black keys dropout boogie tour review

The Black Keys – ‘Dropout Boogie’ review: down-the-line rock destined for good times

The Ohio blues-rockers pack a familiar swagger on their 11th studio album, which nods to the greats of rock'n'roll, but they still know how to throw a party

There’s no harm in sticking to a formula when it’s served you well. For two decades, Ohio duo The Black Keys ‘ amped-up blues sound has taken them from drummer Patrick Carney’s basement to the world’s biggest stages, making them a safe bet to pack any arena. Even after 2010’s breakthrough ‘Brothers’ put them in the limelight, they’ve stayed faithful to those roots, just last year paying homage to heroes of the game with covers album ‘Delta Kream’ , which saw their love for the genre burning brighter than ever.

This sentiment is alive and kicking throughout their 11th studio record ‘Dropout Boogie’, a listen loaded with enough thrills and spills to soundtrack a wild ride down Route 66. The rollicking back-room riff of ‘For The Love Of The Money’, for example, could be a salvaged relic from rock‘n’roll’s heydey. Elsewhere they cut loose with the soulful and jittery jam of ‘Burn The Damn Thing Down’, which invites a gritty and raw early Angus Young blues solo. It’s of course, nothing new, but this pair are masters in capturing that timeless flair and spirit.

It doesn’t sound like the band who were forced into a five-year hiatus between 2014’s ‘Turn Blue’ and 2019’s ‘Let’s Rock’ due to simmering tensions and tour-induced PTSD. Those albums might not have hit the heights of their early days, but here they’re the embodiment of a band set for good times. Here, the jaunty riffs of ‘Wild Child’ are fresh as ever as Dan Auerbach’s coarse, soulful vocal bursts onto the scene: “ I’m just a stranger / With a twisted smile and a wandering eye / Your heart is in danger / Come close now let me tell you a lie.”

It’s a testament to their status that the band have drafted in their own hero in ZZ Top’ s Billy Gibbons for highlight ‘Good Love’, a brooding jam that evokes a prickly heat by way of swaggering fuzz and meandering organs as the band broach matters of the heart: “ Good lovin’ is so hard to find / everybody wanna waste your time.” It’s brilliantly reclined, down-the-line rock, something that prevails in other areas of the record, just take the swampy strut behind slow burner ‘Happiness’ or the bubbling and understated angst in ‘Didn’t I Love You’.

‘Dropout Boogie’ is an apt title for this record and a good marker of where The Black Keys find themselves in 2022. Where previous albums have effortlessly gunned for their arena-punching heights, these days the band are thriving by making music more fit to shake down the walls of their local Nashville dive bars. The blues kings show no signs of turning off their well-beaten path here, but they’re still capable of conjuring enough magic on the journey.

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The Black Keys’ Dropout Boogie Tour is a Damn Good Rock Show

The group debuted new tunes and broke out some classics

Last night, The Black Keys brought their Dropout Boogie Tour to the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, NJ. In tow were special guests Band of Horses and local upstarts Ceramic Animal. The result was a summer night of back-to-the-roots rock ‘n’ roll.

Ceramic Animal started things up. The quintet hail from just up 95 in nearby Doylestown, PA. The group caught the eye of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. He invited the group down to Nashville to write and record their fourth album Sweet Unknown at his Easy Eye Sound studio.

“I liked what they had going on, and I liked how obviously hard-working they are,” says Dan. “When I spoke with them, I liked them even more. They’re very down to earth, but they’re also incredibly ambitious. They’re so genuinely confident with themselves, and that allows them the freedom to explore music and ideas together. They have a lot of the qualities I see in very successful groups, but they’re just at the beginning, really.”

The band’s set was brief, and they used their time wisely to heavily promote their new record. They churned out four tracks from their latest LP, opening with “Valerie.” From there they ran through “Up In Smoke,” “Forever Song,” and “I Can’t Wait.” They wrapped things up with “All My Loving” from their last effort, 2020’s High End

Unsurprisingly, the reaction to the group was favorable. They draw on a variety of different sub-genres including classic rock, blues, and folk to brew a simmering stew chalk-full of tasty riffs and smooth melodies. This was Ceramic Animal’s last stop on this tour, but keep your eye out for the next time they come around.

Band of Horses started their set with “Is There a Ghost.” The GRAMMY®-nominated group proceeded to perform material from four of their six studio albums. They focused on tracks from their 2007 outing Cease to Begin . The lone cut from their latest effort – 2022’s Things Are Great (BMG) – was the lead single “Crutch.”

Other highlights included “No One’s Gonna Love You,” “The Funeral,” “Laredo,” “The Great Salt Lake,” and more. There’s a subtle energy to the band. While their music tends to be on the more mellow side, they certainly know how to get a bit rowdy in a live setting, especially bassist Matt Gentling who at times jumps around and headbangs like he could be in a metal band.

The Black Keys strutted onto the stage and launched into their hit 2008 single “I Got Mine.” The swagger of the song’s main riff saturated the venue. It was an excellent way to kick off their set. The entire crowd swayed back and forth and sang along. Oh, The Black Keys are back, baby.

From there, they launched right into the instantly recognizable smash “Howlin’ For You” which kept the crowd on its feet.

Just a few songs in, the group unleashed their platinum-selling smash “Gold on the Ceiling.” More noteworthy performances included “Tighten Up,” “Fever,” “Your Touch,” “Lo/Hi,” and many more. Hearing “Next Girl” is always amazing, given the track’s exceptional groove.

The band did a great job of spreading out their set, pulling material from eight of their eleven studio outings. They debuted three tracks from their latest release, including the album’s two singles “Wild Child” and “It Ain’t Over.” They also introduced the audience to “Your Team Is Looking Good.” The reaction to the new stuff was favorable to say the least.

While The Black Keys are not short on their own material by any means, the duo through a handful of covers into he set, including “Crawlin’ Kingsnake” by John Lee Hooker and a pair of R.L. Burnside tunes.

The band wrapped things up with “She’s Long Gone” from their 2010 GRAMMY® Award-winning album Brothers . They returned to the stage for a two-track encore of El Camino hits – “Little Black Submarines” followed by their fist-pumping anthem “Lonely Boy.” One thing can be said for certain – The Black Keys always bring it.

The Black Keys’ latest LP Dropout Boogie arrived on May 13 via Nonesuch. It is their eleventh studio effort. The record peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums Chart.

As they’ve done their entire career, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney wrote all of the material for their new album, Dropout Boogie , in the studio, and the album captures a number of first takes that hark back to the stripped-down blues rock of their early days making music together in Akron, Ohio basements. After hashing out initial ideas at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville, the duo welcomed new collaborators Billy F. Gibbons (ZZ Top), Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound), and Angelo Petraglia (Kings of Leon) to the sessions, marking the first time they’ve invited multiple new contributors to work simultaneously on one of their own albums.

“That’s always been the beauty of the thing Pat and I do. It’s instant,” says Dan Auerbach. “We’ve never really had to work at it. Whenever we’d get together, we’d just make music, you know? We didn’t know what we were going to do, but we’d just do it and it would sound cool. It’s the natural chemistry Pat and I have. Being in a band this long is a testament to that. It was a real gift that we were given. I mean, the odds of being plopped down a block-and-a-half from each other in Akron, Ohio – it just seems crazy.”

The Black Keys’ Dropout Boogie Tour rolls on into the fall. The trek wraps up on October 18 at the Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas, TX. Tickets for all dates are on sale now HERE .

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REVIEW: The Black Keys “Dropout Boogie”

The Black Keys — Dropout Boogie

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have done pretty much everything old school. As The Black Keys , they write most of their material in-studio, they record much of their high-end garage rock songs in a single take – hell, they even still make “concept” music videos (if you were born after 1990, ask your folks what those are). But for their 11th studio album, the duo decided to alter their approach by inviting writers into the studio with them to help hash out new material. The result is Dropout Boogie , a tight set of funk ‘n’ blues that plays to the band’s strengths.

It doesn’t take long to get into the “outsider” contributions. The first track on the album (and the lead single) is “Wild Child,” a crunchy groove of a tune with Greg Cartwright (from Reigning Sound) and Angelo Petraglia (who’s produced and written with Kings of Leon) lending a hand on this good old-fashioned come-on – “You got me coming out of exile/Baby girl, you know I’m liking your style.” Petraglia also chips in on “For the Love of Money,” a slide-lover’s dream of a tune about the pitfalls of wanting (and getting) too much – “Don’t need to tell you that money can buy you love, love/Once you get money then you’ll never have enough.” Later on, Billy Gibbons pops up on “Good Love,” an appropriately swampy blues tune sporting some hot guitar licks from the ZZ Top vet.

Continuing their penchant for not-your-father’s sports anthems (“Gold on the Ceiling,” anyone?), The Keys dive in headfirst with “Your Team Is Looking Good.” Featuring Sierra Ferrell on vocals and driven by percussion and a rhythmic guitar line, this cut is more of a taunt than a cheer – “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust/You beat everybody, but you won’t beat us.” Like the album title itself, it’s a throwback to underachiever glory days. “How Long,” though, is a completely different vibe, something between dreamy and forlorn – “How long/Will you keep pushing me down the road/Thinking Imma do just what I’m told?” – bolstered by waves of guitars. “Happiness” claps back on that kind of life suck, with a warning for procrastinators in life and love – “You’re gonna be the one who/Didn’t do it when you could.” While the blues that The Black Keys trade in are full of bad love, the boys know that’s actually worse than having no love at all.

Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Baby I’m Coming Home” – a straight up rocker that borrows its groove from “Midnight Rider” and piles on the tempo changes and an excellent Southern fried guitar solo or three.

Dropout Boogie was produced by The Black Keys, engineered by M. Allen Parker and Caleb VanBuskirk, mixed by Tchad Blake and Tom Elmhirst and mastered by Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone. Songs were written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, with co-writes going to Greg Cartwright, Angelo Petraglia and Billy Gibbons. Additional musicians on the album include Gibbons (guitar), Sam Bacco (percussion), Sierra Ferrell (backing vocals), Andy Gabbard (guitar, piano, Wurlitzer, backing vocals) and Ray Jacildo (harpsichord, Hammond organ, piano).

Order Dropout Boogie (out May 13) here: https://theblackkeys.com/collections/dropout-boogie

Check out tour dates here: https://theblackkeys.com/pages/tour

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Dropout Boogie

By Stuart Berman

May 13, 2022

When the Black Keys coughed up their debut album, The Big Come Up , exactly 20 years ago this week, the smart money definitely wasn’t on them being the slow-and-steady victors of the early 2000s garage-rock rat race. Released on psych/punk speciality label Alive Records, The Big Come Up presented a camera-shy duo that wanted nothing to do with the thrift-store chic of the Strokes , the theatrical myth-making of the White Stripes , or the hammy showmanship of the Hives . Compared to their youthful, more photogenic peers filling up the pages of SPIN and NME , singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney already sounded like grizzled old men content to spend their evenings bashing away on Muddy Waters standards and de-psychedelized Beatles covers in their basement, with no ambitions beyond recreating the sound of a crackly AM radio stuck between two stations.

However, while those aforementioned acts succumbed to prolonged hiatuses, break-ups, or failed Pharrell collaborations , the Black Keys’ proverbial junkyard beater was gradually tricked out into an auto-show-worthy muscle car, complete with hydraulic wheels and neon under siding. With the wham-bam Grammy-scooping double shot of 2010’s Brothers and 2011’s El Camino , the Keys thoroughly rewired the sound of modern rock radio over the next decade, uniting wayward factions of 78-collecting blues traditionalists, frat boys, neosoul lovers, Southern rock die-hards, aging hipsters, and their teenage kids purchasing their first guitars. Now, after exhausting every play in the post-success playbook—the detour into cinematic psychedelia , the reactionary return to FM radio fundamentals, the covers album hat-tip to their roots—the Black Keys have finally achieved the ultimate marker of classic-rock sainthood: the luxury of coasting into middle age, coupled with the casual assurance that the arenas and amphitheaters will still be packed no matter what they put out.

Fittingly, the band’s 11th album arrives roughly at the same point in the Keys’ career as the Stones were at in the mid-’80s, when Mick and Keith became less concerned with chasing the zeitgeist and just settled into doing what comes naturally. Dropout Boogie may share its name with a classic Beefheart cut , but the good Captain’s corrupting influence doesn’t extend past the record spine—the Keys’ first album of originals since 2019’s “Let’s Rock” could’ve easily been titled “Let’s Roll.” After recruiting members of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside’s backing bands for last year’s Mississippi-blues retreat Delta Kream , the Keys carried that collaborative spirit over to Dropout Boogie , opening up their creative process to a team of guest songwriters for the first time. Certainly, the Black Keys are among the few bands on the planet with the both the star power and underground pedigree to corral garage-punk lifer Greg Cartwright (Oblivians, Reigning Sound), Nashville hitmaker Angelo Petraglia (Trisha Yearwood, Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon), and ZZ Top legend Billy Gibbons onto their record. However, in this case, a few drops of new blood here and there can’t keep the Keys from reverting to a lot of the same old same old.

The opening track, “Wild Child,” was apparently kicking around for years until writing contributions from both Cartwright and Petraglia brought it to the finish line. But, despite its tantalizing disco intro, the song simply ticks off all the boxes for a boilerplate Black Keys radio single, with a main guitar riff caked in enough studio-sculpted fuzz to sound like a horn section; a huge shout-it-out hook that’ll give the band’s lighting tech ample opportunity to cue the crowd for a singalong; and lusty lyrics that find Auerbach once again pining for some vaguely sketched unattainable girl. (Only in this case, the sense of familiarity is compounded by the fact the big chorus sounds like someone dialed up the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” at karaoke but were too drunk to remember the words and had to adlib their own.) A similar sense of going-through-the-motions afflicts “Burn the Damn Thing Down,” which runs a distant second in this band’s recent attempts to hotwire T. Rex’s “Jeepster,” while cribbing its city-razing, road-warrior manifesto from Grand Funk’s “We’re an American Band.” But even those lifts seem subtle next to “Baby I’m Coming Home,” where the Keys bank on the faint hope that the majority of their fanbase has never heard the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider.”

Such par-for-the-course riff-nicking would be more forgivable if the Keys had anything new to say on top of it, but, co-writers or none, Dropout Boogie rarely strays from Auerbach’s wheelhouse of women who have done him wrong and/or who have got to do him right, and he doesn’t bring the heat where it’s most needed. The centerpiece ballad, “How Long,” mines the same ’60s-soul elegance and baby-come-back pleading as Brothers ’ definitive cover of Jerry Buttler’s “ Never Gonna Give You Up ,” but it can’t muster any of the latter’s down-on-my-knees desperation. Auerbach fares much better when the topic shifts from broken hearts to empty wallets: On “For the Love of Money”—a spirited hill-country blues that effectively licks the Delta Kream spoon clean—he uses his secret-weapon falsetto to convey economic anxiety, savvily updating the blues’ age-old themes of impoverishment and sell-yer-soul temptation for our current late-capitalist nightmare. Then again, as Dropout Boogie proves, the easiest way to allay such fears is to build your own money-printing machine: Honoring the Keys’ reputation as a TV-sync powerhouse, “Your Team Is Looking Good” repurposes an old cheerleader taunt into a gently choogling chant that all but guarantees its placement on NFL Sunday pregame shows in perpetuity.

But for all the audio upgrades and commercial fortunes they’ve reaped over the past two decades, the Black Keys can still resemble the same dudes from Akron who found their calling 20 years ago by tuning out the world and getting lost in their own greasy groove. Only now, they don’t have to settle for merely conjuring the spirit of their blues-rock idols—they can actually invite them to their studio. You need not read the liner notes to recognize Billy Gibbons’ presence on the seedy Degüello -worthy jam “Good Love,” and though he doesn’t stick around for the closing “Didn’t I Love You,” his Texan mojo still hangs thick in the air, as Auerbach and Carney lock into a steady dirt-road rhythm that feels like it could go on way longer than its four-minute runtime. They’re the sort of tunes that the Keys can pull off with ease, as satisfying as a perfectly tossed curveball landing in a beaten-up catcher’s mitt. But they also make you wish the Keys didn't spend the rest of Dropout Boogie lobbing underhand pitches right down the middle of the plate.

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The Black Keys Dropout Boogie Tour - Raleigh

We ushered in September with a bang when the Black Keys made a stop in Raleigh's Coastal Credit Union Amphitheater on their Dropout Boogie tour.

The night kicked off with Early James, an act I was unfamiliar with but thoroughly enjoyed. He's an artist on Easy Eye Sound's independent label based out of Nashville started by Dan Auerbach. After announcing that his band was from Alabama, someone in the crowd yelled "Roll Tide" prompting the artist to grin and ask the crowd to keep college football out of this, but just a few songs later, they jokingly spoke those words again back to the crowd with a Cheshire cat grin.

Next up was Band of Horses which formed in Seattle Washington, back in 2004 but is now based out of Charleston, South Carolina. Ben Bridell, the lead singer, started of their set with an apology to the crowd because he had overslept and missed the sound check declaring that if the show was bad, it would be his fault, but that didn't seem to hold the band back at all. The band easily put any fear at ease and rolled right into a great performance. Their set included crowd favorites such as "The Funeral" and kept the energy up. It was just back in October 2021, when Band of Horses issued the single "Crutch" and announced the release of Things Are Great, their first album with Matt Gentling and Ian MacDougall, and sixth overall. Calling it "a return to their earlier work and the kind of raw ethos that lies at the heart of Band of Horses", Things Are Great was released on March 4, 2022. MacDougall left the band shortly before this tour.

After the funniest video intro I've ever seen (recorded by comedian David Cross of "Arrested Development" fame) urged Dads Interested in Choosing Our Kids Songs (D.I.C.K.S) to avoid this tour at all costs. The video was the final warning to keep your kids souls pure before The Black Keys, hailing from Akron, Ohio took the stage.

The crowd was ready to let loose, as the sun had set and the fans were eager for the band's raw garage rock sound to fill the air. These college dropouts were here to prove once again that success can be had on your own terms. One of the T-shirts at the merchandise booth proudly proclaimed "Class Cutters" on the front of it. There was no doubt that many class cutters were in attendance that night including both the writer and photographer covering this performance. Lots of fans came out to have some fun on a "school night" many with kids in tow.

Set One opened with "I Got Mine" and segued into classic favorites such as "Howlin' for You", "Fever", and "Tighten Up". After the ever popular "Gold on the Ceiling", the band went into a list of solid blues covers including "Stay All Night". Dan Auerbach launched into that one by saying "This next one is by Junior Kimbrough. If you don't know who he is, you should look him up." I concur, Mr. Auerbach. The band which is known as a duo, brought some special guests with them to help with some of the Hill Country Blues covers that they recorded on their tenth release Delta Kream. Helping to back the band on this night we saw Kenny Brown playing slide guitar and bassist Eric Deaton.

The encore consisted of "Little Black Submarines" and "Lonely Boy" and rocked even harder than their first set. The evening most definitely had everyone tuned in and turned on. But don't dropout on this tour. Have love, will travel...

Words by: Erika Rasmussen

Photos by: Jerry Friend

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Related tags, the black keys – dropout boogie review: a stripped-back blues-bar bonanza that proves the black keys have still got it.

On album eleven, Auerbach and Carney return to their whisky-soaked Delta blues roots. Steady it may be but Dropout Boogie also exudes The Black Keys’ magnetic character.

Image: Jim Herrington

Review Overview

Our verdict.

There’s a sense of slippers-donning comfort to spinning a Black Keys record. We’re all very familiar with Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s musical universe by now, defined as it is by classic blues-adhering grooves, fuzz-soaked leads, Auerbach’s vocals pushing the mic’s tolerances, and the driving stomp of Carney. While blues adherence is the band’s spiritual throughline, it’s the duo’s charisma – palpable in their contagiously joyful musical relationship – that is the key to the Black Keys’ longevity.

READ MORE: The Genius Of… Witness by Modern Life Is War

So too, of course, is Auerbach’s penchant for twisting the orthodox pentatonic scale routines of yore into seductive modern earworms, as on the still inescapable Lonely Boy , Tighten Up and Fever .

Ever since 2010’s Danger Mouse-helmed Brothers wrenched the pair out of their homemade trappings and redefined The Black Keys as a globally respected, chart-assaulting powerhouse, the pair have been an omnipresent rock fixture. But a desire to return to the traditionalism of their early work led to 2019’s self-produced Let’s Rock , as well as last year’s Mississippi hill-country blues covers collection Delta Kream . It’s in that same spirit of musical purification that new record Dropout Boogie was crafted. Across 10 tracks, Auerbach and Carney’s ethos is stripped back to its very foundation – and is all the more formidable for it.

Approaching the record as a blank slate, with everything written and recorded by Carney and Auerbach at the latter’s Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, it’s clear that this album was intended to sound unvarnished, with minimal overdubbing or contemporary mix peppering. Opening with a twin volley of singles, the jerking Wild Child and the downcast, sultry It Ain’t Over , Dan and Patrick quickly mark out this more elemental version of their blues orthodoxy. It’s clearly a lake that they’re comfortable swimming and, while the buzzing, lo-fi solo of Wild Child is an early thrill, the most palpable takeaway is the duo’s seemingly punk-ish zeal in shunning the expectations of modern ears. The message is clear – The Black Keys are more of a blues-rock band now than at any point since 2006’s Magic Potion .

For the Love of Money smashes this objective home with even more certainty. Its rigid, bluesy shuffle, non-stop beat and jostling leads keep a perpetual motion wheel turning, as creative octave-shifted sounds colour the fringes of the mix. The whole thing sounds like it was just birthed 10 minutes ago, in the corner of a dank, beer bottle-strewn basement.

This illusion of spontaneity is central to the mood of Dropout Boogie and on next the track, Your Team is Looking Good , Auerbach’s ramshackle doublestop riff conjures images of a fumbling bedroom guitarist attempting a ZZ Top -style showboating set piece. Speaking of which, the debt that this track – and the Black Keys’ philosophy – owes to Texas’s bearded wonders is paid in full on its follow-up, with a guest appearance from Billy F Gibbons , interjecting the steaming lead lines of Good Love . While Auerbach’s detuned rumblings establish the corners of a delicious groove, Gibbons is given a field of space in which to run riot.

Initially turning up to the studio just to hang out, Gibbons was presented with Auerbach’s Gibson Trini Lopez – formerly owned by legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell. Following a 45-minute jam session with this prized instrument, Good Love was birthed. Gibbons’ approach sounds markedly different to Dan’s in a number of ways. In lieu of Auerbach’s crackling fuzz and intentionally half-baked suggestions of melody, Gibbons’ slick scale runs, coruscating bends and slick flourishes are typically tasty.

Flipping to side B, the introspective pulse of How Long comes as a soothing balm after this salvo of standard-form workouts. There’s some really clever and refreshingly subtle guitar work here, from the feedback hums that layer the soundscape with a swelling, near-cinematic feel to the elegant shrieks of the lead line that slides in and out. As the track fades out, we hunger for more of this sensitive and nuanced version of the Keys – particularly as it comes as an island of melancholic calm in the midst of some hairy bluesman action.

In contrast, the sizzling Burn the Damn Thing Down refires the rock train. Despite dripping with fuzz, the melody here is pretty damned nice, while springy and insistent leads jibe with an intensity that recalls some of Thickfreakness ’s more raggedy moments. The swampy Happiness is crying out to be synched to a Western, with searing licks and an expansive, stereo-stretching sound. Rounding out the album comes the shimmying riff of Baby I’m Coming Home , which flicks a switch from its constricted, knotty verse into a super-satisfying release in its chorus. Finally, the lo-fi soul of Didn’t I Love You concludes the album, and harbours one of Auerbach’s most graceful solos – though it takes its time to untangle itself from the muddy arrangement.

While there’ll be some listeners who will tire quickly of Dropout Boogie ’s stylistic conservatism, there’s little to dislike here – and a fair bit to love. Wicked opener Wild Child , Gibbons’ show-stealing turn on Good Love and the swelling serenity of How Long are just three dazzling choice moments. The Black Keys have undoubtedly succeeded in returning to their dingy, blues-bar roots – but they have uncovered some arresting musical backroads too.

The Black Keys’ Dropout Boogie is out now .

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After Feeling ‘Tense,’ The Black Keys Shake Things Up With New Management & Fresh Songwriting Process for 11th Album

Patrick Carney says that the duo once again "feels like a band's supposed to feel" ahead of next month's release of 'Dropout Boogie.'

By Bobby Olivier

Bobby Olivier

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For 20 years, The Black Keys’ incendiary blues-rock formula has remained largely the same: Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney sitting in a room, jamming for hours, seeing what sticks. At first, those practice spaces were humbling; Carney’s basement in Akron, Ohio was complete with exterminator breaks.

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“I remember having to pick up dead rats in the kitchen,” Auerbach tells Billboard over Zoom. “With a Cleveland Scene magazine, we’d just scoop them up, roll them up in the magazine. Then we’d just go down into the basement and continue to practice.”

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Those early sessions, laid down on an eight-track tape recorder, would birth The Big Come Up, the band’s blazing D.I.Y. debut and a pillar of the ‘00s garage-rock revival. Through relentless touring and prolific studio work, the Keys eventually transcended the movement – scoring five Grammy Awards between 2011 and 2013, booking mammoth arena roadshows and notching sky-high album sales to cement the group as one of the most successful rock duos of their generation.

Now, Auerbach and Carney, both 42, are looking to shake up the band a bit, as they prepare to release their 11th studio album Dropout Boogie on May 18 and embark on their first full post-pandemic tour this summer. In October, the Black Keys parted ways with longtime manager John Peets of Q Prime South, and have teamed up with Steve Moir and industry legend Irving Azoff, whose artist roster has included everyone from Van Halen to No Doubt to Christina Aguilera, as a partnership between Full Stop and Moir Entertainment.

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“I think we had all gotten to a place where it felt a little bit stale and I don’t think that was fair for anybody,” Carney says, assuring the band parted with Q Prime on good terms. “We only interviewed essentially two people: It was between Coran Capshaw [of Red Light Management] and Full Stop, and it was a really hard decision. [Azoff], with his focus on touring and selling our tickets and stuff, seemed to be more on page with where we wanted to be. Also, we still think radio is an important part of our strategy and I think that Full Stop just had that kind of dialed in.” (Full Stop Management did not respond to requests for comment.)

Dropout also marks the band’s first album to include multiple outside contributors in the songwriting process. For “Wild Child” – the record’s pumping lead single released last month, and which spends its third week at No. 1 on Billboard ’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart this week – Auerbach and Carney tapped longtime friends Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound) and Angelo Petraglia (Kings of Leon co-writer) to polish the verses and booming chorus.

“‘Wild Child’ was one of those songs that in the past wouldn’t have gotten finished,” Carney notes. Auerbach chimes in on the band’s fading egos. “Now we’re comfortable enough with ourselves that we can open up to people like [Cartwright and Petraglia],” Auerbach says. “We didn’t used to feel like we could do that.”

The guys have also found sounding boards in their families. Auerbach calls his son and daughter, ages 6 and 14, the band’s “secret weapon” for honest criticism. But Carney may have the ultimate ace in the hole, as he’s married to pop-rock stalwart Michelle Branch.

“I played the record for [Branch] in its original sequence and she was like, ‘If you want my honest opinion, I would take these couple songs off, they don’t really flow,’” Carney says. And so Dropout Boogie was trimmed to 10 tracks, the group’s shortest record to date, and one of its most cohesive.

“[This album] is just us feeling for the first time in a while, maybe since [2010’s] Brothers, really being in the groove together,” Carney adds, “to the point where we’ve been continuing to record even after this record is done, we’ve been in the studio working.”

The new record churns with the group’s familiarly driving blues-rock foundation, though it’s noticeably more relaxed than its predecessor, 2019’s Let’s Rock. The guys say Boogie plays as a natural follow-up to last May’s Delta Kream, the Keys’ country-blues covers album, which was recorded in a single impromptu 10-hour session. “It was kind of like the ultimate reset, a recalibration for us,” Carney says of the Delta recording.

They kept that vibe heading back into the studio last year for the new LP. “We wanted [the songs] to flow almost subconsciously, to just be fun — kind of how half of them came to us,” says Auerbach, adding that several new tracks including “Good Love” (featuring ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons), “Burn the Damn Thing Down” and “Didn’t I Love You” are all first takes, with imperfections left in.

In the name of shirking all self-seriousness, the band filmed a riotous “Wild Child” music video, which mocks the contemporary high school experience, with burnt-out teachers battling students plucked straight from a Euphoria- fueled fever dream.

For the video, Auerbach played a cigar-puffing janitor and Carney a lunchroom cook serving horse meat to vegan students. When deciding the video roles, Carney wondered if he and Auerbach could play a teacher and principal.

“Then [Auerbach] was like, ‘We couldn’t get those jobs because we dropped out of school, dumbass,’” Carney says with a laugh.

Hence Dropout Boogie’s moniker, which also nods to the eponymous 1967 song by rock and blues innovator Captain Beefheart — one of the Keys’ deepest influences, whom they’ve covered several times over the years.

A 32-date arena and amphitheater tour supporting Dropout Boogie kicks off July 9, familiar turf for a band known for its near-constant touring schedule and festival spots throughout the ‘00s, up until 2014’s Turn Blue, their last LP before a five-year hiatus. But after bouts of exhaustion in those heavy touring years, the guys are cautious as they approach the road ahead.

“We’re being very careful about what we agree to do, so we don’t get to that space where we start resenting it, or that the band would become a burden on our personal lives,” Carney says.

Yet after two decades, thousands of shows and nearly a dozen album cycles, the guys feel as confident about the band’s future as they ever have. “There was a time when we weren’t really hanging out, we weren’t on the same page and the band felt tense,” Carney says. “But now the band feels like a band’s supposed to feel, like we’re in our little treehouse trading baseball cards again.”

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REVIEW: The Black Keys – Dropout Boogie

Among all the other nice things, the umpteenth wave of garage rock revival in the early 2000s brought us the dynamic junkyard-rock duo, THE BLACK KEYS , from Ohio. Unless you were born yesterday, I guess it is not humanly possible to not have been exposed to their monster hit, “Lonely Boy,” at some point after its initial release in 2011. In the following 10-or-so years, the band has been on a hiatus, as well as released a good number of studio albums. Their previous effort, “Delta Kream,” released last year, was comprised of country blues covers, most notable of which was the slightly modernized cover of John Lee Hooker ‘s version of the vintage blues standard, “Crawling Kingsnake.” Now, the duo is back with a new album full of original songs, titled “Dropout Boogie” and released on May 13 th , 2022, via Nonesuch Records . The new selection is the band’s eleventh studio outing and while not every album cut resonates with the instant earworm quality of their biggest radio hits, the prime cuts do live up to the band’s soaring legacy. Inspired by the collaborations on last year’s cover album, this new effort carries the collaborative torch by introducing guest songwriters for the first time. “Dropout Boogie” features the garage punk misfit, Greg Cartwright ( OBLIVIANS , REIGNING SOUND ), as well as the Nashville hitmaker, Angelo Petraglia ( Trisha Yearwood , Taylor Swift , KINGS OF LEON ), plus the one-and-only blues-rock legend, Billy Gibbons of ZZ TOP .

The album kicks off by treading a bit cautiously down the well-trodden garage-rock path; setting things in motion with a gritty disco beat, the opening song, “Wild Child,” features the standard bag of tricks of the genre, what with the main riff taking a deep nod towards nu-soul, the chorus resorting to the tried-and-true shout-it-out aesthetics, and the lyrics sketching the same old story about unrequited love. So, basically, the album opener has been crafted with almost the same template as “Lonely Boy,” but here, the new song sounds nowhere near as convincing as their breakthrough hit. That is not to say the song sucks, but the duo has pilfered this safe with a bit more elegance and precision before.

The following track, “It Ain’t Over,” might have worked better as an opener; it is one of the highlights on the album, resonating with the familiar earworm quality of their old hits by throwing in just the right amount of blues and soul. THE BLACK KEYS was one of those bands that practically re-defined the stylistic palette of garage rock back in the day. In this song, they once again play to their strengths rather nicely, as if to remind us what’s what.

Then again, unfortunately, some of the tracks on the album come off as lazy readings of old blues standards filtered through a somewhat 1970s-tinted bubblegum glam-rock lens. I’m looking at the tracks, “Your Team Is Looking Good” and “For the Love of Money,” in particular. The falsetto singing on the latter is pretty sublime, though. The mojo gets back on track by the next album track, “Good Love,” thanks to the thick layer of vintage ZZ TOP vibes, courtesy of Billy Gibbons ‘ raw Texan mojo… and speaking of vintage boogie, “Burn the Damn Thing Down” could be a long-lost T.REX jam from the 1970s. If shuffling bluesy riffs aren’t your cup of tea, you’re in for a lousy 3-minute jam.

So, halfway into the album, it becomes pretty clear that THE BLACK KEYS ‘ new studio effort is a somewhat hit-and-miss type of thing. Maybe unexpectedly, one of the highlights in the latter half of the selection is the gritty ballad, “How Long.” Despite its slow-crawling tempo, the song has enough punch to make a home run. “Baby I’m Coming From” is another breadwinner, despite its occasional T.REX vibes. Then again, Marc Bolan and his glam-rock buddies had some decent songs too. Finally, the album closer revisits the somewhat ZZ-TOP -esque realm, this time without the help of Mr. Gibbons . “Didn’t I Love You” brings things to a close with nothing short of an authentic blues grit that channels the vibes of those revered, vintage ZZ TOP albums, such as the sublime 1973 outing, “Tres Hombres.”

In conclusion, the album as a whole may not exactly be an “all killer, no filler” deal. Still, it comes with quite a few quality moments – enough to justify its place right next to those previous THE BLACK KEYS studio albums that you have in your CD collection. Let’s face it: if you are one of those blues-traditionalists or neo-soul fan-boys who fell big for bands such as THE WHITE STRIPES , THE HIVES , or THE STROKES some 20 years ago, you are going to like this album, no matter what.

Written by Jani Lehtinen

It Ain’t Over
For the Love of Money
Your Team Is Looking Good
Burn the Damn Thing Down
Baby I’m Coming Home
Didn’t I Love You

Dan Auerbach – vocals, guitars

Patrick Carney – drums

Nonesuch Records

https://theblackkeys.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackKeys

https://www.instagram.com/theblackkeys/?hl=en

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Black Keys, ‘Dropout Boogie': Album Review

On their roots-nodding 2021 covers album Delta Kream , the Black Keys pretty much forgot the previous decade ever happened and returned to the place they started.

Breakthrough records Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011) and the No. 1 Turn Blue (2014) undoubtedly lit a creative spark beyond the appealingly primitive, two-man setup heard on early blues-rock garage LPs like Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory . But revisiting the songs of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough on Delta Kream must have spurred Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney to go back to their basics for their 11th album.

Dropout Boogie was supposed to be a return to the guitar-drums-vocal duo lineup that hasn't been used in full since 2006's Magic Potion , but the Black Keys ended up recruiting outside musicians again. So it's not a true callback to their scrappy formative days, but without producer Danger Mouse's bells and whistles or the halfway-there approach of 2019's 'Let's Rock' , it's the closest they've gotten in years to the garage-meets-the-plantation spirit of their earliest works.

It's also the closest they've come to incorporating throwback soul into their music – no doubt aided by Auerbach's outside production work over the past decade, which has included two authentically retro-R&B records by Yola. The funky swagger of the opening song "Wild Child" and the following track "It Ain't Over" zips along with less effort than anything in their recent catalog, and the new collaborators – including ZZ Top 's Billy Gibbons – help give Dropout Boogie a fuller sound without the occasional clutter the Danger Mouse records often leaned toward.

'Let's Rock' was a statement of purpose as much as it was a hopeful promise as the Black Keys approached their third decade, but Dropout Boogie is the more immediate album, even when it tends to sag a bit in the middle. (Several songs are heard in their first takes.) The grooves sure come easier: The slinky "For the Love of Money" and fuzzed-out guitar workout "Baby I'm Coming Home," while familiar-sounding like many Black Keys songs happen to be, are rarely grounded by their riffs, freed to explore spaces in between. Brothers remains Auerbach and Carney's shining moment, but this brief blast (34 minutes!) recalls a time before that pivotal record, when instinct took precedent over aspiration.

Black Keys Albums Ranked

The Black Keys: Dropout Boogie [Album Review]

Brian Q. Newcomb | May 12, 2022 May 13, 2022 | Reviews

The Black Keys Dropout Boogie Nonesuch Records [2022]

For the last 20 years, the former Akron, Ohio duo that make up The Black Keys have been refining their own take on the blues and R&B influences that are the underpinning of early rock icons like Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton’s Cream. Guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney were so enamored with potent musical stylings of Delta blues artists R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough that in the height of the pandemic they recorded and released Delta Kream , with a cover of John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling Kingsnake” as the single. Fresh from delivering the raw blues songs that first led them to plug in and play in their parents’ basements, when The Black Keys came together to write material for this, their 11 th studio album, Dropout Boogie , that same gritty, authentic blues feeling pours through their original songs, most noticeably on the string of songs that close out the album. Classic blues rock hooks and big guitar riffs dominate tracks like “Baby I’m Coming Home,” “Burn the Damn Thing Down,” “Happiness” and “Didn’t I Love You,” many delivering that raw vibe of a live jam that harkens back to duo’s earliest indie albums.

Of course, the album’s first single is “Wild Child,” a big, 70’s R&B rooted pop song with a larger than life melodic hook for a chorus and ripping guitar solo by Auerbach. The two get additional songwriting support form Angelo Petraglia (Kings of Leon) and Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound), while Cartwright assists on another R&B leaning track, “It Ain’t Over,” which has another big hooky chorus. Petraglia contributes to “For the Love of Money,” based on a fast, bluesy riff. In many ways, The Black Keys are working and playing in a world of their own making, strongly rooted in a 70’s pop/rock mindset, where rockers mixed it up with R&B and blues styles, creating songs that worked on the dance floor, but still gave fans of strong guitar solos plenty to listen for.

Like the blues rock jams that play out on the back half of the album, “Your Team Is Looking Good,” finds Auerbach digging into some crunchy guitar tones that transform into some squealing slide for the solo, balanced by Carney’s most impressive drum track, a churning rhythm on the deep tom-toms, turning a high school cheerleading taunt into something meaner, darker, and ultimately a lot more fun. On the big, Southern boogie of “Good Love,” the Keys are joined by ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, adding his recognizable bluesy tone to mix. In the sad and longing filled “How Long,” a lover wonders how long they’re going to have to wait for an answer to their prayers, but the song’s simple painful echo feels as real as the “beauty in the dying flowers” that the singer is left with. In a world where pop music has abandoned the guitar for beats per minute drum loops and crafty keyboard sequences, Black Keys remind us that music made be people, soulful and from the heart, played skillfully with passion, remains the real deal.

KEY TRACKS “Wild Child” / “Good Love” / “It Ain’t Over”

ARTISTS WITH SIMILAR FIRE Cage The Elephant / The White Stripes / The Record Company

THE BLACK KEYS REVIEW HISTORY Delta Kream (2021) / Let’s Rock (2019) / Turn Blue (2014)

THE BLACK KEYS LINKS Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Nonesuch Records

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Osees – “funeral solution” [video], 1 thought on “the black keys: dropout boogie [album review]”.

remember when their music excited and seemed a bit dangerous,for me their last 5 albums send me to sleep,its mainly wishy washy over produced crap,i get bands evolve but none of their output for the past 10 years has been any good,it hasnt been awful but they are like two different bands,they used to be ass kickin bluesmen,now their music washes over me with nothing standing out,you could put most of their last 5 albums into 1 track and it would sound the same,it used to be when you heard an opening riff it made you stop and listen now its background elevator music,boring and so so so so BLAND.

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The Black Keys: School is in Session on the Dropout Boogie Tour

It’s late 2003. Long before the streaming giants existed. And long before “social media.” It was harder to discover new bands back then. Fortunately, my car had a thin, wide opening that accepted discs slightly smaller than 5 inches in diameter. Despite their compact size, these discs were capable of storing over an hour of music that, unlike the long-forgotten cassette tape, never had to be flipped or rewound in your stereo. On this day, I had the disc containing the soundtrack to the latest Jack Black movie, School of Rock , playing in my car.

I grew up in Ohio a “classic rock” fan and this soundtrack ticked off all the boxes. The Who, The Doors, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Nicks; It was a great compilation to satisfy my long-standing but stubborn musical taste. In my opinion, few bands could “rock” like these giants anymore. Then Track 9 came on. It was a song called “Set You Free” by a band, The Black Keys, whose debut album, The Big Come Up , had come out a mere 18 months earlier. I was hooked. No, I was blown away. It was raw. It was lo-fi. It was blues-rock at its finest. Right then and there, I had my new favorite band.

Fast forward twenty years. Nothing and everything has changed for The Black Keys. The production is a little less lo-fi now that they’ve moved out of recording on 8-track recorders in drummer Patrick Carney’s basement, but the music is still as raw, dirty, muddy and swampy as ever. Still blues-rock at its finest.

Despite their massive success and popularity, however, The Black Keys have never lost sight of their roots. Whereas some of their predecessors expropriated their heroes, The Black Keys, like The Rolling Stones before them, have gone out of their way to actively thrust such blues legends as Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside (see the 2006 EP Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough and the 2021 LP Delta Kream ) upon their audience to ensure that the long shadow of these masters is not lost to the darkness of time. Case in point: although Kimbrough and Burnside are no longer with us, The Black Keys enlisted Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, two long-time band members for each bluesman, to not only assist in the recording of the songs on Delta Kream , but to also play those songs live with the band on their latest tour .

Importantly, Brown and Deaton were not mere backing musicians for Carney and Dan Auerbach at their recent stop at Pine Knob Music Theatre outside Detroit to support the 2022 release Dropout Boogie . Rather, they were brought front and center to ensure the audience’s history lesson was learned. And for the next five songs, school was definitely in session as Brown, Deaton, Auerbach and Carney rumbled through Kimbrough’s “Stay All Night,” Burnside’s “Goin’ Down South”, “Coal Black Mattie” and “Poor Black Mattie”, and John Lee Hooker’s “Crawlin’ Kingsnake.”

The rest of the evening was filled with new and old hits alike, such as “Wild Child,” “Gold on the Ceiling,” “Little Black Submarines,” and “Lonely Boy,” but it was that special set with Brown and Deaton that was the highlight. I am always excited to see where The Black Keys will go, but it was even more exciting to see them publicly proclaim where they came from.

We must keep the blues alive, particularly for “mainstream” audiences like those of The Black Keys. The Black Keys are doing their part. Let’s hope the audience understood the assignment and are hitting the Kimbrough and Burnside catalog with the attention both men so rightfully deserve.

*All images: © Derek Smith / High Voltage Concert Photography

For more information on The Black Keys, their latest release and their world tour, head here . For more information on the music of Junior Kimbrough, here . For more information on the music of R. L. Burnside, here .

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The Black Keys Book 32-Date ‘Dropout Boogie’ North American Tour

The Black Keys will be busy touring in the back half of 2022. The band just announced a 32-date run that will keep the group playing shows between July and October.

Dubbed the "Dropout Boogie" tour, the run will feature support from Band of Horses on all dates, while a rotating list of openers will fill out the bill. Ceramic Animal due the honors on the July dates (July 9-30), Early Jones takes over in August and September (Aug. 24-Sept. 9) and the Velveteers will be the opener during the October shows (Oct. 2-18).

The tour gets underway July 9 at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena and concludes Oct. 18 at Dallas' Dos Equis Pavilion, with several breaks during the run allowing the group to recharge a little bit.

The Black Keys will be holding a fan club presale starting Tuesday (Feb. 1) at 10AM local time, with the presale ending Thursday (Feb. 3) at 10PM local time. There are also a limited number of VIP packages available starting Tuesday at 10AM local time as well. And Citi is the official card of the Dropout Boogie Tour, with the Citi cardmember presale starting Wednesday (Feb. 2) at 10AM local time through Thursday (Feb. 3) at 10PM local. Details on the Citi presale can be found here . The general public on-sale for the tour starts this Friday (Feb. 4) at 10AM local time. Check the Black Keys' website for all ticketing details.

The Black Keys most recently released their Delta Kream album in 2021, with the record serving as a tribute to the Mississippi hill country music they grew to love in their youth. The band also celebrated the 10th anniversary of their El Camino album last year with a special deluxe edition offering.

See all of their dates, cities and venues for the run listed below.

The Black Keys / Band of Horses 2022 "Dropout Boogie" Tour

July 9 - Las Vegas, Nev. @ MGM Grand Garden Arena July 11 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ USANA Amphitheatre July 13 - Denver, Colo. @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre July 15 - St. Louis, Mo. @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre St. Louis July 16 - Indianapolis, Ind. @ Ruoff Music Center July 17 - Chicago, Ill. @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Tinley Park July 20 - Saratoga Springs, N.Y. @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center July 22 - Jones Beach, N.Y. @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater July 23 - Holmdel, N.J. @ PNC Bank Arts Center July 25 - Columbia, Md. @ Merriweather Post Pavilion July 27 - Charlotte, N.C. @ PNC Music Pavilion July 29 - Boston, Mass. @ Xfinity Center July 30 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Waterfront Music Pavilion (formerly BB&T Pavilion) Aug. 24 - West Palm Beach, Fla. @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre Aug. 25 - Tampa, Fla. @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre Aug. 27 - Atlanta, Ga. @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre Aug. 28 - Huntsville, Ala. @ Orion Amphitheatre Aug. 30 - Charleston, S.C. @ Credit One Stadium Sept. 1 - Raleigh, N.C. @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek Sept. 3 - Cincinnati, Ohio @ Riverbend Music Center Sept. 6 - Toronto, Ontario @ Budweiser Stage Sept. 7 - Detroit, Mich. @ Pine Knob Music Theatre Sept. 9 - Cleveland, Ohio @ Blossom Music Center Oct. 2 - Seattle, Wash. @ Climate Pledge Arena Oct. 3 - Vancouver, British Columbia @ Rogers Arena Oct. 5 - Mountain View, Calif. @ Shoreline Amphitheatre Oct. 8 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Forum Oct. 10 - Phoenix, Ariz. @ Ak-Chin Pavilion Oct. 13 - Rogers, Ark. @ Walmart AMP Oct. 15 - Houston, Texas @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Oct. 17 - Austin, Texas @ Moody Center ATX Oct. 18 - Dallas, Texas @ Dos Equis Pavilion

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The Black Keys Dropout Boogie Tour Steamrolled Through Saint Louis Friday With Impressive Set

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–by Randy Thompson and Vicki Lee

–photos by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography

It was a warm, breezy evening last night at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in Saint Louis, Missouri for The Black Keys’ show. The crowd started light and meandered about the grounds; we were about to be treated to three bands presenting their guitar-based rock music. The two supporting bands on the tour brought their special brand of indy/ alternative rock music to the stage to start things up.

The opening band, Ceramic Animal, hails from Pennsylvania and are relative newcomers to the national scene with the release of their 4th album, Sweet Unknown . Three brothers, Warren (vocals, guitar), Erik (drums) and Elliot Regan (vocals, keys) were joined by Ant Marchione (guitar) and Dallas Hosey (bass, vocals); they came up to the stage dressed in black with white cowboy hats, white fringe, and silver sparkles. The group offered up strong alternative rock songs early on with solid guitar work and steady drumming to keep the band at their pace.

Early on, they drifted into some psychedelic rock influenced jams that included a sound that was reminiscent of Pink Floyd with some aspects of King Crimson. A very strong tune for me was “Up in Smoke”; it had a country twang, lilting melody, and slowed things down a bit. They finished with a solid rocker, “All My Lovin’”. It was obvious that this band has a strong ability to move from one sound to another and the audience moved from interested to “this is a killer band” by the end of the set.

Second up, Band of Horses, was forced to play without keyboardist, Ryan Monroe (Thanks, Covid!) but long-time lead guitar and vocalist, Brian Bridwell, with Creighton Barrett (drums) and Matt Gentling (bass) gave us a great performance. Band of Horses has an exceptional resume of strong, emotionally relevant songs, laden with excellent guitar work, and a driving beat that keeps this band relevant in the indie/alt scene to this day. The current lineup came prepared to rock and they served up some of their best-known hits, starting their set with “Is There a Ghost” and “Great Salt Lake” and supported it with newer music like, “Clutch” and “Light” from their latest album, Things Are Great .

After providing the audience with emotionally driven songs loaded with passion and power, they closed their set with a tune that touched everybody in the audience with its powerful essence, “The Funeral”. It was obvious, beginning to end that the fans knew and loved this music as we all finished the song with the band.

It was at this point that The Black Keys were ready to come to the stage. The audience, in awed anticipation, was already standing and ready to rock and roll. Excuse me while I digress for just a moment and discuss the difference between a very good band and a tremendous live band.

The Black Keys have an impressive resume of music that is undeniably well respected throughout the music industry. They have won accolades and Grammys and they are well known from their radio hits to their strong fan base.

However, there are bands that play on stage as though their lives depended on it. This band plays a live set at a level that I have not seen in years; excepting performers such as Springsteen, the Stones, or the Dead who are known for their live presentations that take the audience away from the beginning and play for what feels like an ethereal eternity.

Well, that happened here, this evening.

The Keyes came to the stage and situated themselves with the drum set on the left, and the guitar on the right. The rest of the performers stood behind them a fair distance away, allowing the duo to be the focus of the show.

When the performance started, the fans were on their feet, and they NEVER sat down. The band responded to the energy from this crowd by playing their classic hits, starting with “I Got Mine” and “Howlin’ for You”. They moved through their set playing selections from El Camino, Turn Blue, Brothers, and Delta Kream (more on that in a second) as well as “Wild Child”, “It Ain’t Over” and “Your Team is Looking Good” from, Dropout Boogie , their most recent album.

The drummer (Patrick Carney) demonstrated incredible stamina, strength, and skill throughout the night, keeping the tight group connected throughout the evening. Vocalist/leadguitarist Dan Auerback was a musical force to be reckoned with. He is a virtuoso guitar player, and he demonstrated his skills in the live setting with majesty. He has an incredible singing voice with a falsetto that takes the songs to an unexpected level.

The group behind them (percussionist Chris St. Hilaire, Ray Jacildo on keys, and brothers Andy and Zach Gabbard on guitar and bass) were solid and steady while maintaining their roles as a supporting cast to the two stars in front and the special guest performers who joined them on stage.

Speaking of special guests, Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, came out mid show to perform 6 songs from the Delta Kreme album. Kenny Brown played a scorching slide guitar and Eric Deaton held his own on bass as Dan and Pat rocked out these anthems to the Mississippi hill country blues that were a core influence in their younger days. After Kenny and Eric left the stage, it was a return to the powerful music of earlier in the show finishing up with “Ten Cent Pistol” and “She’s Long Gone”. Not surprisingly, the crowd wanted more.

The band ended the night with three incredible, powerful encores.

The audience was completely satisfied, if not overwhelmed, with the Incredible live performance that they had just witnessed. I am adding The Black Keys to my list of the greatest live performances that I have ever seen in 45 years of witnessing live music. If you have a chance to see them live, I bet you do the same.

Be sure to check out the photo gallery below after the setlists.

Ceramic Animal

I Can’t Wait

Up in Smoke

All My Love

Band of Horses

Is There a Ghost

Great Salt Lake

Islands on the Coast

No one’s Gonna Love You

Cigarettes, Wedding Bands

The Funeral

The Black Keys

Howlin’ for You

It Ain’t Over

Stay All Night

Poor Black Mattie

Going Down South

Poor Boy Long Way from Home

Crawlin’ Kingsnake

Have Love Will Travel

Everlasting Light

10 Cent Pistol

She’s Long Gone

Little Black Submarine

Your Team is Looking Good

Band of Horses performing at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Saint Louis Friday. Photo by Sean Derrick/Thyrd Eye Photography.

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One thought on “ The Black Keys Dropout Boogie Tour Steamrolled Through Saint Louis Friday With Impressive Set ”

Great article sir! It was a long hot day and worth every second and penny of it! I’ve been a fan since the first time they came to St. Louis, almost 20 years ago come August 9th of this year. It was almost a epic to me as the first time i saw them. I’m so happy to watch a band really make it like their career’s. From the Big come Up to now Im happy to know , they make me smile and dance and sing my heart out!

‘It’s F-cking Insane That We’re Still Here’: The Black Keys Talk New Album

By David Browne

David Browne

After the Black Keys wrapped up Dropout Boogie , their forthcoming 11 th record, something unlikely happened. “Dan [Auerbach] called me and said, ‘It’s really good,’ which is unusual for him,” says drummer Patrick Carney from his Nashville home. “I don’t think he’s ever called and said that. He doesn’t go back and listen to his stuff.” Auerbach agrees: “Pat’s always the one who says, after each record, ‘This is the best record we’ve ever done.’ Literally. Every single one. I listened to it again for the first time in a while and was pleasantly surprised. It brought a smile to my face.”

But as the Black Keys admit, that moment should have actually arrived three years ago. In 2019, after a hiatus that found the two men taking a break from each other to work on side projects, they reconvened for “ Let’s Rock .” That album rekindled their alt-boogie roar, but looking back, both admit it was just the first step in regrouping. “We had grown apart and we were reconnecting,” recalls Carney. “It was really good to get back into the studio, but we were still learning how to work with each other.”

It took a far more casual project to fully relight the fire. After the “ Let’s Rock” tour ended pre-pandemic, Auerbach and Carney hooked up with blues-steeped guitarist Kenny Brown and bassist Eric Deaton at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville. Together, they plowed through an entire album of blues covers, a stark contrast to the more arduous Let’s Rock sessions. “We recorded it in a day, no overdubs, and it’s one of my favorite records we’ve ever done,” says Auerbach of Delta Kream . “And that made us want to repeat the project, just getting in there and letting it roll and seeing whatever happens.”

Adds Carney, “It ended up being a great reset of the band. It just showed us that the most important thing is that it’s fun.”

Over the past year, Auerbach and Carney have each contracted Covid-19 (not severe cases). Auerbach produced an album by Yola, continued to work with a variety of acts at Easy Eye Sound, and is about to release a collection of unreleased Son House recordings. Carney took up golf and now has two young kids in he and wife Michelle Branch’s home. (The couple’s daughter, Willie Paquet Carney, arrived just last month.)

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And last summer, they also began making what became Dropout Boogie , trying to keep it as casual and spontaneous as the Delta Kream sessions. They brought in outside collaborators like Reigning Sound front man Greg Cartwright, who co-wrote several songs, and bluegrass-Americana singer Sierra Ferrell, even ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, a longtime friend. “We approach every record as if it were a full band, I guess,” Carney says. “A band that’s a duo, like Steely Dan or whatever.” (Told that the band’s new manager, biz legend Irving Azoff, also handles Steely Dan, Carney says, “I didn’t even realize that.”)

“We approach every record as if it were a full band. A band that’s a duo, like Steely Dan or whatever” – Patrick Carney

Reflecting that range of contributors, Dropout Boogie (due in May) has whooshy ravers (first single “Wild Child”), a slow-blues jam (“Happiness”), soul balladry (“How Long”), and barn-burning arena crunch (“Baby I’m Coming Home”). For the Love of Money” sports what Auerbach calls a “hill country open-tuning drone, very much in line with Fred McDowell and some of the rhythms he could play.”

Invited to drop by Easy Eye Sound just before the death of Dusty Hill , Gibbons grabbed a guitar once owned by hill country blues icon McDowell. “I showed it to Billy, he picked it up, and started playing it, and it sounded exactly like ZZ Top,” says Carney. “Fuck, it was weird.” Out of a long, improvised jam with the three of them came “Good Love,” featuring solos by both Gibbons and Auerbach. As Carney says, “We’ve been trying to channel our inner ZZ Top for the last three or four years.”

In the video for “Wild Child,” Auerbach and Carney play a high school janitor and cafeteria cook, respectively, who navigate their way through a dystopian school full of pill-popping students, selfie takers, and stoned teachers. After getting dissed by teachers in a lounge, Carney’s character turns to Auerbach and says, “We’re gonna reconnect to our blue collar roots.” (“For the album,” Auerbach replies.)

Several songs, including the noir-soul “It Ain’t Over,” started with drum loops and patterns that Carney brought with him. “Pat used to be self-deprecating, I don’t know why,” says Auerbach. “But now he just seems so much more comfortable being himself behind the drums. It’s age or, I don’t know, a lot of therapy.” He laughs before turning serious. “I feel Pat and I are in a better place than we’ve ever been.”

Says Carney, “This one, we thought deeply about what we were doing but we never struggled with anything. No big disagreements.” Carney and Branch’s three-year-old son Rhys James Carney seems to agree: “He’s very picky about music. If he’s not in the mood for something, he really wants you to turn it off, quickly. I played him the record and he liked it, but I don’t want to risk playing it for him twice. I don’t want to get a bad review out of him. He loved ‘Purple Haze’ for a while and now he can’t take it.”

The album reminded them of their enduring bond they’ve had since meeting as kids in Ohio. “After high school, all our friends were just loser fucking drunks, but Pat and I always wanted this,” Auerbach says. “We still have the same drive. We want to create something good. We’ve never lost that, I don’t think. It’s our favorite thing to do, this passion for making records.”

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The Black Keys announce Dropout Boogie Tour

Photo Credit: Jim Herrington

The Black Keys – Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney – have revealed the initial details of their Dropout Boogie Tour.

The 32-date North American trek, produced by Live Nation, kicks off on July 9 in Las Vegas. Denver, Boston, Philadelphia and other great cities are also on the agenda. There is a Chicago-area performance scheduled for July 17 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

This tour marks the band’s first show back in Chicago since they rocked the United Center in 2019 .

Tickets for the general public go on-sale on Friday, Feb. 4 at 10 a.m. local time. There are also a number of presales offered at TheBlackKeys.com .

Band of Horses will be joining The Black Keys on all dates with Ceramic Animals, Early James and the Velveteers opening up at select performances.

Click here to pick-up tickets to see The Black Keys perform in a city near you and check out a full list of tour dates below. More information can be found at TheBlackKeys.com .

The Black Keys’ Dropout Boogie Tour Dates

July 9 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena July 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre July 13 – Denver, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre July 15 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre St. Louis July 16 – Indianapolis, IN – Ruoff Music Center July 17 – Chicago, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Tinley Park July 20 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center July 22 – Jones Beach, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater July 23 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center July 25 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion July 27 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion July 29: – Boston, MA – Xfinity Center July 30 – Philadelphia, PA – Waterfront Music Pavilion (formerly BB&T Pavilion) Aug. 24 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre Aug. 25 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre Aug. 27 – Atlanta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre Aug. 28 – Huntsville, AL – Orion Amphitheatre Aug. 30 – Charleston, SC – Credit One Stadium Sept. 1 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek Sept. 3 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center Sept. 6 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage Sept. 7 – Detroit, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre Sept. 9 – Cleveland, OH – Blossom Music Center Oct. 2 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena Oct. 3 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena Oct. 5 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre Oct. 8 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum Oct. 10 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion Oct. 13 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP Oct. 15 – Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Oct. 17 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ATX Oct. 18 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion

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July 10, 2022

The Black Keys Kick-Off “Dropout Boogie” Tour In Vegas With Band of Horses

By Ryan Dillon
One Comment

Earlier this week, The Black Keys Instagram was infiltrated by comedian David Cross and his fictional organization Dads Interested in Choosing our Kids Songs, or D.I.C.K.S for short. The video pleads the viewer to not go see The Black Keys on their “Dropout Boogie” tour which kicked off last night (July 9) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas with Band of Horses opening. Despite Cross’ best efforts, the tour set off as scheduled and the indie rock duo brought their 2022 album and more to life.

Band of Horses kicked off the night with a down-to-earth set. In support of their latest album, Things Are Great, the five-piece brought their brand of relaxed indie rock to the stage. Performing an acoustic version of their song “St. Augustine” along with hits like “The Funeral”.

The Black Keys consist of Dan Auerbach on guitar and vocals and Patrick Carney on drums and the touring band features the Gabbard Brothers (Andy and Zach) along with multiinstrumentalist Chris St. Hilaire. Their latest album, Dropout Boogie , is a melting pot of the band’s influences. They add dashes of psychedelic music and blues to their signature, simplistic sound to create a kaleidoscope of an album.

They kicked off their tour in support of Dropout Boogie in Sin City last night and their setlist is a sight to see. The duo touched on all their hits, including 2011’s “Lonely Boy”, which closed the show, and 2010’s “Howlin’ for You”. The Black Keys also performed a plethora of covers, which seems to be a trend in their sets dating back to last year. They put their own spin on deep cuts like “Goin’ Down South” by R.L. Burnside and “Have Love, Will Travel” by Richard Berry.

The Dropout Boogie Tour is set to take Auerbach and Carney across the United States, touching down in cities like Charlotte, Cincinnati, and Huntsville before wrapping up in October with a string of dates across Texas.

Check out the full setlist, tour dates, and footage from last night’s show below:

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How long was the Band of Horses set and what time did the Black Keys start playing?

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Dropout Boogie Tour 2022!

The Black Keys have officially announced their 32-date “Dropout Boogie” North American Tour. Dropout Boogie Tour begins July 9 in Las Vegas with special guests Band Of Horses. Ceramic Animal, Early James, & The Velveteers for select dates!

Join the FREE Lonely Boys & Girls Club by Thursday, Feb. 3 at 10 pm local time and receive early access to presale tickets starting Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 10 am local time. Fan club presale ends Thursday, Feb. 3 at 10 pm local time. General on-sale begins Friday, Feb. 4 at 10 am local time. Presale codes can be found once signed up and logged into your Lonely Boys & Girls club profile starting Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 10 am ET.

A limited number of VIP packages will also be available starting Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 10 AM local time. VIP packages include premium seats, sound check visit, an autographed lithograph and more!

For more information head over to the Tour page

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