Riding high off the group’s acclaimed new album Brothers, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney strolled onto Central Park’s Summer Stage and eased out an hour and a half of slow-drip, groovy blues.
The duo dropped the curtain with “Thickfreakness” before playing older favorites “Girl Is On My Mind”, “Stack Shot Billy”, and the twangy “I’ll Be Your Man”. While the crowd was excited to hear these tunes, the band never amped the speed of their playing; the tempo tonight was molasses like and this pace doesn’t accentuate the twosome’s older cuts. “10 A.M. Automatic” was docile, losing its punch while “Strange Times” sounded empty with its hollow breakdowns and easy strumming.
Then the group brought out two friends, Leon Michaels on various keys and Nick Movshon on bass, to help them with newer material. To say the sound became thicker and the groove tighter would be a massive understatement. The band rolled out “Same Old Thing” from Attack and Release and the newly assembled four piece clicked instantly. “Sinister Kid” was ass shaking with its meaty low end and the boys had a super fuzzed out rumpus with “Next Girl”. The heavy stomp and twinkling shake of “Chop and Change” was belted out with passion by Auerbach, while “Ten Cent Pistol” simply slithered out into the park to get lost amongst the leaves currently hunting Central Park rats.
The band returned to duo status closing with “Your Touch” and the deep rolling (complete with cowbell) of “I Got Mine”. During the encore they did expand back to a four piece with “Too Afraid To Love You” which was screeching slow and effectively haunting.
Past tours and live offerings have found the group blasting out hard rocking/white boy blues, but tonight found them more confident, easing back and letting the songs (especially those played as a four piece) speak for themselves. This came with a sacrifice of their metallic aggression and urgency but it is hard to argue with the quality of the Brothers tracks.
A better balance may be needed going forward and hopefully incorporating a fuller sound even into old favorites could help matters, possibly allowing Auerbach and Carney to get fierce while bass and keys maintain the groove. It will be interesting to see how the band evolves in the live setting next time around the block.
