The Black Keys in Dublin: Gritty show gives people what they wanted, especially towards the triumphant finish

The Black Keys

3Arena

★★★★☆

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are no strangers to Ireland, and the US rock duo who form The Black Keys have just landed back on our shores as part of a tour for their new album, Ohio Players.

It hasn’t been totally smooth sailing so far. The Manchester date at the end of April was postponed after being caught up in the continuing saga of the Co-op Live arena’s opening delays. The date has now been pushed back to May 15th, at the venue’s request, due to continued “testing of critical procedures”.

Ohio Players, their 12th studio record, dropped on April 5th and sees them exploring more of the same styles as their previous offering, 2022′s Dropout Boogie. The main difference is this time, they’re joined by a few collaborators, including Beck and Noel Gallagher.

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Thankfully, the tried and tested 3Arena has thrown up no unexpected hiccups for them. Having had the chance to warm up the night before by hosting an all-vinyl dance party in the Grand Social in Dublin city centre, the Akron boys seemed set to be in fine form.

Support act Circa Waves opened the show, pulling the gathering crowd on to the floor from sidelines.

Their catchy riffs and up-tempo melodies in Jacqueline and Your Ghost caught the room’s attention. They probably convinced a few in the crowd to buy their T-shirts as well.

“This is a rock’n’roll one,” says frontman Kieran Shudall before Wake Up’s piercing opening guitar line floods the speakers.

They closed out their set to an almost full room with what’s probably their best known track, T-shirt Weather.

After a brief intermission and a short funky opening backing track, the men of the hour started their set with I Got Mine followed a bluesy improvised solo from Auerbach to introduce the infectious Gold on the Ceiling.

More “oldies but goldies” – Auerbach’s words – followed, charging up the crowd nicely before This Is Nowhere from Ohio Players.

The Black Keys have been around for more than two decades now. Their oldies catalogue is extensive and, to be fair to the crowd, most people were probably there to hear the newer stuff.

Weight of Love and Howlin’ For You took the crowd back a few years with some more sublime soloing.

While none of the collaborators from the newest album made surprise experiences, a welcome pair of guests were brass players for Beautiful People (Stay High).

Fever carried their momentum through to the set’s third act with a performance that was gritter than the studio recording, a welcome recurring feature of their set.

Two tracks from Ohio Players written with Gallagher followed, sounding – not necessarily to their detriment – like they would fit easily into an Oasis set.

A cover of I Heard it through the Grapevine pulled the main portion of the set towards its end before the encore tracks got the biggest reception of the night.

Little Black Submarines and Lonely Boy brought the curtain down. It felt almost certain that those songs were the ones most of the crowd had been waiting for all night.

Auerbach and Carney, staples in rock music who deservedly sit in a spot carved out with catchy guitar riffs and on-the-button drumming, came to play and no one can justifiably say they were left disappointed at the show.

Although some of the newer material didn’t feel quite as well received, fans old and new alike were left with nothing to complain about.