Central Park Summerstage doesn’t attract the rowdiest crowd. It’s usually hipsters in tight pants with meticulously groomed moustaches. The Black Keys, however, drew quite a different (and diverse) crowd. Let’s just call it “bro-centric.” There was a bevy of suits, NY Yankees hats, and old dudes in Harley gear. The ground was littered with half-crushed Coors Light cans and a marijuana haze floated over the crowd. Fist pumping was soon to follow.
As soon as guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney took the stage, the mile-long beer lines dissolved and the bum-rush began. A banner dropped from the back of the stage, two huge clasped fists on a red background, an apt logo for the Ohio-bred duo who’ve written and produced eight albums together.
They started with “Hold Me in Your Arms,” a single from their second album Thickfreakness. The song builds slowly. Auerbachs’ slow and twangy guitar lead-in morphs into a full-fledged blues anthem. “Well, now heal me, heal me with your touch,” sings scratchy-voiced Auerbach. Carney, meanwhile, kept the heads bobbing with a never-ending attack on the snare drum. As is the nature with most outdoor venues, there wasn’t much room to move at Summerstage. So as the band jumped into “10 AM Automatic,” the crowd was static. It was debatable whether the bros would ever start booty shaking.
Luckily, the crowd was blessed with two favorites back to back. After a few more singles from Rubber Factory, bass-drum-pounding Carney led Auerback straight into “Strange Times,” arguably one of their best songs. Not so much rugged blues-rock, the song’s more of a throbbing exercise in restraint. Fast cymbals pushed the song towards a climax that never came. Instead, there’s a lagging that’s stretched across the melody like Silly Puddy. Loud applause followed and got even louder as Auerbach started into “Same Old Thing.” The crowd sang along to his soaring vocals, “No matter how much love you try to ban, just the same old thing.” Whether it was liquid courage or pure passion for The Black Keys, the crowd started moving, giving the always-energetic Auerbach some company.
With the momentum still building, the band worked through a few songs from their new album, Brothers. The crowd seemed unfamiliar with the somewhat new material. Though “Next Girl,” a howling single about bad women, is great (as is “Tighten Up,” a funky track produced by Danger Mouse), everyone preferred slightly psychedelic “I Got Mine,” off 2008’s Attach & Release. With haunting riffs and creepily layered vocal tracks, it’s one of their most experimental songs. It’s one of the few songs that stray from their devotion to rusty garage blues. And it’s a welcome departure, especially when the guitar riffs start to bleed together as the cymbals just keep ringing.
Whether it’s the new Black Keys or the old, it’s just good to have them back. Two encores later, die-hard fans were still howlin’ for more.
Kate Bonacorsi
