The Black Keys and the Arctic Monkeys ~ Live at the Oakland Arena ~ May 4, 2012

When I go to concerts back to back and don't write about them right away I tend to get things mixed up... but I shall *try* to record my impressions accurately. So lets see.... I went to this concert with my sister, who goes by the screen name "Sadge", less than one week after I'd gone to see Coldplay with my son. Good thing I've already written about the Coldplay concert, tho. That helps.

Being a bay area resident for many years now, I've come to accept traffic as an unfortunate fact of life ~ and to love arriving at places early. Especially places as important as concerts. So we arrived a good hour to an hour and a half before showtime, but were well prepared to spend a bit of time comfortably in the parking lot ~ because hey, when we pay $35 to PARK... it only makes sense to sit a bit. No joke. $35 to park at the Oakland Coliseum Complex. What a rip off. But we knew it ahead of time and made our travel decisions advisedly.

I had brought my favorite tailgate munchies, rollups made with flavored cream cheese, avocado, pimiento, and spring greens... all rolled up in a fresh flour tortilla, with toothpicks holding together the individual pieces after being sliced into the half a dozen "bites" per tortilla that it makes. Yummers! Add to that a nice cold beer and I'm one happy tailgater. Oh, and Sadge had brought two Black Keys CDs along so we got to enjoy those there, too. It was a beautiful day for kicking it in the car... sun shining through the prism hanging from my rear view mirror, filling the car with late afternoon rainbows. Very nice indeed, actually.

We casually made our way into the arena about half an hour before showtime ~ and I've just got to say that I wish the security getting into concerts was a bit more standardized! Whether to plan for being practically frisked -or- having my purse barely glanced at would be nice to know ahead of time, know what I mean? ;-) I leave a (delicious, cold, and already paid for) beer in the car and then they wave me in with barely a glance... well, what a waste of money having to buy a beverage inside! A minor complaint, I know, but still. I'd like to sneak a beer in with me if I thought I could... but I usually don't even try. I guess they've succeeded in "training" me not to even try. More's the pity. But now to the concert...

So while I knew at least a little of the Black Keys music, I'd knew nothing about the Arctic Monkeys. I was all ears, tho, when they hit the stage and was happily impressed. They looked like such nice young men, clean cut and a bit older than I expected ~ no particular reason why I was expecting *anything* except for possible impressions from Yahoo!Answers' friends. I'd say they were aged early-to-mid 30s and "healthy" looking. Like they'd figured out that they wanted to make a living making rock music, not being "rock stars". They had relatively short hair, were rather buff, and played some straight up ROCK and ROLL ~ just like I like it. Enjoyed them very much. Great energy and engaging songs. And then, after a short intermission, it was time for the Black Keys.

I loved their stage set-up. Simple, with these HUGE old-fashioned light bulbs in reflective holders on poles behind the stage, and when they lit up, they'd be like flood lights pointing towards the audience ~ very bright ~ but when they'd turn them off, they'd slowly fade out and you could see the bulbs clearly. I don't know ~ hard to explain, but just really cool and old fashioned and simple. By the end, they'd brought out the lasers and cameras projecting on screens above the band and stuff like that... and there was even a disco ball at the very end ~ but all that's fairly de rigueur for concerts, so it's always nice to see something out of the ordinary.

What little I did know about the Black Keys was based upon a single viewing of a video on YouTube. I'd simply felt a kinship with them based on that and bought a couple of concert tickets! It's nice to be older and with a little more disposable income (finally) that allows me to go to shows simply because my interest has been piqued. They are kind of a 'White Stripes-esq' duo, with one person on drums and the other playing guitar and singing ~ and I loved the White Stripes too, so they had that going for them. They had a couple supporting musicians with them on stage playing keyboards and guitar, which filled out their sound very nicely.

Their set was split into thirds I'd say. The first and final thirds were with all four people playing, but they had a nice interlude in the middle with just the two of them. That was my favorite part. I always like when it's *just* the original creators out there on stage... so much more 'personal' and intimate. When only one or two people can imagine and create such beautiful music always just thrills and amazes me, and to be witness to it, likewise. And that was the feeling I had watching these two men. Some sweet and soulful songs were performed, and that the songs were about relationships was the icing on the cake. I honestly wish I'd bothered to get to know more of their music ahead of time... but now that I've got my sister's CDs on my computer... well, better late than never. Can't wait for them to come around again.