The Black Keys @ The Corral in Calgary, Alberta

(Credit to the Calgary Herald for this picture from last nights show)

Myself and my good friend Davey were two of the very fortunate people that were able to attend the sold out Black Keys show last night at the Corral. Hear is a quick synopsis of the show for those of you that couldn't make the show. The Corral as a venue is questionable at best, and little small for The Black Keys but it did create a pretty awesome atmosphere. Anyway, Cage the Elephant opened the show at about 8:15 pm with six song set. We enjoyed "Shake Me Down", "Around My Head", and "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" and they gave it 110% but the sound quality just wasn't there. But with clean audio, I would definitely check them out again.

The Black Keys, not only did what Cage the Elephant couldn't do with the venue, they made The Corral their Bitch. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney understand what live music is and adapted to concrete tomb that is The Corral. They opened their set with four songs from albums including Attack & Release ranging to Rubber Factory. The show had pretty simple set up with Auerbach on the right of the stage, Carney perched up on the left and some average lighting until it revolutionized with bright light lettering of "THE BLACK KEYS" and some art house style video. This for all intents and purposes made it feel like a damn good rock concert. This continued as they crushed performances of Brothers tunes including "Howlin' for You", "Next Girl", "Everlasting Light", "She's Long Gone" and of course "Tighten Up". They finished up the show with encore performances of "Sinister Kid" and "Your Touch" from Magic Potion which was an epic closer. The one and only criticism of the Keys was their set was a little under an hour and half which could have been longer, offering maybe some tunes from Chulahoma and little more from the other albums. Or is this me asking for to much of good thing? Nonetheless, The Black Keys were one of the best live acts I have ever seen and if you ever get a chance to see them, there is no excuse worthy of missing The Black Keys.

- Spence