{"id":61600,"date":"2025-08-11T14:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/61600\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T14:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:09:07","slug":"review-the-black-keys-close-out-musikfest-with-a-bang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/61600\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: The Black Keys close out Musikfest with a bang"},"content":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 One could expect the audience at The Black Keys to be filled to the brim with millennials and younger Gen-Xers.<\/p>\n

One would be wrong.<\/p>\n

Yes, of course, the people who grew up on The Black Keys were there at Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Sunday for the festival’s closing night.<\/p>\n

But alongside them were plenty of seniors celebrating a sound that drew from their favorite rock classics, and a wealth of younger individuals getting an education on the hypnotic hipster blues rock the band has mastered.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Brian E. Hineline<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Special to LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

The Black Keys perform on Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Sunday, Aug. 1<\/p>\n

The second-wave garage rock revival outfit drew a diverse crowd with a wealth of indie-rock-meets-crunchy-guitar blues tracks that enamored just about everyone in earshot.<\/p>\n

The Akron, Ohio, outfit has been in the game since 2001, skyrocketing from their humble beginnings \u2014 they had to mow their landlord\u2019s lawn to finance their tour for their initial full-length disc “The Big Come Up” \u2014 to the heights of hits such as \u201cLonely Boy\u201d and \u201cTighten Up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colored largely by guitarist\/vocalist Dan Auerbach’s raw blues rock influences \u2014 including Junior Kimbrough, Howlin\u2019 Wolf, and more \u2014 the band channeled an incredible amount of blues-punk energy; rough, crunchy licks; and unconventional, raw drumming that eschews precision.<\/p>\n

And you can bet the crowd ate up every bit of it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Brian E. Hineline<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Special to LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

The Black Keys perform on Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Sunday, Aug. 10.<\/p>\n

‘Oh what can I do? Yeah’<\/p>\n

As the air cooled and the sky darkened, the concert started with a very 1980s-centric backdrop for WTBK \u2014 Akron\u2019s local radio station popping up as the band launched into a library of singles and fan favorites.<\/p>\n

Fans were overjoyed for hits such as \u201cFever\u201d and \u201cI Got Mine,\u201d swaying in place for the latter before the guitars ramped up and the headbanging commenced for a striking end.<\/p>\n

“Lo\/HI,” a hit from “Let\u2019s Rock,” used those class-style riffs, which wouldn\u2019t be out of place in a track released half a century or more ago.<\/p>\n

But the quick pace and Auerbach\u2019s distinct raw tenor\/high baritone make the track all its own.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Brian E. Hineline<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Special to LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

The Black Keys perform on Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Sunday, Aug. 10.<\/p>\n

The somber and spacy \u201cWeight of Love\u201d offered up some trippy guitar noodling and backing vocals dialing back decades, along with a few tranquil keys that build up to a psychedelic trance that kept the audience enamored and moving.<\/p>\n

That was nothing compared with the reaction from that crowd upon hearing the first bit of whistling from Auerbach as the band launched into \u201cTighten Up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone danced along and echoed the frontman\u2019s calls of \u201cI wanted love, I needed love\/Most of all, most of all\/Someone said true love was dead\/And I’m bound to fall, bound to fall for you\/Oh, what can I do? Yeah,\u201d before the stinging instrumental chorus kicked in.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Brian E. Hineline<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Special to LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

The Black Keys perform on Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Sunday, Aug. 1<\/p>\n

New tracks and stage becomes electric<\/p>\n

New tracks \u201cMan on a Mission\u201d and \u201cNo Rain, No Flowers\u201d were welcome additions to the setlist, especially with the former\u2019s sultry vocals carrying the verses before elevating just enough to match the guitar punches over the chorus. <\/p>\n

With touches of soul and easy-listening blended into the blues, those entries stood out in a good way, enchanting the fans with a bit of what they really want from the Keys.<\/p>\n

After wrapping up \u201cShe\u2019s Long Gone\u201d with some down-home, grimy blues bits punctuating Auerbach\u2019s last line encouraging the crowd to \u201crock on,\u201d some were left feeling a bit cheated.<\/p>\n

But after just a few minutes, the band returned for a performance of \u201cLittle Black Submarine,\u201d featuring a solo Auerbach on an acoustic guitar, quietly building the track\u2019s front half, which was eerily reminiscent of the start of Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cStairway to Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once it hit that halfway point, the stage was electric, with the crowd headbanging along and chanting, \u201cBut everybody knows\/That a broken heart is blind\u201d along with the singer and the pained and bluesy guitar.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Brian E. Hineline<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Special to LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

The Black Keys perform on Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Sunday, Aug. 1<\/p>\n

A sonic spectacle<\/p>\n

And, of course, what performance would it have been without one of the group\u2019s most beloved tracks, the punchy, punkish and charmingly key-laden hit \u201cLonely Boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh-oh, oh-oh, I got a love that keeps me waiting\u201d could likely have been heard from a mile away from the stage, what with the whole venue chanting along energetically to a bursting point as the band built up those guitars and drums again to a crashing end.<\/p>\n

The following fireworks might not have even been necessary for those in attendance: They saw more than enough of a sonic spectacle that night.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9848.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Brian Myszkowski<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

Fireworks wrap up Musikfest 2025.<\/p>\n

Openers The Velveteers warmed up the crowd with a slew of heavy-hitting hard-rock rife with wild guitar solos and shredding, and garnished with a touch of hardcore punk breakdowns and riot grrrl vocals.<\/p>\n

With an occasional bit of synth here and there, The Velveteers amped everyone up to a boiling point just before The Black Keys took to the stage.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9788.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Brian Myszkowski<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LehighValleyNews.com<\/p>\n

The Velveteers open for The Black Keys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 One could expect the audience at The Black Keys to be filled to the brim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[40088,49,48,75,341,40089,40090,40091,40092,40093],"class_list":["post-61600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-black-keys-in-bethlehem","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-musikfest-2025","tag-musikfest-performances","tag-the-black-keys","tag-the-black-keys-musikfest","tag-the-black-keys-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}