Black Keys are back with two NZ shows

Herald online

30 Apr, 2012 04:00 PM2 mins to read

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach performs at Madison Square Garden in New York. Photo / AP

Get ready to shake your stuff like the guy in the Lonely Boy video - the Black Keys are coming to New Zealand for two shows in November.

The Grammy Award-winning rock duo, consisting of guitarist-singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, are set to play Auckland's Vector Arena on November 3 and Wellington's TSB Bank Arena on November 5.

The shows are in the biggest venues the band has played in New Zealand, and the first since leaving their Kiwi fans disappointed by pulling out of the 2011 Big Day Out with just a week's notice, citing exhaustion.

They went on to record their briefest and most thrilling record yet in last year's El Camino, a five-star album that went some way towards making up for the Big Day Out no-show.

The band last performed in New Zealand in June, 2008, at Auckland's Powerstation on the back of their fifth album, Attack & Release. They played in front of a giant rubber tyre name-checking the band's hometown of Akron, Ohio.

At the time, reviewer Russell Baillie said what the band lacked in numbers, "they made up for in sheer swagger".

"Their 80-minute set was delivered with confounding blues-rock ballsiness ... Carney was a busy octopus on drums punctuating Auerbach's sinuous mid-range guitar riffs, the singer matching his vintage fuzz of his fretwork with vocals shot through with ancient rock grit."

But the band really hit their stride - and the mainstream - on their 2010 album Brothers, winning three Grammy Awards, including best rock song for the track Tighten Up.

And TimeOut reviewer Scott Kara called last year's El Camino their best album yet, saying it "thumps and kicks along with hard blues-rocking ease".

Tickets for the November shows, which come with "the mother of all light shows", are on sale today. Click on the links below for ticket details.

Watch the video for The Black Keys' Lonely Boy: