Spartan Daily

Black Keys put heart and energy into free concert

DanAuerbach Lead guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach, of The Black Keys, plays a song at San Jose City College on Friday during a free concert to the pubic.

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The free show was sponsored by the new Microsoft store at Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, which handed out free wristbands to the first 700 visitors to the new store.

For those who are unfamiliar with the band, The Black Keys are lead singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney.

The two longtime best friends from Akron, Ohio, started The Black Keys in 2001, but really gained following from their most recent album, "Brothers" in 2010.

Their unique sound of Auerbach’s grungy vocals and soulful guitar riffs and Carney’s tight crisp beats can be best described as blues that have been dragged through the mud and cleaned off with a splash of Jack Daniel's, that makes you want to wear a leather jacket every time you listen to them.

“Brothers,” landed the duo five Grammy Awards in 2011 including Best Rock Song for their hit ‘Tighten Up" and Best Alternative Music Album.

The band’s music has been used in several different commercials including those for Zales Diamonds and Subaru.

Therefore it is not a stretch to say that Friday night's show was simply workings for a Microsoft commercial.

While it is enjoyable to hear your favorite band's song appear on television every now and then, I didn't appreciate Microsoft's complete commercialization of the band.

Concertgoers were given all kinds of goodies from free bottled water, Jamba Juice, Rubio’s tacos and pizza, as well as “I'm a PC” shirts and raincoats from Microsoft — leaving me wondering how such a grungy "rebel rock" band was talked into this promotion-palooza.

With Microsoft logos everywhere to be seen, many just wanted to see The Black Keys.

As the crowd waited for the band to arrive on stage, rain started to fall, making concertgoers unhappy and the stage slick, delaying the arrival of the band.

The Black Keys did eventually arrive and jumped into a 14-track set list that included many hits from "Brothers" as well as popular songs from older albums.

Beginning with the wailing guitar intro from one of their early tracks, “Thickfreakness,”  The Black Keys played track after track of their loud, soulful rock with an amount of energy I have not seen in many musicians.

The next track "The Breaks,” which isn’t a very fast or powerful track from "The Big Come Up," was performed with the band's intense energy combined with falling rain that made for an awesome experience.

Auerbach thanked the audience for coming out and braving the rain, but did not say much else as the band tore through the rest of the set list in a little more than an hour.

With the help of their friends Gus and John on keyboards and bass, the band played through a good portion of "Brothers" including “Howlin’ for you,” “She’s Long Gone,” “Ten Cent Pistol” and “Chop & Change” which was featured in “Twilight: Eclipse.”

I enjoyed hearing a favorite track, “Chop & Change,” where Auerbach played guitar with maraca in hand, particularly because the song is a B-side track and isn’t available on iTunes unless you purchase the whole Twilight album — something I have no intention of doing.

The band closed their concert with “I Got Mine,” another thunderous performance highlighted by a back-and-forth jam session between Carney and Auerbach.

There was no encore and it would have been nice to hear some music from their album “El Camino,” which will be released Dec. 6. However, the set list was nearly identical to what I listen to on a daily basis and seeing the energy of Black Keys live was thoroughly satisfying.