The Black Keys will play small venues on a three-city U.S. tour this September.
Joshua Black Wilkins*The Black Keys will perform at three intimate theaters in U.S. cities named after foreign cities when the blues-rock duo embarks on their “World Tour” in September. Singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney will play Athens, Georgia; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Oxford, Mississippi.
Carney acknowledged the cheekiness of the idea in a press release on Wednesday. “Dan and I have joked about doing a tour of American cities named after other cities in the world since we were touring together in a van. It feels like now is as good a time as any and we are excited to play in some places we haven’t played in since the early days of the band and for fans that have not had a chance to see us in a while,” he said.
The Black Keys will play a pair of 2,000-capacity rooms (Athens’ Classic Center, St. Petersburg’s Jannus Live) and a 1,000-capacity hall (Oxford’s Lyric). The three shows lead up to the group’s headlining appearance at the 2021 Pilgrimage Festival outside Nashville the weekend of September 25th and 26th (see tickets here).
The “World Tour” gigs will lean on the Keys’ latest album, Delta Kream, a collection of Hill Country blues covers by Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. “They were so pivotal in our careers, Pat and I. It’s what brought us together. It was the concentric circle, where on the outside, he and I liked totally different things, but in the middle it was Junior and R.L. We could drive down the highway all night and listen to them. It was just endless inspiration for us,” Auerbach told Rolling Stone earlier this summer.
In addition to the tour, the Black Keys have partnered with the Save the Music Foundation, the organization that supports elementary and middle-school music programs. Together they’ll work to bring music education and instruments to schools in Mississippi’s Hill Country.
Tickets for the World Tour go on sale Friday, July 23rd at 10 a.m. local time on the band’s website and Ticketmaster.com. You can also find tickets at VividSeats.com.
The Black Keys’ World Tour Dates:
September 20 — Athens, GA @ The Classic Center
September 21 — St Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
September 23 — Oxford, MS @ The Lyric
NEWS
Lola Young has joined forces with Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) to release a new T shirt for the charity’s Lifelines collection.
The shirt supports CALM’s suicide prevention work, with proceeds helping to fund vital resources such as its helpline and CALMzone mental health app.
CALM introduced the Lifelines range last year, with Fontaines D.C., Blossoms and Inhaler also contributing their own designs to the collection.
Young’s design includes the words, “There’s a flicker of light. There’s always morning after the night”, taken from her track ‘Flicker Of Light’.
“I wrote this song about realising there is hope. I have often felt like there isn’t, but there is always a reason to keep going,” Young said. “That’s even when you don’t want to get out of bed, you do, and that is amazing, and you’re still here, and you’re still alive, and if anything, that’s something to be proud of.”
CALM CEO Simon Gunning also shared his appreciation for the collaboration, saying: “We couldn’t be more grateful to Lola for supporting ‘Lifelines’ and showing just how powerful music can be as a force for good.”
Priced at £30, the T shirts come in both standard and boxy fits and are available to purchase here.
Young has regularly spoken about her experiences with mental health. She returned to performing earlier this year after calling off her 2025 tour because of exhaustion. The decision followed her collapse during a performance in New York City. During her time away, she later discussed receiving support for addiction and attending AA meetings as part of her recovery.
In an interview with NME in May, Young explained that she believes “all healing journeys are never ending”, although she is now “definitely in a much better place”. She also said she feels “excited and ready to perform and to release music”.
Reflecting on the encouragement she received after publicly discussing those challenges, Young said: “My fans inspire me in the same way I hope to inspire them. I feel like I’ve never tried to be especially honest… it just comes very naturally to me.”
“I don’t really have any other choice but to be honest, so if people connect to that, and that’s amazing.”
Several musicians have also applauded the ‘Messy’ singer for honestly addressing the pressure placed on touring performers. Lily Allen said she was “in awe” of the BRIT and Grammy winner, while Victoria Canal credited Young with bringing greater attention to the damaging impact demanding tour schedules can have on artists’ mental wellbeing.
When NME asked whether musicians were beginning to establish firmer boundaries around their health, Young replied: “I never intended it to start a movement, but I hope that it does in some way.”
