Black Keys @ O2 Arena, London

I'm not a fan of the O2 Arena, I've been there a few times and often feel disconnected to what is happening on stage because the standing tickets are usually too expensive. Still a good gig though, but I do really like Black Keys. This was posted on Grapevine's site.
Wednesday 12th December 2012
Written by Ryan Whitwell

You may already be aware of The Black Keys (www.theblackkeys.com), a popular two piece blues/rock outfit from Ohio that have been going since 2001. However, you may not know that I really like this band which is why I jumped at the chance to see them at London's O2 as they played one of the last two shows of their current European tour when a good friend asked if I wanted to see them.

The support came in the form of South London’s The Maccabees (www.themaccabees.co.uk), I only saw the last few songs as getting from North Essex to Greenwich straight after work isn't much fun, but what I saw of them was good. They had the crowd going and singing along to 'Love You Better' before finishing with another of their big hits that I know not the name of.  Then it was a short wait for a band I only really got into about a year ago (like a lot of people) but fell in love with after listening to their back catalogue.

The Black Keys are not what I'd call a 'big arena band', when listening to their albums I'm more inclined to imagine small venues and bars but The Black Keys came on strong with a little bit of help from two other musicians behind them to complete the bass and keyboard sections. I was seated in tier 1, because standing tickets were a bit overpriced, but from tier 1 you get a great view of the standing crowd and immediately the cameras and phones were in the air capturing the band as they played a good selection of newer and older songs. I was slightly envious of those down the front, they looked like they were having a great time, but we in the cheap(er) seats were still having a laugh and I couldn't help but notice a few air guitars/ drums dotted around as The Black Keys threw out their signature distorted blues riffs and the crowd did a great job during the sing along moments with the big selling songs like Lonely Boy and Dead and Gone from their most recent album.

Ticket prices aside, the O2 does manage to maintain an excellent quality of sound. Every note was crystal clear and the pounding drums kept our heads nodding. The stage lighting was excellent but the fancy projections behind the band were a little intermittent. One song would have a great display of images that coincided well with the sounds but the next would be more minimal focusing more on spotlights and lighting the crowd and a large prop (two mirror balls) was used for one song, which seemed a waste considering the amazing effect it achieved. I figured they were trying to create an intimate feeling by not relying on fancy graphics to keep those at the back interested, but the O2 isn't the place for that and the large crowd did seem slightly distracted during a couple of the quieter numbers, there is just too much distance between the band and the people up in the cheapest seats.

There was a spell when the duo gave the two extra members a rest and went back to their traditional two man formation to play the likes of 'Your Touch' and the first half of 'Little Black Submarines' which was a great sing along moment before bringing back the supporting pair to return to a four piece for the second half of the song and the remainder of the set.

The band did a great job of keeping maintaining momentum as the set continued with plenty of foot tapping and head nodding (plus a little more air guitar). The likes of 'Sinister Kid' and 'Money Maker' kept the capacity crowd bubbling away until the end of the set, which was followed by an oddly long break before the encore. The break was so long that a fair few people upped and left (possibly to beat the inevitable rush for the tube). A murmur did spread as many debated whether or not there would be an encore, but a quick look at our watches suggested it would have been a bit cheeky to finish at 10:20. Then the encore was confirmed as the two aforementioned mirror balls appeared, one from a box behind the sound stage and a giant one above the stage itself. Just the two main guys appeared to a chorus of cheers as the mirror balls came into play with a dazzling shower of dappled light dancing around the arena to the slow track 'Everlasting Light'. Unfortunately, being a quiet song, I could hear a lot of the crowd talking, but it wasn't long before the balls retracted and the Keys finished the night with one of my favourite songs 'I Got Mine'. It was a great way to finish the show as the pair reminded us why we like them so much, simple, honest, bluesy rock!

I would love to see them again in a smaller venue just to get that greater connection with the band but for now I’m really glad I’ve seen them live as they are an excellent band and I can’t recommend seeing them enough.