Black Keys Hit the Streets for Special ‘Late Show’ Set
After tearing up Rockefeller Center on Saturday Night Live this weekend, the Black Keys hopped across New York City to the Late Show, setting up outside the Ed Sullivan Theater Monday night for a special 35-minute “Live on Letterman” set in support of their new album, Turn Blue. The full performance is available above, which found the band playing Pied Piper from atop a fire escape that loomed over the street just off Broadway, attracting swaths of fans who happened to be wandering around the area. Opening with Turn Blue‘s “Bullet in the Brain,” the Black Keys cruised through a quick, but blistering set of new cuts like “Fever” and “It’s Up to You Now,” as well as old favorites such as “Howlin’ For You,” “Lonely Boy,” and “Gold on the Ceiling.”
How the Black Keys Found a Deep New Groove on Psychedelic ‘Turn Blue’
Turn Blue marks the first Black Keys LP since 2011’s El Camino, and officially sees release today. The duo recorded the album in Los Angeles, Michigan and frontman Dan Auerbach’s Nashville studio, once again working with co-producer Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton.
Though initial sessions for the album proved fruitless, the band found their footing, and the album’s more psychedelic groove, after writing the epic, seven-minute “Weight of Your Love,” which took Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney out of the mindset of writing singles. “After that, it was like, ‘We can do whatever we want — it’ll be all right,'” Auerbach recently told Rolling Stone.
The Black Keys are scheduled to headline Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores, Alabama this weekend before heading to Europe for a string of dates this summer. They’ll be back in North America this fall, though, for a massive tour featuring a variety of openers including Cage the Elephant, Jake Bugg and St. Vincent.
Black Keys – “It’s Up to You Now”
Black Keys – “Fever”