Akron indie-rock duo The Black Keys may well be feeling like they can't win a month on from the release of their 12th album, Ohio Players.
The perfectly serviceable album of the same name was considered too radical by some for its Beck and Lil Noid collaborations, while others complained that it stuck too closely to the band’s trademark Blues-tinged rock.
Both of these takes are well wide of the mark: and still, that classic sound still stands up. Though Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney played a handful of songs from their latest record, the pair stuck mostly with the many hits from their lengthy back catalogue.
The Keys, back at the recently reopened Brixton Academy for a three night residency after playing The O2 last year, opened with old favourite I Got Mine. The yowling Gold On the Ceiling followed, and provided an early singalong. Throughout, Auerbach wasted no time at all in showing off his vast guitar repertoire, with solos and interludes a-plenty.
Two of the four Ohio Players songs performed were saved for an encore, also featuring a surprise appearance from special guest and recent collaborator, Noel Gallagher. While the former Oasis man can hold his own with the best of them (Auerbach included) it’s unfortunate that his presence meant that two of the more tepid numbers from Ohio Players, Only Love Matters and On the Game (both of which Gallagher worked on) were dutifully played as closers to justify his presence.
After 23 years as a band, picking a setlist comes with the welcome headache of having perhaps too many essentials to leave room for the new songs. But the other two Ohio Players offerings, This is Nowhere and Beautiful People (Stay High), complete with a brass section, freshened things up.
And, as if they didn’t have enough classic material to draw on, there was also room for a rock-oriented I Heard It Through the Grapevine, and their traditional cover of Have Love, Will Travel. “We played this song at our first show in London,” Auerbach says of Richard Berry’s original, “And we’ll play it at our last one too.”
Accompanied as ever by the bear-like presence of thumping drummer Carney, Auerbach did not hold back, even during songs the hard-touring band have played a million times before. He brought total commitment and passion to the likes of She’s Long Gone, Tighten Up and Little Black Submarines, throwing himself into yet more guitar solos, and not shying away from the ultra high vocals of Everlasting Light.
Lonely Boy and Howling for You garnered the biggest cheers, but the pick of the night was Weight of Love. Auerbach introduced the four piece backing band (it's not just the two of them on stage these days) before they all gave the 2014 divorce opera the showcase it deserved.
The new music might divide opinion but hearing it live at Brixton more than proved Ohio players are still the real deal.
