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With The Black Keys and Dan Auerbach each hitting stops in the greater Maryland/Washington D.C. region last month, it only seemed appropriate to stack the two shows against each other – Auerbach’s main gig vs. his side gig, Baltimore, MD vs. Washington D.C., duo vs. ensemble.

[All Photos By Zachary Herrmann]

So, what better way to compare the two than with a Battle of the Bands? We’ll tally up points for each round, and, at the end, crown a winner. Let’s see how Auerbach fared against Auerbach.

CORE BAND:

With The Black Keys, you know exactly what you’re getting: two dudes, a guitar, a drum kit and a lot of noise. The Akron, Ohio twosome has been doing its dirty, bluesy, garage rock thing for the better part of the decade and – after last year’s brilliant Attack and Release – is in perhaps its creative height.

Dan Auerbach’s backing band for his first solo tour behind last month’s Keep It Hid was more of an uncertainty. We knew going in that Texas upstarts Hacidena – whose 2008 album, Loud Is the Night was produced by Auerbach – would be backing Auerbach, but we didn’t know My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick O’Hallahan would be joining in on added percussion. The Feb. 28 show was the band’s first live performance (something Auerbach noted early on) and this new, six-piece gave Auerbach more room to breathe than he’s ever had with The Black Keys. With two drummers, a bassist, keyboards and a rhythm guitarist to back him, Auerbach was able to focus on his vocals and his leads, with a full band to fill the space in between.

READ ON for the rest of Rudi’s comparison of Dan vs. The Keys…