BY Keith Skiba | September 3th, 2025
I step into Budweiser Stage as twilight drapes itself across the lake. There’s a restlessness in the crowd that comes with the desperation of a dwindling summer. The people around me are drawn forward by an unseen gravity, each voice and gesture feeding the anticipation. Sound moves through strangers in waves, binding them together without word or name. All eyes, all breath, tilt toward the coming of The Black Keys.
The story of The Black Keys begins in Akron, Ohio, where Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney first joined forces in 2001. Their earliest recordings were rough and close to the bone, blues-rock captured in basements with little more than stubborn conviction. Those raw beginnings gave rise to new fame (and a few Grammy awards) with the arrival of Brothers and El Camino. Through the years they’ve stayed mostly loyal to the rough sinew of their roots. The present tour bears the weight of that history.
Gary Clark Jr. serves as herald, his guitar carving through the evening air with a voice both sensual and sorrowful in equal measure. He speaks little, but each note unfurls in smoke, filling the space in ways words could not. When The Black Keys emerge, it is only Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney framed against a red curtain, their instruments carrying all the weight of the performance. The night opens with a medley and the energy reaches a crescendo with “Gold on the Ceiling,” which sets much of the tone for the show. Of particular note is a rendering of Canned Heat’s “On the Road Again,” which glows with reverence but is unmistakably imprinted with the grime of the The Black Keys.
The setlist covers everything you might expect and more across two decades of history, including songs from No Rain, No Flowers, the band’s thirteenth studio album, released earlier this year. On stage, these new songs stand comfortably beside the old, proof that The Black Keys continue to push forward without abandoning their roots. The tour is both a celebration of where they have come from and a statement that their story is far from finished.
