Music

Concert review: The Black Keys bounce the night away inside the Chelsea

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The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach performs at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan.
Erik Kabik
Max Plenke

Three stars

The Black Keys November 8, the Chelsea.

If enough people start jumping, the floor of the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan begins to sink in the middle, like the warm-up bounce on a colossal trampoline. So when Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney launched into their song “Gold on the Ceiling” from 2011’s El Camino, and the crowd did what crowds do, the heads in the very center of the room would dip out of sight, like a tug boat in a tidal wave, only to rise on the crest along with the hammering of the kick drum.

The Black Keys' Patrick Carney performs at the Cosmopolitan's Chelsea music venue.

The Black Keys' Patrick Carney performs at the Cosmopolitan's Chelsea music venue.

The natural question to ask at a Black Keys show is, when you hear something out of place, sloppy, or lazy, is that the point? It’s dirty, fuzzy, stripped-down blues rock. Does it need to be tight or even in perfect time? Your answer dictates how much fun you’re going to have. And it took me a few songs of uneasy timeliness, of occasionally sloppy fills, to appreciate the rawness it wanted to convey. The sell point may have been when Auerbach turned away from the crowd to play a lap steel guitar mounted to a stand on “Gotta Get Away,” from the tour’s titular Turn Blue full-length released this year, digging into the frets like a hungry wolf on a fresh kill.

Overall, the show was built for the newer fans, only including three songs from before 2010’s Brothers. Still, the Keys didn’t beat you over the head with the Turn Blue material, and if you loved Brothers and El Camino, it was a treat.

Setlist:

“Next Girl”

“Run Right Back”

“Same Old Thing”

“Gold on the Ceiling”

“Strange Times”

“Nova Baby”

“Leavin’ Trunk”

“Too Afraid to Love You”

“Howlin’ for You”

“A Girl Like You” (Edwyn Collins cover)

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach performs at the Chelsea at Cosmopolitan.

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach performs at the Chelsea at Cosmopolitan.

“Money Maker”

“Gotta Get Away”

“She’s Long Gone”

“Fever”

“Tighten Up”

“Your Touch”

“Lonely Boy”

Encore:

“Weight of Love”

“Turn Blue”

“Little Black Submarines”

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