We arrived in good spirits after a beer and a prosecco +4 and hoped to be in time to see some of Band of Skull's set. Unfortunately we only saw two songs -5 but at least I knew them both and they were great +5.
After a manic mission to the loos -6 and food purchase of cold cheeseburger (not even melted cheese) for £6.50 -11 it was time to return to the auditorium for The Black Keys.
We tactically made our way to the far side and walked towards the front. We thought we had a decent position until the band came on stage and we realised we couldn't really see a thing -8. It got worse when a lame couple in front of us started smooching -5.
They opened with tracks from Brothers , including Howlin' For You, before moving onto El Camino's "Dead and Gone" and current single and my latest addiction "Gold on the Ceiling". The band were brilliant performers from what we could hear +12 and vaguely see (on tip toes) -7.
The crowd seemed to be really enjoying it too, with one fellow behind us screaming "Yazer" at regular intervals. We overheard that it's "a bastardised version of yay" - I'm sure it will catch on.
The Black Keys have a LOT of good songs and they made sure they represented most of their albums, much to the delight of the hardcore fans +4. However, the crowd was quite a random mix, with quite a few oldies and also idiots shouting "Woof Woof" -3.
They reached the end (apart from the mandatory encore) and played Lonely Boy of course which was faaaantastic. Nate was dancing like a crazy fool! +11
As they came back for the encore, the crowd started to thin, which was surprising considering they played Everlasting Light and had some snazzy lights. It was good news for us though, especially as we could see a bit more! +9
The night came to a close and we headed for the train, which we missed by 10 seconds and the following train was delayed, by which point hundreds of people had descended upon the station -14. I won't bore you with the gory details of the torrid journey home but to sum up, the venue and its location let this gig down badly. Lame food, lame toilets, lame transport -19.
The Black Keys rocked but the venue sucked.
A- for The Black Keys, D for Ally Pally
