At the end of 2011, the men of The Black Keys released the album El Camino. The best-received album they've made. Little Black Submarines / Gold on the Ceiling / Lonely Boy. Radio DJs jumped on these records to give the listener some variety in a top 40 full of David Guetta, Avicii and Calvin Harris. In a time where Gotye has been number 1 for 18 weeks, it is wonderful to occasionally be surprised by the bass line of “Lonely Boy”.

After about 2 weeks I was able to sing along to all the songs, word for word. What a discovery, what a ridiculously good album to release as a debut album ...

 

Pretty soon I found out that El Camino was not the debut album at all. A year before, The Black Keys had their breakthrough in America with the album Brothers. In the Netherlands this record has crept up to halfway through the album top 100. But Brothers is not the debut either. In the 10 years between the formation of the band and the release of El Camino, The Black Keys have already released 6 albums in which they experimented with blues rock, alt rock and garage rock. Started as a duo with only guitar and drums, later collaborated with other musicians in different line-ups. I don't think everything on the early albums is fantastic. But if you can appreciate the eccentric album tracks of The White Stripes, you will also find plenty of pearls in the earlier work of The Black Keys.

 

2014 brought us the 8th album: Turn Blue. Like so many bands, the band's style evolved. The music was a bit calmer, a bit less rock n roll, a bit psychedelic. A good album, but it didn't match the success of El Camino by a long shot.

 

Then for 5 long years it remained silent. The men took a break and engaged in individual projects and producing for other artists. Slowly the fear crept over me. What if they never play as The Black Keys together again? What if I never get to see them live together?

 

2019 Let's Rock. The 9th studio album is announced to be released in June. It is already buzzing in various groups of friends, have you heard it? New music from The Black Keys. At the beginning of March, the first single Lo/Hi was released. Dan Auerbach plays his guitar. Patrick Carney hits the cymbals. Rock ‘n Roll drenched in Blues. April 25th the 2nd single follows: Eagle Birds. Both songs take you back to the earlier work of The Black Keys.

 

My friends are cautiously enthusiastic. "Maybe the rest of the album isn't great, maybe they won't tour in Europe." I'm not cautiously enthusiastic. I am like a kid in a toy store. The album will be released in June. The North America tour lasts until the end of November. I've figured it out, in the summer of 2020 I'm going to be at a festival somewhere while The Black Keys do what the album title promises, Let's Rock. Who's coming along?