This is the first post from Jade Luber for The Black Keys Fan Lounge .

I arrived at the front of the line at Oceanside, California at 2:30 PM to enter the gates of 94.9 FM’s Independence Jam 2009. Dead Confederate, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs were set to open for the headliners The Black Keys.

Gates opened at 4 PM and immediately the hundreds of people waiting ran to the main stage to get the front row view at the beautiful venue right near the shore. You could hear the waves crashing as fans awaited eagerly to stand for 6 hours rocking out to some amazing bands.

Dead Confederate and Metric did a great job of getting the crowd pumped. It wasn’t until the Yeah Yeah Yeahs got up to rock, however, that people started crowd surfing. A beardless Dan Auerbach watched them from the side for about 45 minutes ’til their setup was started. Dan seemed to be enjoying Karen O playing with the crowd, and later on that night, Nick Zinner, their guitarist, watched the Keys from beginning to end.

I saw Dan peeping out every now and then, and occasionally he would watch the crowd. I was more into his presence than anything else, that I just decided to wave to him as the crowd was focused on Karen O. Dan kindly smiled and waved back and then went backstage.

Occasionally I saw Patrick adjusting his drum behind the curtains. When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs finished, a lot of the people who were there for them moved to the stands and the Black Keys crowd snuggled up close to the stage.

They took about 45 minutes to set up and I saw Patrick and Dan about to come out. The crowd was a little quiet and I took my opportunity to yell Patrick’s name. When they ran out on stage the crowd went nuts.

Dan and Patrick arrived at around 9:10 PM. There were technical difficulties due to the two shows that they had played two days before, and Patrick didn’t have his normal drum set. Nevertheless, Dan and Patrick played their hearts out and the crowd went crazy. I looked up a couple of times and saw people watching from the pier, from the parking lot, and all around me was just full of people, swaying and loving what they heard.

Every song was just so entertaining. Right before they played “Strange Times” Dan was trying to fix his amp and Patrick kinda relaxed and played his drums softly. People started yelling “Drum solo!” and he laughed a little and tapped his cymbals and whatnot. When Dan came back, he smiled and said, “I”d like to see a drum solo, too.” The crowd went nuts and Patrick started “Strange Times” off. Fantastic. A long drum solo would’ve been awesome, too, though!

They ended their show with “I Got Mine”. As you can see on the set list (below), they would have played two more songs but Oceanside is really strict and it was a Sunday night. They finished at 9:58 and I stayed behind and saw them, hoping for a pick or Patrick’s drumsticks. Soon enough I will see every show they play in California or Nevada or nearby.

I am very fortunate to have Dan’s set list and I got to say ‘thank you’ to him after their show while they were hanging out on the stage and their roadies were putting away the last of their equipment. If you compare the handwriting in the booklet of “Attack and Release”, that is Dan’s genuine handwriting.

The technical difficulties seemed to make Dan a little agitated and embarrassed, understandably. They did follow the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and by then so many people in the crowd were drunk and just being obnoxious. So much so that two girls ran on the stage, kind of danced around Dan, and then got pulled off. There was a lot of crowd surfing and at one point one guy belly flopped into the crowd and Dan literally played a little softer, almost stopping, for a few seconds to see if he was alright.

Watching Patrick and Dan play is such an experience. They each play with so much passion and talent and I just absolutely get lost watching them on stage. The quality of their music is so distinct and their humble and genuine style is impeccable.

I love my set list!

Related posts:

1. 3 Days, 3 Festivals: The Black Keys @ Three Rivers, Roots Picnic, Independence Jam
2. Review: Dan Auerbach @ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, 9 April 2009
3. Dan Auerbach's Set List

The Black Keys have just spent 3 big days, 5-7 June 2009, performing at The Three Rivers Festival (Pittsburgh), The Roots Picnic (Philadephia) and the 94.9 FM Independence Jam (Oceanside, California).

The Black Keys haven’t done much touring this year, but they have cherry-picked significant festivals of choice in advance of recording in August. Consequently, the ‘Keys have been able to concentrate at these festivals on laying “rubber for nearly an hour with an impressive set of whiskey-soaked shit-kicker rock”, as Rolling Stone described their performance at the Roots Picnic.

Various reports mentioned some technical difficultities at each show and blown amps, so it looks like the boys really did kick out the jams. It was remarked upon that The Black Keys did drown out Kid Cudi’s performance on a nearby stage.

Interestingly, it was reported a new song was debuted in Pittsburgh. Not sure if anyone out there has a recording of it?

At The Roots Picnic my hoped for drum battle between Pat and Questlove sadly didn’t eventuate.

Below are a couple of live videos that reflect the crowd, scene and band. Pat looks like he’s not quite at his normal playing weight, and the freshly shorn Dan made a welcome return.

For other awesome black and white video of The Black Keys at the Independence Jam check out the YouTube channel of Black Keys’ fan BatCountryX who was hard at work at the gig. Previously this site has featured her Pomona live videos in this post

Three Rivers – Same Old Thing

Independence Jam – I Got Mine

Related posts:

1. Review: The Black Keys @ 94.9 Independence Jam 2009 including Set List
2. Drum Battle: Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) vs Questlove (The Roots)
3. 2009: The Black Keys Year In Review