen of theirs were very stripped down. This show was cranked up and added a light show which was also unexpected and freakin awesome. They played an excellent mix of new music and the classics that got them where they are. We weren’t exactly close to the stage, but we had a great view of the whole light show and not far enough away to feel distant, and the light show/projector screen made the whole thing seem much closer.
I’m so thankful for this birthday present, I got a shirt and a hat and lots of great videos, and many great pics and memories. Check them out here and keep your eye out for more concerts I cross off the list to show up here in Morgan’s Blog. Thanks for checking it out.