Monday 01/09/03 The Black Keys @ Barfly, Liverpool

With ‘White Blood Cells’ The White Stripes effectively blew out of the water every single popular pre-conception about "The Blues". Previously the preserve of ageing 40-somethings with beards, slavishly poring over the latest edition of Record Collector, Jack and Meg perfectly whipped out that raw honesty and heartfelt soul before forcing it into a shotgun marriage with garage rock at dawn. Not surprisingly, all your "I’ve loved Robert Johnson all my life" jagged blues aficionado’s have rapidly sprung from nowhere to deserved success (The Kills, The Soledad Brothers) riding on the Stripes’ coat-tails, and so it’s with considerable expectation that the Barfly rapturously greets the next set of likely suspects - Ohio’s The Black Keys.

Ok, so there are just the drums and the guitar … and they're playing the blues, but it’s at this point that The Black Key’s take an angular juncture from their contemporaries. Veering from plaintive, straight blues licks to squalls of feedback and stomping riffs, Dan Auerbach’s guitar is beautifully offset by Patrick Carney’s funk-soul-brother drum’s, to create a struttin’ vibe and feel more in line with the John Spencer Blues Explosion.

But thankfully, due to a real understanding of the Delta Blues (Auerbach once kipped on the floor of T-Model Ford’s roach infested home), The Black Keys don’t fall prey to that lolloping "cool" groove that often drags down a Blues Explosion set 20 minutes in. Despite the thunderous sound brewed up by the twosome, this is something altogether more intimate, Deep South barroom rock via Detroit that’s lapped up by an enthusiastic Barfly.

If they weren’t so much your every day, homespun guys (which in some ways is refreshing), The Black Keys could be just that controversial statement or concept away from the more widespread popularity they deserve. Shame really!

Photo by Sakura Henderson :: sakura@gigwise.com