My fan hood for Turn Blue took me to the recently renamed Amalie Arena to see the Keys on their 'Turn Blue' tour two weeks ago. This a true arena-venue, and says a lot about how far the Black Keys have come. Their most recent Tampa headlining show was back in 2004, playing Skipper's Smokehouse for 750 people. Ten years later and the Keys are playing shows for 10 times as many people.
Opening up for the band was St. Vincent, a female fronted indie rock band serving as the stage name for musician Annie Clark. Coming off a huge year, Clark displayed some impressive guitar skills and used a lot of spectacle in her performance. Unfortunately, the crowd did not appear too interested, and were clearly ready for the Black Keys.
The consensus wish was answered soon after as the Keys came out jamming to El Camino's "Dead and Gone" to open. This was just the first of seven songs played off El Camino on the evening. Things stayed high energy at the beginning with "Next Girl" and "Gold on the Ceiling" both coming early in the set. The latter featured the Keys backdrop lowered to reveal multiple LED screens that traveled behind the stage throughout the show.
The band itself is fronted by guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. The pair go way back to their garage rock days in 2001. They paid tribute to those early days by performing "Leavin' Truck," a song off their debut album entitled The Big Come Up. The Keys in total actually played material from six of their studio albums.
Carney is not your typical drummer. Rather than a standard setup, Carney's drum set is practically center stage, taking its place right next to Auerbach. Carney never speaks during the set but remains very active. He barreled through fan favorite "Howlin' for You" and provided the necessary backing rhythm for the entire set.With so much experience together, Carney obviously works exceptionally well with Auerbach. The guitarist and vocalist sounded great, leading the crowd through all of the Keys biggest tunes - "Gotta Get Away," "Fever," and "Tighten Up." The expected closer was "Lonely Boy," capping off a very strong second half of the set list.
One slightly disappointing note was the energy of the crowd. As mentioned before, it had been so long since the Keys had been in the Bay area. Therefore, I imagined a crowd anxious and rowdy for the Akron boys. Throughout the show though, there wasn't as much jumping and singling along as expected. The floor was surprisingly tame and I even saw some people in the lower bowl sitting down. To the bands credit though, it is difficult to get everyone connected at an arena show.
An exception to the lack of singing along came with final song of the night - "Little Back Submarines." Auerbach started this tune off with an acoustic guitar, motioning for the audience to sing with him, before departing from the mic and letting the fans sing the chorus. He then ditched the acoustic for an electric performance closing the show. This followed up other encores - "Turn Blue" and "Weight of Love," which are two of my favorites from the new album.
Overall, I was very happy to finally see the Keys and have that moment be in Tampa. Not always do huge rock bands stop by Tampa, (hint hint Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters) so this was quite the treat. The band has a few weeks off before hitting the international circuit all spring. They also seem very logical to headline GovBall in 2015. I expect to see them then.
Concert Rating: 3.5 Stars
Setlist:
1. Dead and Gone
2. Next Girl
3. Run Right Back
4. Same Old Thing
5. Gold on the Ceiling
6. Strange Times
7. Nova Baby
8. Leavin' Trunk
9. Too Afraid to Love You
10. Howlin' for You
11. A Girl Like You (Edwyn Collins Cover)
12. Money Maker
13. Gotta Get Away
14. She's Long Gone
15. Fever
16. Tighten Up
17. Your Touch
18. Lonely Boy
Encore:
19. Weight of Love
20. Turn Blue
21. Little Black Submarines
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