They've Straightened Out The Blues
- Category: Artists
- Published on Monday, 30 January 2012 22:03
- Written by Mario
- Hits: 283
Additional Info
I'm an addict since I found "Brothers". Meanwhile I own almost the entire back catalogue from their 2003 album "thickfreakness" to current "El Camino". So expectations were high when we set sails for Berlin to see The Black Keys at the Arena last Saturday.
It was snowing like mad when we hit the road. So it took us almost five hours to get there.
Around 5 p.m. we checked in at the hostel which was only a stone-cast from Universal Germany HQ. At 6.30 we set out for the venue, an old bus garage in Berlin-Treptow. The atmosphere of the bedraggled hall couldn't fit better to the music we were going to listen to a little bit later. Loads of folks flocked in. So we had to wait in front of some cast-off containers on this freezing, snowy evening. We shivered together with fans from Poland and Czechia. Even some Manchester based had flown in.
Portugal the Man made every effort to warm up the crowd, but with less success I'm afraid.
Then Dan and Pat entered the stage and opened with „Howlin' Wolf“ and „Next Girl“. Nearly perfectly they reeled off almost the whole track lists of „Brothers“ and „El Camino“ to a sometimes rather lame audience. It seemed like folks were more busy taking photos or shooting vids of the show instead of enjoying this mind-blowing gig. Only when the guys were playing songs like „Lonely Boy“, „Gold on the Ceiling“ or „Dead And Gone“ the crowd had some ecstatic and exalted moments.
But the guys were not to blame for the reluctance of the audience in the hall. Though they were not dallying away time gabbling, they delivered an excellent stage show with cracking Blues Rock for one and a half hour. I don't have any regrets about driving through the snow for almost five hours. The only drop of bitterness for me is that I probably have to wait for quite a while until I experience them again on stage.
So the gig exceeded all my expectations and if there were a comparative of addict I would be in this status from last Saturday on.
