The riff arrived before the lights did. Just a low, dirty rumble out of the dark, and then a massive led lighting rig snapping on all at once, and then Dan Auerbach – already mid-snarl on “Heavy Soul,” already locked into something the rest of us were about to catch up to.
That’s how The Black Keys opened their two-hour run at the Franklin Music Hall on Saturday night: with one cold knee to the chest. No greeting, no slow build, no “hello South Florida.” Just an Akron blues guitarist in dark sunglasses, walking out like he had somewhere to be.
Then again, that’s kind of the band’s whole deal. They don’t need a hype man.
Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney don’t bother with stage banter. They just stack songs. “Gold on the Ceiling” went second, and the crowd was already a step ahead of the lyrics. They followed it with “You Got to Lose,” an Earl Hooker cover that felt like a wink to anyone who remembers the duo’s earliest records.
Then “Tighten Up” arrived under a wash of slow blue light. The blue softened into purple, the purple into red, and right around the time Auerbach sang “someone said true love was dead,” the whole stage was glowing this furnace-red color that made the venue feel twenty degrees warmer.
“Fever” stayed in that pocket. And then “Everlasting Light” cracked the room wide open in a different direction – disco balls scattering tiny stars across the ceiling, couples turning into each other, nobody really needing the prompt to sway. “Oh, baby, can’t you see? I’m shining just for you” is the kind of line that makes strangers reach for each other.
If there’s one thing the band’s fans tend to underrate, it’s how much of the Black Keys’ actual pulse lives behind the drum kit. Carney played “I Got Mine” like he had a personal grudge against silence. Head down, hat pulled low, every accent landing exactly where it needed to. He doesn’t play loud – he plays inevitable.
The middle of the night was where the duo most clearly remembered where they came from. “Lo/Hi,” then the Big Joe Williams cover “Crawling King Snake,” then “Next Girl,” then “She Does It Right,” a Dr. Feelgood cut that’s basically a love letter to British pub rock. Long before they were filling theaters, these two were in an Akron basement obsessing over scratchy old 45s, and you can still hear it in the way they pace a setlist.
“Weight of Love” was the most cinematic stretch of the night — slow, low, the kind of song you sink into instead of bob along to. And then “Howlin’ for You” landed and the venue just unhinged. That “ah-ah-ah-ah-ah” hook is a cheat code. You don’t really choose to clap along; your hands choose for you.
From there it was a sprint. “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire” – a Willie Griffin cover with one of the dirtiest guitar tones of the night then a first-ever live performance of The Crickets’ “Not Fade Away,” followed by “Wild Child” and “She’s Long Gone.” The band walked off, but nobody actually believed it. You don’t end a Black Keys show on a deep cut.
The encore made sure of that. “Little Black Submarines” opened with that fragile acoustic intro that always sounds like a goodbye, right up until the guitars come crashing back in and turn it into the loudest possible hello. Then “Lonely Boy” sent everybody out the doors – three minutes of garage-rock catharsis with the whole room doing their best Auerbach impression.
Walking out into the parking lot, you could still hear people humming the riff into their car keys. Not bad for a band that started with two guys and a four-track.
