live review: the black keys. alexandra palace, london. 10 february 2012.

I’d never been to a gig at Alexandra Palace before. The setting is of course beautiful. The acoustics not bad (also not perfect). The bar large enough to cope with the crowd. And it’s five minutes from my flat. Perfect basically. It is not your usual venue. It’s much closer to a festival set up with different food vendors and a large open space for the bar. I saw Bloc Party at Olympia a few years ago and it’s the same sort of set up.

Nobody gives a shit about me describing the venue though. Let’s talk music. The Black Keys are so damn good live. Dan Auerbach’s voice is as good as ever, whether revisiting older tracks from The Big Come Up or playing the brand new El Camino album. I love Patrick’s energetic drumming, although I’m convinced that he will end up with some serious back problems thanks to how hunched he gets over the drums. The way he bobs along means that even I, with my absolute lack of rhythm, can attempt to nod along in time.

It’s the combination of the band and the venue that really makes this worth talking about though. Just look at how big The Black Keys have become. It wasn’t so long ago that the band were considered a good, but low key, rock band with a blues edge. Over the past two albums they have become one of the biggest rock band on the world. Somehow they have managed to keep to the ideals that made them stand out in those early years, but also become huge. Properly huge. Huge enough to pack out Alexandra Palace for three straight days. And the venue and the band are the perfect match

Oh, and I hit a man for spilling my pint.