CLEVELAND, Ohio – On Friday, August 22, a pair of Akron music exports will return to their Ohio roots when the Black Keys perform at Blossom Music Center alongside Texas singer-songwriter and guitarist Gary Clark Jr. Tickets for the show start at $54.50 and are on sale now at ticketmaster.com.
The West Akron duo—drummer Pat Carney and singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach—are touring behind their 13th studio album, “No Rain, No Flowers,” released earlier this August. As with their previous album, “Ohio Players,” the pair of Firestone High grads enlisted several of their talented musical friends to assist in writing and recording, including famed producer Scott Storch, Grammy-winning songwriter-producer Daniel Tashian, and Songwriters Hall of Famer Desmond Child, among others.
The album release comes after a very public rough patch for the six-time Grammy winners, following the announcement and eventual cancellation of their 2024 American “International Players” arena tour, which was quickly followed by a split with their then-new management. The duo returned to their hometown in October of last year to play a free private event for Stand With Crypto at the Akron Civic Theatre for about 300 people—a show Auerbach called “the weirdest gig we’ve ever played,” and which Carney recalled as “very weird.”
“We had gotten really (expletive) by the music industry, by people we were working with, and ended up with a bunch of tour expenses that had to get covered,” Carney said in a phone interview a few shows into the current tour.
“And we got an offer to play that show and we were told it’s a non-partisan whatever,” Carney said, noting that he researched some of the other bands that had played shows for Stand With Crypto, including the Black Pumas.
“And then we played that show and just got railroaded in the New York Times,” he said.
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Carney said the entire experience was educational—not just about the music business he’s been embedded in for nearly 25 years, but also about what happens when artists climb to the proverbial mountaintop and what comes next. Carney has long been wary of complacency, believing your own hype and expecting continued success, which can lead to inertia and doing “the same tours over and over and over and over again.”
“I guess there’s a level of complacency that can happen with success. And I think that was just a healthy reminder that usually, the path of least resistance is also the path that will get exploited the most. And you have to find new ways around it,” he said.
“Most of my favorite bands have had to navigate that throughout their careers. We’re just another one of those bands,” he said.
Carney said the music industry was already “slimy,” with most artists getting screwed on recordings. But now, bands and fans are feeling it on the touring side of the business—through ticket prices, fees, and the rising costs of every aspect of attending a concert. The industry also tantalizes artists, strokes their egos and encourages them to seek more fame and do whatever it takes to get “bigger.”
“The industry sets you up to just feel like you gotta climb the mountain. That’s where there’s always this next thing. It’s like: the Beachland Tavern to the Beachland Ballroom to the Agora to the Convocation Center to the arena. Now it’s Blossom. And if that works out, great. But that’s not what defines success,” Carney said, adding that as everything gets bigger, so do expenses—like larger stage productions requiring more buses, which require more insurance and other costs that fall on the artists.
“We’re just trying to figure out how to navigate around it. Tickets shouldn’t be as expensive as they are, and everything’s crazy. You sell a ticket and there’s a $25 charge on it—you don’t get any of the money. It just goes straight to someone else,” he said.
But despite that stretch of professional rocky road, Carney and Auerbach have kept going. Carney said the “Ohio Players” album was a big undertaking—flying around the country to write and record with longtime friend Beck and others, and flying to England for a couple of days to work with Liam Gallagher—adding up to the band being on a creative and “good musical clip.”
Additionally, the pair toured clubs around the U.S. and Europe as DJs, spinning 45s in venues where “people might like to dance to it.” Their crate digging and listening to a variety of music—including “a lot of funk, a lot of soul, a lot of pre-disco, a lot of crap garage rock, a lot of post-punk”—influenced the sound and songs of “No Rain, No Flowers.”
The record, a short, punchy collection of 11 groovy songs in 36 minutes, bears the sonic fruit of their crate digging. Tracks include the funky thump of the single “Babygirl,” featuring fuzzy rock bass, catchy barrelhouse piano riffs, and organ from Storch, while the title track rides a smooth disco-lite bass and a catchy dance-rock chorus. The slinky groove of “Down to Nothing” recalls the ’70s soul records the band has been absorbing, while “Man on a Mission”—with its fuzz guitar riff, stomping chorus, and a too-brief heavy garage rock middle eight—reaches back to the “Attack and Release” days and should get fists pumping in the Blossom crowd. The dance-ready love song “All My Life” has roots in the smooth soul sounds of the ’70s, with plucky guitar licks and a funky bass line. By contrast, “A Little Too High” has a mid-’70s classic rock feel, and the album’s closing rock ballad “Neon Moon,” with its “Take me home, back to you” chorus, is ripe for mid-show phone-light hoisting.
“It’s just influences poking through from what we’ve been listening to. And I think a song like ‘Make You Mine,’ or ‘Babygirl,’ those are indicative of some of the Detroit soul or Philly soul we’ve been listening to.”
The current American leg of the tour comes after a successful run in Europe, where Carney said the band was invigorated not only by the difference in Europe’s touring environment but also by the fans—including a show in London where 14,000 fans showed up and “were going nuts, everybody for the entire set,” which Carney said felt good just to play for people who are into and support the music.
As the band nears its 25th year in 2026, navigating the ever-evolving, shark-filled, and often venal waters of the industry landscape is a constant challenge—but the Black Keys aren’t going anywhere.
“Hey, I’m from Akron, dude. I know that the game changes. It’s hard to not be an optimist growing up in a place like Akron. I grew up in post-industrial Akron surrounded by the remnants of a super-successful industry. And I’m like, well, the music industry is going to end up just like Akron—and I’m still going to be able to figure out how to navigate it because we’re (expletive) cockroaches. Let’s figure it out.”
The Black Keys perform Friday, August 22, at Blossom Music Center, 1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls. Gary Clark Jr. opens. Showtime is 7:30 p.m Tickets start at $54.50 and are on sale now at ticketmaster.com.
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