First, the venue is amazing. For those who haven't been to a show at the River Stage, put it on your to-do list. It's an outdoor amphitheater with a small flat area in front of the stage. I was one of the first people through the gate and planned on rushing up to the stage but my friend pointed out that standing a couple steps up was the best spot. We were eye level with the band and still only 15 feet from the stage. Brilliant.
The crowd, too, was very good. Hipsters and young people (hipsters aren't people) filled out with some older folk rocking out with beer. Our experience was almost ruined by a couple drunk assholes, but luckily they were too wasted to be truly obnoxious. Overall, it seemed like everyone there was on the same wavelength, but that could be attributed to this guy:
Kurt Vile. "Would it be curt to call this vile?" -- Ben Miller
Kurt Vile is a Philadelphia native and he was recruited to fill in for The Morning Benders to open. It was him, an older guy with greasy hair, and a woman on harp. The crowd was settling down, waiting for the Black Keys but possibly patient enough to sip a beer through the opener. In other words, this guy had one chance. He started finger picking his acoustic guitar. Heavy reverb and delay masked any possible sense of melody. The greasy guy started playing guitar; the noise just got more confused. I could steal a few notes out of the cacophony from the harp.
And then he sang.
If I could type the onomatopoeia for yodeling into a kazoo, I would. Instantly, everyone in the crowd started looking around to see if their neighbors were listening to the same thing. What the hell? Kurt kept on singing, his hair covering his face, most likely in shame. Greasy guy wore sunglasses. Harp lady was oblivious. Pluck pluck she went, rocking out.
Every song sounded the same- off-key screaming and finger-picked guitar shoved down an endless hallway. It's funny I said hipsters aren't people above, because I found that picture of him on this blog, Hipsters Eat For Free (but please, don't feed the hipsters. It just encourages them). I think 'Andrea' had a lobotomy before seeing Kurt Vile because she describes him thusly-
"You know how some people seem to have an aura around them? Kurt Vile is one of those people. Although not much taller than me, he seemed to loom like a giant over the crowd, his face rarely peeking out from a thick, messy mane of hair."
More like, he hid behind his hair and sort of mumbled at the microphone, encouraging the crowd to bond over their mutual hatred of all things Kurt Vile. If you do read Andrea's blog, just keep in mind that anything she says is actually the complete opposite.
So... I spent most of this blog complaining about Kurt Vile instead of gushing about the Black Keys. But there's not much I can say without sounding like any other fanboy. They are one of the best musical acts touring right now and you have to see them live. The guitarist, Dan Auerbach, adds so much to the show, so much that their studio albums are boring and cookie cutter by comparison. Pat Carney plays the drums like an over-developed twelve-year old plays whack a mole. And it's all amazing. Here are a couple pictures. Sorry for the fuzziness, I was too excited to focus on quality.
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