Events Calendar
In This Section
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Zips' Porter creates culture of success
Health reform passes hurdle in Senate
Lawyers compare four cases to Prade's
Visiting new Navy ship brings back memories for Doylestown man serves on USS New York in 1930s
Green High senior goes extra mile for those who walk and jog the park trails
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Does it work? Test team returns to try out new products advertised on television
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns vs. Lions live …
Akron Zips:
Akron trounces Howard to reach .500
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Robiskie, Harrison inactive
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
A Random Rant on Testing
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Auerbach, Carney attack and release in Akron show
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Published on Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008
If the Black Keys want to play their hometown in 2009, they might have to wait for the University of Akron's new stadium to be finished to fit all the local fans in one place.
The West Akron duo is riding a wave of critical acclaim and its best record sales on the strength of its fifth album, Attack & Release, produced by hot knob-twiddler and Gnarls Barkley member Danger Mouse.
On Saturday, the band entered the stately, acoustically refined and designed stage of E.J. Thomas Hall to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd. Playing in front of a giant inflatable tire touting Akron and ''Heavy Sole,'' the Firestone grads proceeded to give the age-varied crowd the fuzzed-up blues-flavored rock it desired, with Girl Is on My Mind, followed by the stomping riffage of Thickfreakness.
''It's nice to be home,'' Dan Auerbach told the crowd.
The Keys subscribe to the ethos that recordings and live shows are separate listening experiences. Thus, songs such as the taut Set You Free and the bouncy blues of Busted are stretched out and broken down, with Patrick Carney who has come a long way as a drummer adding subtle and occasionally funky variants on his usually thunderous lockstep grooves, only to rebuild to crowd-pleasing crescendos.
Likewise, Auerbach, whose onstage moves have always resembled a drunken whirling dervish, seems to be embracing his inner guitar hero, dramatically stomping his many fuzz pedals, playing screaming lead and slide lines and literally beating power chords from his Rickenbacker.
As for the new songs, Attack & Release is the band's most varied and layered collection of songs, but in concert with only Carney and Auerbach, those tunes are stripped to their bare essentials.
Carney shifted the groove of the uptempo single Strange Times, and I Got Mine featured an extended freakout solo from Auerbach, who has added a bit of flash to his traditionally chord-heavy and fingerpicked playing.
Fans will have one more chance this year to see the duo, when the Black Keys open for their musical heroes and fellow Akronites Devo at the Akron Civic Theatre on Friday.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
If the Black Keys want to play their hometown in 2009, they might have to wait for the University of Akron's new stadium to be finished to fit all the local fans in one place.
Get the full article here.
