Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys performs in Quebec City, Canada. Photo: Scott Legato/Getty Images
Band will be joined by Cage the Elephant, Jake Bugg and St. Vincent at various points during the trek.
The Black Keys will spend this fall hoofing it across North America on a massive tour behind their new record Turn Blue. After a headlining slot at Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores, Alabama and a stretch of dates in Europe, the band will kick off their North American tour at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio on September 5th and wrap things up at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO on December 21st.
The band has also tapped various openers for the multi-leg trek: Cage the Elephant will join the group between September 5th and the 27th, up-and-coming UK rocker Jake Bugg will open shows from October 24th to November 16th and St. Vincent will take over from December 4th to the 21st.
You can check out a full list of dates below, as well as a silly tour announcement video in which a disgraced Dan Auerbach tries to make amends but receives only laughter and cheers, while the mere site of Patrick Carney elicits a swarm of boos.
The Black Keys’ video game has been on point, per usual, during the lead up to Turn Blue. After teasing the record with clips featuring a wackadoo hypnotist, the band went to church in the new video for “Fever,” with Auerbach preaching the gospel as a sweat-drenched televangelist.
Turn Blue, which follows up the Black Keys’ 2011 LP El Camino, sees official release on May 13th, but you can stream the album in its entirety now.
9/5 Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Cente
9/6 Cleveland, OH – Quicken Loans Arena
9/7 Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
9/9 Milwaukee, WI – BMO Harris Bradley Center
9/10 Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
9/12 Detroit, MI – Joe Louis Arena
9/13 Pittsburgh, PA – CONSOL Energy Center
9/14 Rochester, NY – Blue Cross Arena
9/16 Toronto, Ontario – Air Canada Centre
9/18 Montreal, Quebec – Bell Centre
9/20 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
9/21 Boston, MA – TD Garden
9/24 Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
9/25 Washington, DC – Verizon Center
9/27 Chicago, IL – United Center
10/24 Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
10/25 Winnipeg, Manitoba – MTS Centre
10/27 Calgary, Alberta – Scotiabank Saddledome
10/28 Edmonton, Alberta – Rexall Place
10/30 Vancouver, British Columbia – Pacific Coliseum
10/31 Portland, OR – Moda Centers
11/1 Seattle, WA – KeyArena
11/9 San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl
11/10 Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center
11/12 Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center
11/13 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
11/15 Houston, TX – Toyota Center
11/16 Dallas,TX – American Airlines Center
12/4 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Arena
12/5 Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
12/6 Richmond, VA – Richmond Coliseum
12/8 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
12/9 St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center
12/11 Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena
12/12 Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Cable Arena
12/13 Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena
12/15 Ft. Lauderdale, FL – BB&T Center
12/16 Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Times Forum
12/17 Orlando, FL – Amway Center
12/19 Austin, TX – Frank Erwin Center
12/20 Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
12/21 Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center
Nirvana Reunite, Kiss Remain Civil at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Evening wraps with Lorde, Kim Gordon, St. Vincent and Joan Jett all fronting Nirvana
Prior to the performance, Nirvana was introduced by R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, was was a close friend of frontman Kurt Cobain. “This is not just pop music, he said of the band. This is something much greater than that.” He continued, “Nirvana were artists in every sense of the word. Nirvana tapped into a voice that was yearning to be heard. Nirvana were kicking against the mainstream. They spoke truth and a lot of people listened.”
Grohl gave the first and longest of the acceptance speeches, using it to commemorate the four other drummers who played in the band, while also recognizing the D.C. punk band that inspired him as a musician. “For whatever reason, I got to be the luckiest person in the world,” he said.
Novoselic took time to remember Cobain.”I wish Kurt could be here,” he said. “His music meant so much to so many people.” He also thanked Sub Pop Records, the Melvins’ Buzz Osborne, and Steve Albini, among others.
Kurt Cobain’s mother spoke on her son’s behalf. “He would be so proud, he said he wouldn’t, but he would be,” she said.
Courtney Love provided the final remarks, saying, “I have a big speech but I’m not going to say it. I just wish Kurt could have been here.” She kept things civil, even giving a hug to Grohl.
Watch the full speech below.
It was exactly midnight when Joan Jett walked onstage with the surviving members of Nirvana and tore into the opening chords of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” By that point, the capacity crowd at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center had witnessed a long evening full of miraculous moments only possible at the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony: A beaming Peter Criss threw his arms around his supposed sworn enemy Paul Stanley during Kiss’ peaceful reunion, Cat Stevens led an arena full of Kiss and Nirvana fans through a sing-along rendition of “Peace Train,” Courtney Love embraced Dave Grohl in a huge bear hug after 20 years of nasty accusations and lawsuits and Bruce Springsteen played with two founding members of the E Street Band for the first time in 40 years.
But nothing could compare to the thrill of watching Joan Jett, Kim Gordon, St. Vincent and Lorde take turns fronting Nirvana. Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic hadn’t played a Kurt Cobain-penned song together in public since the frontman killed himself 20 years ago, and it’s quite easy to imagine they never will again. Jett kicked things off with a wild, thrashed-out “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that had men in tuxedos dancing on their chairs. Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon kept the energy high with a faithful rendition of “Aneurysm” and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) belted out “Lithium.” It wrapped up with Lorde’s gut-wrenching take on “All Apologies.” She was born two and a half years after Cobain died, but she somehow had the wisdom and confidence to deliver those agonizing lyrics.
The evening began a little after 7:00 PM with a speech by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Chairman Jann Wenner. “We are thrilled to be here tonight in Brooklyn,” he said. “As Keith Richards has said so often, at this age we’re thrilled to be anywhere. We’re here to celebrate our youth, our music and that which keeps us forever young. Rock and roll offers hope and passion and joy and courage and love, a way to understand the world around us, and for so many of us, a way of life.”
Peter Asher handed out the first two awards of the night to Beatles manager Brian Epstein and Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham. “These are the first two managers ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” he said. “Each of them managed one of the most important ensembles in music history, let alone just rock and roll. And each of whom guided his band from anonymity to global stature, though in very different ways.” Epstein died in 1967 and Loog Oldham opted to skip the ceremony, so nobody was on hand to accept their awards.
Next up was Peter Gabriel, who delivered a hypnotic rendition of “Digging In The Dirt” before Chris Martin walked out to induct him. “He brings together sounds from all over the world,” said the Coldplay frontman. “At times it feels like he releases music at a snail’s pace. But one looks back now and sees this amazing cathedral of song. It was worth the effort and the time that it took. He’s always been an innovator and a seeker. He’s a curator and an inspirer. He also helped John Cusack get his girlfriend back in the movie Say Anything.
A very grateful Gabriel hoisted the award above his head Cusack-style before his acceptance speech. “Watch out for music,” he said. “It should come with a health warning. It can be dangerous. It can make you feel so alive, so connected to the people around you, connected to what you are inside. It can make you think that the world should and could be a much better place. It can also make you very, very happy.” He then sat at the piano and duetted with Martin on the 1992 obscurity “Washing of the Water” before bringing out surprise guest Youssou N’Dour for a long, euphoric “In Your Eyes” that brought everyone to their feet.
The vast majority of press leading up to the Hall of Fame centered around the never-ending drama of Kiss, so it was a little surprising to see their big moment come and go so early in the evening, though it did make sense because they were the only inductees in the house that decided not to perform. Longtime Kiss superfan Tom Morello gave a fiery induction speech for his heroes. “Kiss was never a critics’ band,” he said. “Kiss was a people’s band…The first Kiss concert I saw was the single loudest, most cathartic two hours of music I’ve seen to this day.”
Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley walked onstage together to thunderous applause, and each of them looked a little choked up by the moment. Simmons spoke first, and, against all odds, was the most concise. “We are humbled to stand on this stage and do what we love doing,” he said. “This is a profound moment for all of us. I’m here to say a few kind words about the four knuckleheads who, 40 years ago, got together and decided to put together the kind of band we never saw onstage, critics be damned.”
After speaking kindly about his two former bandmates, he yielded the microphone to them. Peter Criss thanked everybody from the group’s former managers to their truck drivers, while Frehley rambled a bit since he had trouble reading his own notes without his proper glasses. “I was 13 when I picked up my first guitar,” he said. “I always sensed I was going to be into something big. A few years later, there I was. I experienced the Summer of Love.”
Stanley has been the most vocal critic of the Hall of Fame in the long buildup to this ceremony, and he used the opportunity to take some parting shots. “The people are speaking to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” he said. “They want more. They deserve more. They want to be part of the induction. They want to be a part of the nomination [process]. They don’t want to be spoon-fed a bunch of choices. The people pay for tickets. The people buy albums. The people who nominate do not.”
Any hopes of a surprise Kiss performance were dashed when they walked offstage and Art Garfunkel stepped out to induct Cat Stevens, who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam. “If Paul and I hadn’t split up around 1970 there’d be no room on the charts for Cat Stevens to take over,” he said. “‘Bridge Over Troubled Water had to go away so that Tea for the Tillerman could arrive.”
Cat Stevens gave a long speech where he name-checked everybody from Bach to Bo Diddley to Leonard Bernstein and Bob Dylan, even pausing in the middle to ask for a glass of water. He won the crowd right back when he picked up an acoustic guitar and delivered a flawless “Father and Son.” He’s 65 years old, but since he’s taken decades off from touring and lived a very healthy lifestyle, he sounded absolutely amazing. Paul Shaffer and his band then came out for “Wild World” and a rousing “Peace Train” where they got some help from a large choir. It served as a nice preview for the American tour that Yusuf is supposedly plotting for sometime in the near future.
Rolling Stone’s loss is Pierre Omidyar’s gain. Matt Taibbi is joining First Look Media, the same organization where Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras are on the masthead at The Intercept– but Taibbi will lead his own publication focused on financial and political corruption. The new magazine does not yet have a name or a precise launch date.
Matt Taibbi, who made a name as a fierce critic of Wall Street at Rolling Stone magazine, has joined First Look Media, the latest big-name journalist to leave an established brand to enter the thriving and well-financed world of news start-ups, wrote Ravi Somaiya.
Mr. Taibbi will start his own publication focusing on financial and political corruption, he said in an interview on Wednesday. First Look is financed by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, who is worth $8.5 billion, according to Forbes. Mr. Omidyar has pledged $250 million to the project.
Read Matt’s thank you note to Rolling Stone Magazine:
Thank You, Rolling Stone
By Matt Taibbi
POSTED: February 20, 10:35 AM ET
Today is my last day at Rolling Stone. As of this week, I’m leaving to work for First Look Media, the new organization that’s already home to reporters like Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras.
I’ll have plenty of time to talk about the new job elsewhere. But in this space, I just want to talk about Rolling Stone, and express my thanks. Today is a very bittersweet day for me. As excited as I am about the new opportunity, I’m sad to be leaving this company.
More than 15 years ago, Rolling Stone sent a reporter, Brian Preston, to do a story on the eXile, the biweekly English-language newspaper I was editing in Moscow at the time with Mark Ames. We abused the polite Canadian Preston terribly – I think we thought we were being hospitable – and he promptly went home and wrote a story about us that was painful, funny and somewhat embarrassingly accurate. Looking back at that story now, in fact, I’m surprised that Rolling Stone managing editor Will Dana gave me a call years later, after I’d returned to the States.
I remember when Will called, because it was such an important moment in my life. I was on the American side of Niagara Falls, walking with friends, when my cell phone rang. Night had just fallen and when Will invited me to write a few things in advance of the 2004 presidential election, I nearly walked into the river just above the Falls.
At the time, I was having a hard time re-acclimating to life in America and was a mess personally. I was broke and having anxiety attacks. I specifically remember buying three cans of corned beef hash with the last dollars of available credit on my last credit card somewhere during that period. Anyway I botched several early assignments for the magazine, but Will was patient and eventually brought me on to write on a regular basis.
It was my first real job and it changed my life. Had Rolling Stone not given me a chance that year, God knows where I’d be – one of the ideas I was considering most seriously at the time was going to Ukraine to enroll in medical school, of all things.
In the years that followed, both Will and editor/publisher Jann S. Wenner were incredibly encouraging and taught me most of what I now know about this business. It’s been an amazing experience. I’ve had a front-row seat for some of the strangest and most interesting episodes of our recent history. At various times, thanks to this magazine, I’ve spent days hiding in a cell at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, gone undercover in an apocalyptic church in Texas (where I learned to vomit my demons into a paper bag), and even helped run a campaign office for George W. Bush along the I-4 corridor in Florida, getting so into the assignment that I was involuntarily happy when Bush won.
I was at the Michael Jackson trial, so close to the defendant I could see the outlines of his original nose. I met past and future presidents. I shared Udon noodles with Dennis Kucinich in a van on a highway in Maine. And I paddled down the streets of Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, so deep into the disaster zone that a soldier in a rescue copter above mistook me for a victim and threw a Meal Ready to Eat off my head. I still have that MRE, it has some kind of pop tart in it – I’m going to give it to my son someday.
To be able to say you work for Rolling Stone, it’s a feeling any journalist in his right mind should want to experience. The magazine’s very name is like a magic word. I noticed it from the very first assignment. Even people who know they probably shouldn’t talk to you, do, once they hear you’re from the magazine Dr. Hook sang about. And if they actually see the business card, forget it. People will do anything to get into the magazine, to have some of that iconic cool rub off on them.
There were times when I would think about the great reporters and writers who’ve had the same job I was so lucky to have, and it would be almost overwhelming – it was like being the Dread Pirate Roberts. It was a true honor and I’ll eternally be in the debt of Will and Jann, and Sean Woods and Coco McPherson and Victor Juhasz and Alison Weinflash and so many others with whom it was my privilege to work. I wish there was something I could say that is stronger than Thank You.
No journalist has ever been luckier than me. Thank you, Rolling Stone.
UNRULY HEARTS 