The Black Keys @ The Lime Spider - Akron, OH, 4.08.05

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Originally uploaded by thespacerace.

The Black Keys kicked off their latest tour last night with a sold out show in their hometown of Akron, OH, headlining a benefit for a couple of local musicians who have run into some huge medical bills. It was a very long night of some very unmemorable music, until 1am when the Black Keys hit the stage.

They opened the show with "All Hands Against His Own" off their latest record 'Rubber Factory', and sent the crowd into a frenzy, which lasted throughout their entire hour-long set. Over the past couple of years, I have made numerous plans to see them, but this is the first time I've actually gotten to see them. And believe me, after the show, I was kicking myself for missing them all of those other times. Despite being only a duo, the Black Keys bring more energy to the stage than most 4 & 5 piece bands I've seen in the last few years. I do not think it is possible that a single person there last night could have been disappointed in the least. I think we have an early frontrunner for show of the year.

They played almost an equal distribution of songs from their three releases, all of which I have become very familiar with from numerous listenings, which I think most of the crowd shared with me. At one point, they invited local legend Ralph Carney to the stage to jam with them using some sort of bizarre reed instrument. They ended the set with a 3-song encore, which was prefaced by singer Dan Auerbach remarking "we might as well play some more songs since we only have to drive 5 minutes to sleep in our own beds tonight."

Check out their website here for tour dates.