[Artwork by SEILER]
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER Given the expansive economies of the ‘90s, it was no wonder that stripped-down, gutbucket guitar-and-drum duos like Flat Duo Jets and Doo Rag couldn’t get arrested, their minimalist roots-rock exiled to the sub basements of the indie concert circuit and the privileged ghetto of college radio. But in this age of austerity, when everyone is doing more with less, it is stripped-down, gutbucket guitar-and-drum duos like The White Stripes and, more recently, The Black Keys, that have made some of the most seminal and commercially-viable music. Upon the release of 2010’s Brothers, The Black Keys connected with a mass audience and eventually graduated from econo to arenas. They are a big band in these small times, and Saturday night they delivered a smoking-gun performance — which is to say they killed — at the sold-out Wells Fargo Center. MORE
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