This concert was important for a couple of reasons firstly it was the last concert of the year for me so I wanted it to end on a high having already seen so many great bands and artists this year. More importantly it was to be my 10 yr old daughters first music concert and I wanted it to be as exciting and memorable for her as my first concert had been for me. We've both been enjoying listening to El Camino all year (We can't help dancing whenever we hear Lonely Boy) so The Black Keys seemed the obvious choice when she asked can she go to a gig with me.
She found an even stronger affinity to The Black Keys when she found out their first album release date as shown on the website was within a couple of days of her birthday, like they were born within the same week(amazing what kids pick up on). As you can imagine this all just fuelled her anticipation of a great time plus she was super stoked it meant she could stay up late on a school night ;)
We were seeing them in my home town of Manchester so we got there early so we could get food and I could show her some of the places I used to hang out at weekends. She cracked me up when I told her I used to come to an import record shop near the Corn Exchange and she asked what a record was. When I tried to explain it was the big vinyl discs that I've still got tucked away in the cupboard she just replied 'Oh you mean the big CD's'. Feelin old after that conversation.
We got to our seats early so we could both take in the setting and she could get used to the numbers of people. I realised as I tried to sit on my seat that it was broken so in a very typically British way explained to the nearest steward that my seat was broken but I'm not too fussed as I'm pretty sure we'll be standing for the whole gig but they should know so when it's all over they can get it fixed. Five minutes later a maintenance guy appeared and was saying that he'd organised better seats for us, after a few attempts at saying 'No really we'll be alright she likes it here' we gave in and were directed to our new seats which to be fair to the MCR Arena were great so big thanks to them. By the time this was all over we'd missed most of The Maccabees so we settled in and waited for The Black Keys.....
As the lights went dark she grabbed my hand and then the unmistakable pounding of the drums started and we were dancin to Howlin' For You as Dan Auerbach moved around the stage in his unconventional way almost looking like he was moonwalking as he shuffled backwards. I looked across to see my daughter she was beaming and dancing trying to take everything in. Seeing her jaw drop as some of the light effects reached out into the audience was priceless. Seeing the drum kit of Patrick Carney at the front of the stage was something else that made this concert great to watch it always strikes me that the drummer is normally one of the most mesmerising members of a band because you can see them like a living heartbeat their whole body working to punch holes of sound through you which is infinitely more interesting than watching a bloke stood bobbing his head hardly moving while plucking away at a bass. The non movers were tucked away at the back while the attention grabbers were out there for all to see which is great because at the end of the day a gig isn't just about the ears, the best gigs are always great to listen to but either engross you or make you dance as well. This concert did it all it was as if when they plugged the amps in they were hard wired to the audiences arms and legs because everyone around us was dancing , young , old, drunk, sober it didn't matter we were all in it together The Black Keys and us. Just to add the icing on the cake they finished the main set with Lonely Boy which just blew us away singing & dancing broke out like an unstoppable virus. After a short respite they were back on stage hitting us with riff after riff finishing on 'I Got Mine'.
The lights went up and we were spent what a great night! I have to say this was out of all the great music I've seen this year my favourite gig to date and for one simple reason I've never seen my 10yr old look happier and that is priceless!!!!
Go check out the bluesy riffs of The Black Keys here you won't regret it.....
http://www.theblackkeys.com/frontpage
She found an even stronger affinity to The Black Keys when she found out their first album release date as shown on the website was within a couple of days of her birthday, like they were born within the same week(amazing what kids pick up on). As you can imagine this all just fuelled her anticipation of a great time plus she was super stoked it meant she could stay up late on a school night ;)
We were seeing them in my home town of Manchester so we got there early so we could get food and I could show her some of the places I used to hang out at weekends. She cracked me up when I told her I used to come to an import record shop near the Corn Exchange and she asked what a record was. When I tried to explain it was the big vinyl discs that I've still got tucked away in the cupboard she just replied 'Oh you mean the big CD's'. Feelin old after that conversation.
We got to our seats early so we could both take in the setting and she could get used to the numbers of people. I realised as I tried to sit on my seat that it was broken so in a very typically British way explained to the nearest steward that my seat was broken but I'm not too fussed as I'm pretty sure we'll be standing for the whole gig but they should know so when it's all over they can get it fixed. Five minutes later a maintenance guy appeared and was saying that he'd organised better seats for us, after a few attempts at saying 'No really we'll be alright she likes it here' we gave in and were directed to our new seats which to be fair to the MCR Arena were great so big thanks to them. By the time this was all over we'd missed most of The Maccabees so we settled in and waited for The Black Keys.....
As the lights went dark she grabbed my hand and then the unmistakable pounding of the drums started and we were dancin to Howlin' For You as Dan Auerbach moved around the stage in his unconventional way almost looking like he was moonwalking as he shuffled backwards. I looked across to see my daughter she was beaming and dancing trying to take everything in. Seeing her jaw drop as some of the light effects reached out into the audience was priceless. Seeing the drum kit of Patrick Carney at the front of the stage was something else that made this concert great to watch it always strikes me that the drummer is normally one of the most mesmerising members of a band because you can see them like a living heartbeat their whole body working to punch holes of sound through you which is infinitely more interesting than watching a bloke stood bobbing his head hardly moving while plucking away at a bass. The non movers were tucked away at the back while the attention grabbers were out there for all to see which is great because at the end of the day a gig isn't just about the ears, the best gigs are always great to listen to but either engross you or make you dance as well. This concert did it all it was as if when they plugged the amps in they were hard wired to the audiences arms and legs because everyone around us was dancing , young , old, drunk, sober it didn't matter we were all in it together The Black Keys and us. Just to add the icing on the cake they finished the main set with Lonely Boy which just blew us away singing & dancing broke out like an unstoppable virus. After a short respite they were back on stage hitting us with riff after riff finishing on 'I Got Mine'.
The lights went up and we were spent what a great night! I have to say this was out of all the great music I've seen this year my favourite gig to date and for one simple reason I've never seen my 10yr old look happier and that is priceless!!!!
Go check out the bluesy riffs of The Black Keys here you won't regret it.....
http://www.theblackkeys.com/frontpage
