Duo adds pop polish to grimy rock 'n' roll - The Australian

American rock band The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, pictured in Sydney. The band are in Australia for a series of shows, and are playing two dates in Sydney. Picture: Dan Himbrechts Source: The Australian

• MUSIC
  
  The Black Keys.
  
  The Entertainment Centre, Sydney, October 22.

THERE'S a simple mindset at the heart of what the Black Keys do; an anarchic approach to blues, 1960s pop and psychedelic rock that reaches maximum potency when drummer Patrick Carney and singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach are in full flight.

That fire was there in all its glory at Sydney's Entertainment Centre on Monday night, as Carney's primitive, forceful beats sparred with Auerbach's at times mesmerising electric guitar flourishes. The spirit of Jimi Hendrix hovered above them as they pummelled and wrangled their way through Next Girl and She's Long Gone, both from their 2010 album Brothers.

Yet this is a slightly different Black Keys from the one Australian audiences have witnessed on their previous five tours.

The success of that 2010 album and last year's El Camino, the latter featuring the viral video hit Lonely Boy, has added pop polish to their instinctively grimy rock 'n' roll.

Because they cancelled their scheduled appearances at last year's Big Day Out due to exhaustion, Australia is getting its first view of the Black Keys as a more rounded act, with the addition, for much of the set, of bassist-guitarist Gus Seyffert and keyboardist-guitarist John Wood to the backdrop of their live presentation.

Extra instrumentation has always been part of the Black Keys' recordings, but the additional players on stage are most crucial to the material on the two most recent albums.

As such Gold on the Ceiling from El Camino and the inevitable closer, Lonely Boy, had a fuller, more structured band sound, representative of their recorded versions, as did the aforementioned tracks from Brothers.

At times, however, this streamlined approach worked against rather than with the free-flowing structure (or non-structure) that has been an essential element of the Black Keys manifesto.

This was apparent in the early part of the show, through songs such as Howlin' For You, Run Right Back and Same Old Thing, where Carney's passionate, loose pounding of the skins sat at odds with the strict metre being followed by the rest of the band.

Arena shows are a step up for the Black Keys, particularly from the RSLs and small theatres they played here last time.

To add to the spectacle, backdrop projections of desolate highways and other Americana accompanied some of the material, but the biggest change of dynamic was when the two protagonists played as a duo.

Here, in songs such as Thickfreakness, Girl is on My Mind and Your Touch, we were reminded of just how much power two musicians with an easy chemistry and rock 'n' roll bluster are capable of creating. After the giant mirror balls descended from the ceiling for the duo's encore of Everlasting Light and I Got Mine, we also got a reminder of Auerbach's bewitching, ear-splitting guitar chops.

Indeed throughout the evening, as he strutted around, goading the audience and twisting bluesy licks from an array of guitars, he appeared like a man possessed.

Let's hope that in catering to the demands of their new-found and deserved success, the Black Keys can maintain the rage that set them on that path.

Also Brisbane, Friday; Perth, Sunday; Adelaide, October 30; Melbourne, October 31 and November 1. Tickets $89.90 - $109.90.

MUSIC

The Black Keys.

The Entertainment Centre, Sydney, October 22.