[show_avatar email=db@iwenttoashow.com align=left avatar_size=62] Listen, I know you have seen amazing rock and roll shows before.  You have probably even seen several jaw-dropping blues shows, too.  You have maybe even seen an unbelievable North Mississippi Allstars or White Stripes show.  The point I’m getting at here is that if you have never been to a Black Keys show, you have likely never seen anything quite like it.

We walked into The Pageant shortly after 7:00 PM last night.  The doors couldn’t have been open more than 15 or 20 minutes but the place was already packed!  I knew it was sold out, but I had no idea it would be standing room only nearly two hours before the main attraction even took the stage.  That has to make a couple of boys from Akron feel pretty damn good!

When I got back to our seats, Brian Olive’s (the opener) equipment had been cleared and The Black Keys equipment was pushed to the front of the stage.  Normally their stage setup would consist of a riser with Patrick’s drum kit and two massive amps for Dan’s guitar – simple.  This time around, there is a second riser with a small keyboard and a couple smaller amps.  The reason for the second riser?  “Brothers,” their latest album, is different from their previous albums.  The sound is still gritty and driven by the original sounds of a drums/guitar duo, but it’s also shiny.  There’s more funk to it, more R & B, maybe even a few psychedelic glimpses here and there.  I love it, and I was really looking forward to seeing how they would pull this off in a live setting.

Just after they took the stage, I got an amazing text message.  “We’re in one of the private party boxes and you guys should join us.”  H-E-L-L YES!  Our seats in the balcony were ok, but I don’t know how anyone can watch an entire Black Keys show sitting down.  We headed straight to the party box and even though it was about as far away from the stage as you can get in, we had all the room in the world.

I felt like their set was sort of broken into three parts last night.  The first part was all the songs you know and love.  Songs like “Girl is on My Mind” from the Rubber Factory album let you know what to expect if you’re not familiar with their music, but they are also songs that let you know exactly why you love this band.   They scorched the stage right out of the gate with a raw version of “Thickfreakness” and let everyone know that this would indeed be a Black Keys show and that they are now in charge of your face.  This is the point where I was so glad and feeling so lucky that I’m not in a seat or sardine-ed in standing room only.  We were some of the only people in the place with room to dance – and that’s what we did.

The second part of their set was the Brothers portion of the night.  Up until this part, it had just been the original two on stage – Dan on guitar and Patrick on drums, but now they were joined by a bassist and an organist.  The two additions both were stationed on the second riser between and slightly behind Dan and Patrick.  From what I could see, there was very little interaction between the new guys and the originals, but they were still a perfect fit musically.  They kicked off the four piece arrangement of the set with “Tighten Up”, which was a single produced by Danger Mouse and released before the album dropped.  It’s a solid song both on the album and live.  It was a little more settled in than the rest of the set up to that point, but it’s got a great groove and plenty of fuzzy guitar.  In case you were wondering, Dan barely pulls off the whistling intro.

After “Tighten Up”, they leapt into “Next Girl”.  It’s a song about a guy putting up with some girlfriend drama all in the name of having a beautiful face to look at.  It’s a rocker on the album but in the live setting, it’s a whole other beast that’s punched up by a direct injection of raw emotion.  Watching and hearing it all unfold was an awe-inspiring moment for me and, quite possibly, the highlight of the entire show.

At the end of  “Ten Cent Pistol”, the stage went dark for a moment.  When the lights came back up, Patrick and Dan were the only musicians on stage.  They fired into “Your Touch” and we were once again back in power duo mode.  They closed out the set with “I Got Mine” before taking a well-deserved break. For the encore, The Keys returned to their quartet arrangement and treated us to “Everlasting Light”.  The show concluded with an enthusiastic, successful attempt at “Till I Get My Way”.

And last night in St. Louis, concert-goers got their way, in a big way.