In Birmingham: The Black Keys

Monday night and the Academy is filled to the brim with stoners, middle aged men (and their sons) and me. With a beer in hand & a toy dinosaur in my friend’s cleavage (an ode to ‘Tighten Up’) I was ready to lose my The Black Keys virginity.

First up were Kings of Leon signees The Features. Being a support act is always hard work as audiences tend to A) talk over and ignore you or B) stare at you with expressionless faces. But The Features didn’t fail to impress; their energetic Pop/Rock with was played with plenty of heart & soul. They managed to get some members of the audience bopping, clapping & singing along and there were even a few hardcore fans that screamed out every lyric, danced like maniacs & shouted “rock & roll” in every pause (bit awkward and not exactly accurate but that's fans for you).

After a half an hour wait Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney finally appeared. It was worth it. The setlist was cracker, with tracks from their latest LP ‘Brothers’ (helped out by a bassist & a keyboardist) and rocking good ol’ classics like ‘Stack Shot Billy’. Every track was booming; Dan’s blues/funk/rock infused fuzzy soloing, rich, souly voice & a funky step-dance combining with Patrick’s electrifying drumming that shook the whole room got the crowd wild. We danced, we sang, we screamed; a a first time I’ll certainly never forget.

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