Archival live video footage of The Black Keys pre-2004 is relatively rare. Now days you can invariably find video footage of every live show posted soon after the event. So when this 2003 show at Lola’s Room was recently uploaded to YouTube by OscarTripe, The Black Keys Fan Lounge had to find out more. OscarTripe explains below how he came to record this show.

What’s great about these early recordings is not just the fact they are in a small room, early in the band’s career, but the fact they are taken on a proper video camera often side of stage with good sound quality. Most stuff that fan’s take now days is from a camera phone being waved in the air with poor sound quality.

Dedicated fans of any band are archivists by default. Whether it be through the photos they take, the recollections they publish or the autographs and memorabilia they collect. Respect to all those who have and do make the effort. Just imagine if Alan Lomax had had access to video/film back in the day – he was just one big, serious fan at the end of the day.

The Black Keys Fan Lounge also recently chronicled fan Chris Johnson’s 2003 video archive of the band.

Please be aware of The Black Keys’ current taping policy doesn’t include videoing shows. Strangely the link to this policy has been removed from the new website upgrade.

OscarTripe explains how he came to video this 2003 show and how only now fans are getting to see it:

Back in the summer of 2003 I was friendly with the ‘Keys. They’d stayed with me on a recent trip through Portland (opening for Sleater Kinney at the Crystal Ballroom) and their tour manager was an old pal of mine.
This time they were headlining their own show at Lola’s Room, a club space directly below the Crystal.
I’d recently picked up a mini DV camera and brought it with me to the show to test it out. Dan and Patrick were fine with me filming, and in fact I recall Dan telling me that he taped the odd show himself.
The boys took the stage very early for some reason—9 PM with no opening act. The crowd was small (30-40) but ravenous.
Between the newness of the camera, my lousy photography skills and all the shots of Old Crow I did with Patrick it’s a wonder the video turned out at all. But I was delighted to find the footage while going through some old tapes recently and am happy to share it with you all.

Videos of songs in set list order:

Busted

Them Eyes

Set You Free

Have Love Will Travel

I’ll Be Your Man

No Trust

No Fun

Related posts:

1. Video: The Black Keys With Beck Live 2003
2. Chris Johnson’s Live Video Archive of The Black Keys
3. Video: The Black Keys’ Live 2003

No sooner was I praising the virtues of The Black Keys in black and white, than these cool new black and white videos of The Black Keys turn up.

Even better that they are of the ‘Keys recent return to the stage at the Glasshouse, Pomona CA, USA, show on 16 April 2009, the night before the Coachella performance.

Even better than that is the fact the sound  and video quality are excellent. Respect BatCountryX.

From the looks of it The Black Keys have lost nothing while Dan has been touring his solo album.

Tracks include Busted, The Breaks, Your Touch, Same Old Thing, I Got Mine.

Busted

The Breaks

Your Touch

Same Old Thing & I Got Mine

Related posts:

1. Video: The Black Keys Live @ Lola’s Room, Portland, USA, 2003
2. Video: The Black Keys Live at Melkweg 2006
3. Video: The Black Keys Live In Austin

This is the final video I took at the Sydney show earlier this year that I went to.

It’s not necessarily my favourite song and I thought the quality wasn’t that great when I first viewed it, but then after watching it again recently I really think it’s the best one I captured that night.

It’s a bit of an extended jam and because the guitar and drums aren’t so loud the sound quality doesn’t distort too badly and it’s really memorable.  Notably, bathed in red stage light throughout, Dan displays some subtle guitar moves and Pat pulls some awesome drummer faces.  I really like it for those reasons and more so because I’ve been able to to capture both Pat and Dan in the same frame for much of the song.

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys "Have Love Will Travel" Live in Sydney 2008
2. Review: Black Keys gig, Sydney, 21 June 2008
3. The Black Keys "I'm Glad" Live in Sydney

Told you I’d bring you more live video I recorded from this years Sydney gig on 21 June at the Manning Bar, Sydney University.

This was the last song of the night.  Note the time on the clock on the wall behind the boys about to tick over to 1am.  Awesome to see them still cranking so hard at such an hour considering this was their second gig of the day at the same venue. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys "Stack Shot Billy" Live In Sydney 2008
2. Review: Black Keys gig, Sydney, 21 June 2008
3. The Black Keys "I'm Glad" Live in Sydney

In lieu of not having access to the new Strange Times video, here’s a great video of a live version of Strange Times on the current tour. Looks like they are really cranking. Good to see that beard aint getting any shorter and the hair is getting even longer on Dan.

Related posts:

1. Video: The Black Keys Live @ Lola’s Room, Portland, USA, 2003
2. Live Video of The Black Keys: The Glasshouse, Pomona, 2009
3. Listen: The Black Keys’ On NPR World Cafe Session and New York Times Popcast Live