Photos + Article by Anthony Bauer
Hot off the release of their latest album Peaches! (via Easy Eye Sound), The Black Keys are out on tour in support of said album and on Wednesday, May 7th they stopped by The Capitol Theatre to make their debut at the venue. Back when The Capitol Theatre reopened, this was one of those dream billings that we never thought would come true but the stars aligned and this pairing finally happened and there was no way we were missing this one. Kicking things off for the night was Miles Kane, who we were equally excited about seeing being that this was his first solo tour in the United States.
Towards the end of 2025, opener Miles Kane released his latest fantastic solo album Sunlight in the Shadows (via Easy Eye Sound) which flew under the radar. It was one of last years best albums and were quite excited to see him open as it was first solo tour in the United States (ever). While we have seen him in the states before, it was not one but two shows with The Last Shadow Puppets back in 2016 so excitement was high for his set a solid 10 years later. Not only did he take the stage early, but he wasted no time jumping into the perfect set opener of “Sing a Song to Love.” Most of his fierce 12-song set was taken from his most recent album but one thing to note is just how loud his four piece band was. It was a great way to start the show off and I just hope that this means we’ll get a proper solo tour in the future.
After the absolutely blistering opening set from Miles Kane, the backdrop was lowered, the house lights dimmed, a giant Black Keys sign lit up, the band took the stage and immediately jumped into the stellar 1-2-3 opening of “Heavy Soul” off The Big Come Up, “Gold on the Ceiling” off El Camino, and “You Got to Lose” off of Peaches!. Right off the bat we knew this would be a special set filled with surprises and in fact, the setlist was quite all over the place in a good way. While the majority of the set consisted of songs off Peaches! and Delta Kream (which pair perfectly and work so well together), they still sprinkled in old favorites and even reinvented some classics with “peaches” style production.
One of the standouts from the set that felt like a subtle reinvention was Brothers album opener “Everlasting Light” which saw the band slow the song down and crank the blues up even more complete with a disco ball light show and everything. On paper it sounds strange but it worked so well and just shows you how much fun the band is having on stage right now, especially intertwining old songs with the new. Another standout was “Just Couldn’t Tie Me Down” off Rubber Factory which sounded more potent with this 7 piece touring band, who later flawlessly in the set executed the 1-2 punch of the sprawlingly swampy “Crawling King Snake” into one of my personal favorites, the epic Turn Blue opener, “Weight of Love.”
Every song truly felt like you were listening to it for the first time all over again and the 20 song set featured everything you wanted to hear with more grit, lo-fi, rough around the edges style that is what made the band so popular in the first place. You could tell they were having a blast playing these songs honoring the past and bringing an amazing night of music to one of the tri-state areas best venues. While Dan has played the venue before, I’m shocked it took The Black Keys this long to play the venue, and sure hope it won’t be the last. The band are out on the road with dates scheduled all the way through the end of the year and if you are on the fence about going, please don’t be – just go. What they band are doing on this tour is something special and you don’t want to miss it.
Find a full gallery from opener Miles Kane as well as a full gallery + setlist from The Black Keys below.
Miles Kane:
The Black Keys:
The Black Keys setlist:
1. Heavy Soul
2. Gold on the Ceiling
3. You Got to Lose
4. Have Love Will Travel
5. Just Couldn’t Tie Me Down
6. Tighten Up
7. Fever
8. Everlasting Light
9. I Got Mine
10. Next Girl
11. Lo/Hi
12. Crawling King Snake
13. Weight of Love
14. Howlin’ for You
15. Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire
16. She Does it Right
17. Wild Child
18. She’s Long Gone
Encore*:
19. Little Black Submarines
20. Lonely Boy
*note: the printed setlist included “It’s So Nice to Get Stoned” but was not played
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