The Black Keys goes full-throttle at The Factory in in St. Louis

The Black Keys have built their whole career — going back to their days as an Akron, Ohio duo — on the combination of Dan Auerback’s blues-soaked guitar work and Patrick Carney’s stripped-down drumming. Getting to see that at an intimate venue like The Factory in St. Louis on July 19th was a great opportunity for fans, with incredible vibes well before the lights went down. The band was in town as part of their massive six-month Peaches ‘N Kream World Tour, promoting the band’s newest album, Peaches.

Eddie 9V opened the show, with a southern-drenched band that surpassed everything I was expecting. Eddie (real name Brooks Mason) isn’t just some random singer picked up off the streets of some backwoods town for this tour; he’s a Georgia-born blues and soul guitarist signed to Dan Auerback’s own label, Easy Eye Sound, making a tangible thread linking the whole night together.

It was a truly solid warm-up that really primed the room instead of just killing time.

Before long, The Black Keys hit the stage, opening with “I Got Mine” without a ramp-up; it was high energy from song number one. That song means something to me beyond just being a great opener… I used it for a video project I did back in college, so hearing it kick off the night live was pretty awesome — like a small, personal callback, just for me. A lot of bands will build to a peak over the length of their set — not this time. The Black Keys started at high altitude and stayed there for the whole flight. What defined the night more than anything else, though, was the guitar playing; it was the type of playing that isn’t just technically sharp, but reaches into the soul of the music and understands it. Riff after riff landed with a weight most recordings can’t fully carry… the kind of tone that fills a room, instead of just filling the speakers.

This band live exceeds all expectations. Like I said, records can only capture so much of a band like this. That low end, that grit, the way songs have a chance to breathe in a room full of people reacting in real time… Whatever gap exists between the studio versions and the stage, The Black Keys closes it and then some. The crowd, of course, matched the energy. They were locked in all night. There didn’t seem to be too many people with their phones out either, just waiting to capture that clip of the one song they know — this wasn’t that kind of show.

This was a show full of people who, indeed, wanted to be there and nowhere else.

The morning after, it wasn’t a specific lyric sticking around, but the raw, soulful energy of the whole thing. That’s the hardest part of a live show to fake and the easiest to remember. Set lists blur, verses fade, but the feeling of a band playing their hearts out, pouring every ounce of themselves into that performance, that’s what stays put your mind long after the ringing in your ears fades. All told, it was truly worth it. It was a solid show, a night that delivered exactly what this band is known for: real guitar, real drums, real soul, and a room full of people who showed up ready to feel it all.

Photography by Thomas Semonco

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