If you couldn’t tell from the abundance of “THE BLACK KEYS AKRON OH” T-shirts in the crowd, this band wants you to know it has local roots.
The Black Keys' hometown show at Blossom Music Center on Friday was full of Easter eggs that Northeast Ohio fans would appreciate. The band’s stagehands wore Goodyear T-shirts representing the Akron-based tire company. A fake retro “WTBK Channel 13 Akron” ad intro flashed on the stage screens periodically between songs. Midway through the band’s set, a Swensons deliveryman ran onstage and singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach tossed foil-wrapped Galley boys, a famous Akron delicacy, out into the audience.
There’s certainly a lot of hometown love on the "No Rain, No Flowers" tour. The trip arrives 24 years after the blues-rock band first formed in the Rubber City in 2001. Even though both Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have since relocated to Nashville, the two were right at home at Blossom, where, as a teen, Auerbach once worked, helping direct traffic.
RELATED: Is Cleveland God’s Country? A Morgan Wallen Concert Review
But the major Northeast Ohio show didn’t come without its hurdles. No Rain, No Flowers, The Black Keys’ 13th full-length release, feels aptly titled after a difficult year. Following the spring 2024 release of the band’s 12th album — the well-received Ohio Players — a planned Live Nation arena tour set for 2024 subsequently fell apart. Fans noted high ticket prices even for nosebleeds, and after troubling sales, the run was canceled. That included a show that would have taken place at Rocket Arena last October.
Following the fiasco, The Black Keys fired its management, including industry legend Irving Azoff, and claimed that it was the victim of monopolies in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Then, strangely, the band played a controversial crypto PAC concert in Akron. Carney told Rolling Stone this helped to recoup some income from the lost tour.
And then this year, in May, The Black Keys kicked off its "No Rain, No Flowers" tour (which featured excellent blues performance by opener Gary Clark Jr. at Blossom). On Aug. 8, the tour's No Rain, No Flowers album arrived: a new, contemporary radio-friendly collection of blues-rock-pop that one can expect from a group that’s been at it in the industry for a while. It’s a solid, honed and not particularly jaw-dropping output from the chart-topping, five-time Grammy-winning group from the region. Call it a victory lap.
RELATED: Cynthia Erivo’s Entrancing Symphony Puts Northeast Ohio Under a Spell: Review
At Blossom, Carney’s drum set was moved to the front, paired with Auerbach’s central position, to showcase the duo in front of fellow touring bandmates. Decades’ worth of bops like “Gold On The Ceiling,” “Howlin’ For You,” “Tighten Up,” “I’ll Be Your Man,” “Wild Child,” “Lo/Hi” and “Fever” showed The Black Keys’ distinct phases and musical inspirations. At times, just Auerbach and Carney faced one another to perform together, tight and in sync, like they might have in their earliest days playing at the Beachland Tavern.
And the new songs fit snugly among the crowd-favorites. The peppy title track “No Rain, No Flowers” especially rang out in the outdoor venue, reaching thousands of listeners' eardrums all at once.
Tours canceled, and tours rekindled.
The band had rain. Now, it has flowers.
(Flowers at Blossom. How fitting!)
The Black Keys’ Blossom Music Center Set List:
- “Thickfreakness / The Breaks / I'll Be Your Man”
- “Your Touch”
- “Gold on the Ceiling”
- “Wild Child”
- “I Got Mine”
- “Everlasting Light”
- “Lo/Hi”
- “Weight of Love”
- “Psychotic Girl”
- “A Little Too High”
- “Next Girl”
- “Tighten Up”
- “Man on a Mission”
- “Too Afraid to Love You”
- “On the Road Again” (Canned Heat cover)
- “No Rain, No Flowers”
- “Down to Nothing”
- “Fever”
- “Heavy Soul”
- “Howlin' for You”
- “She's Long Gone”
Encore:
- “Little Black Submarines”
- “Lonely Boy”
RELATED: All My Heroes Are (Almost) Gone: Reflections on Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan in Cleveland
For more updates about Cleveland, sign up for our Cleveland Magazine Daily newsletter, delivered to your inbox six times a week.
Cleveland Magazine is also available in print, publishing 12 times a year with immersive features, helpful guides and beautiful photography and design.
