Monday 19/05/08 The Black Keys @ The Astoria, London

The Black Keys don’t appear in the UK all that often, but when they do you can be sure that it is going to be a ball breakingly, heart achingly good show; and tonight at the Astoria is just that. After opening their set with a slow and heavy beat amidst cries of “Oh Lord Help me, Lord”, they slip straight into an old favourite ‘Girl Is On My Mind.’ The track is played with a sensual vigour before it climaxes with an epic solo, which melds perfectly through a haze of feedback into ‘Set You Free’.

From ‘Thickfreakness’ to the old skool sounds of ‘10AM Automatic’ and ‘Stack Shot Billy’, to use a cliché The Black Keys have the crowd licking up the blues from their hands – a considerable achievement considering the relatively small amount of praise afforded to this genre on the current scene, but for The Black Keys it obviously comes very natural to them. As the gig reaches further zeniths, the atmosphere grows in sweating intensity and the songs build up from the slow ones (“For all you lovers”) to the pounding 60s sound of ‘Strange Times’ and ‘The Brakes’ and new song ‘I Got Mine.’ Every single note that lashes out of the amps just pushes your sense to their extremes and brings them crashing down during the encore. A massive triumph in every possible sense.