On Monday night, The Black Keys came back to Cleveland after a four year absence. The Akron natives returned to the buckeye state with a little help from Cincinnati boys Steve Marion, Zach Gabbard and Andy Gabbard to rock the newly renovated Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The show kicked off with Nashvillians *repeat repeat. The band — which is the husband-wife duo of Jared & Kristyn Corder — performed as a five-piece. Their surfy garage rock set included hits “Girlfriend” and “Head On”. The major issue with the band’s performance, however, was that it felt as if they’d snuck on stage to play before the venue had even opened. While this trip to Cleveland was no doubt far more successful than their previous play at the notoriously horrible Wilbert’s, it was nothing short of a bummer to (hardly) see these rockers get their due on a dimly lit arena stage with less than a forth of the audience in their seats. They deserved far better from Cleveland & people need to stop skipping the opening acts. (But we’ll save that rant for another day.)
Next to play were indie rockers Modest Mouse. As the eight piece menagerie took the stage, the sounds of buzzing bugs filled the arena. Frontman Isaac Brock was surrounded by a wall of monitors, which seemed to corral him like a caged animal. Modest Mouse fans were treated to a twelve song set that included numerous staples from the band’s career, including “The World at Large”, “Dashboard” and “Bukowski”, which ended in a barbaric yawp. The band’s set vacillated between folksy moments and raucous rock n roll — including a bit of rabid guitar playing by Brock with his face on “Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright”.
When The Black Keys took the stage, the crowd of nearly 20,000 people rose from their seats and got rowdy. The Ohio natives were decked out in their best Cleveland garb — Auerbach in a Ghoul shirt and Carney in an Indians hat. Their twenty one song set kicked off with “I Got Mine” and never let up. Auerbach made the audience go wild with his guit solos and silky voice, while Carney murdered his drum kit. Hits like “Gold on the Ceiling” and “Howlin’ for You” became huge singalongs as the crowd reciprocated the band’s bombastic energy. And while the audience verifiably lost their shit over the old material, they were equally enthused with the tunes the boys offered from their most recent album, Let’s Rock. “Tell Me Lies” oozed laid back, old school swagger that could have slipped right out of the sixties. “Fire Walk With Me” inspired plenty of dancing. The band’s encore began with hit “Lo/Hi” and ended with “She’s Long Gone”, which again proved how the pair’s songwriting will live on as a timeless offering to rock n roll.
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