What was going on with The Black Keys and their weird private crypto show Akron?

AKRON, Ohio – If things had gone the way the Black keys planned, the Grammy Award-winning, Akron-born rock duo would have enjoyed another successful arena tour this month, having just played a sold-out gig at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland to celebrate the release of their latest album,” Ohio players.”

But singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have had a tough few months. They canceled the scheduled October 12 Cleveland concert, along with every other date on their “International Players Tour,” due to low ticket sales. They also said goodbye to their management. They seemed destined for a long rebuilding process.

It turns out they did return to Ohio this month for a hometown show, but it was certainly strange: a small, private, paid performance on Friday evening at the Akron Civic Theater, sponsored by Stand with Cryptoa nonprofit political outreach group that, among other things, rates political candidates based on their support of legislation favored by the crytocurrency industry.

Far from being a musical event, Friday’s concert was part of a well-financed national political campaign that is spending tens of millions of dollars to influence state and federal political races across the country. This also applies to Ohio, where pro-crypto political action committees are active a Super PAC called Fairshakehave pumped more than $40 million into ads to support Bernie Moreno in his race to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto critic.

Stand With Crypto is supported by several cryptocurrency companies including Twin And Coin base. The latter is currently the largest American crypto exchange, and according to a recent analysis from Politico, has spent more than $50 million over the past two years to influence — some would say intimidate — candidates on crypto law and policy.

In Ohio, that meant endorsing and financially supporting Moreno, who founded the blockchain company Ownum in 2018 and receives an “A” grade from Stand With Crypto. He is the recommended Senate candidate in Ohio. Brown, meanwhile, gets one “F” because it is “strongly anti-crypto”.

The super PAC Fairshake donated $1.8 million to Stand With Crypto, according to Politico. It has put millions more into super PACS than according to a recent investigation by the New Yorker, intimidate politicians into supporting their pro-crypto agenda.

Fairshake-funded ads in Ohio criticize Brown and praise Moreno, a former car dealer, as a smart self-made businessman and a decent human being. None of the ads ever mention the special interest group’s crypto-focused agenda. Fairshake’s website claims it “supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home for innovators building the next generation of the internet.”

What all this has to do with the Black Keys, who grew from their humble roots in Akron into one of the biggest bands in rock ‘n’ roll, is anyone’s guess. The band’s management declined to discuss Friday’s performance in Akron, which was part of a nationwide “America Loves Crypto Tour,” which also featured shows in other cities from Big Sean, The Chainsmokers, Black Pumas, Jessie Murph, 070 Shake and Lauv.

To attend the event in Akron, fans had to provide their contact information online and then download and install the Coinbase wallet app to receive their digital pass.

Auerbach and Carney said nothing about crypto — and very little else — on stage Friday as they played a 45-minute set of Black Keys hits and fan favorites.

The staging was unique, with the band’s positioning towards the backstage, with approximately 200 standing room only fans on stage. The orchestra level was left empty and the rest of the fans registered for the show were in the approximately 2/3 full Akron Civic balcony. looking at the back of the vertical lighting rig on stage, the back of the band’s heads and the faces of the fans on stage. A very strange setup for a rock concert.

The duo was supplemented on Friday with keyboardist Ray Jacildo, bassist-singer Zach Gabbard and guitarist-singer Andy Gabbard. They also record as the Gabbard Bros. and were members of the groovy Cincinatti psych-rock band Buffalo Killers, whose second album “Let It Ride” was one of Auerbach’s early production credits.

The band ripped into “Gold On The Ceiling,” which turned into a sing-along that had some on the balcony dancing down the aisles. As usual, Auerbach kept the chatter to a minimum by mentioning that another of the band’s singles, “Your Touch,” was “recorded right down the street.”

Although the performance didn’t have the frenzied atmosphere of a packed arena show or the sweaty, communal feel of a good club concert, the Keys played well and offered a lurching, funky “Tighten Up,” a beautifully screaming six-string performance. fretwork from Auerbach on “She’s Long Gone” and “Howlin’ For You,” and a soulful “Little Black Submarines” with Auerbach’s soft acoustic opening transitioning to heavy bar chords for its rocking coda.

After a suitably stomping version of “Fever,” Auerbach turned to the people on the balcony, waved and asked, “How are you doing up there?” receiving cheers from the seemingly distant fans.

“The weirdest gig we’ve ever played,” he said, turning to count down a slow-creeping “Next Girl.” The show ended with a sing-along “Lonely Boy,” closing the Keys’ first home show in 15 years.

Before the Keys took the stage, fans of the band and crypto gathered loosely outside the Akron Civic Theater. As soon as the doors opened and fans walked in, they were greeted with a branded Stand With Crypto swag bag, filled with free crypto-friendly trucker hats and large “I Vote For Crypto” and “I Stand with Crypto” signs. Some people happily accepted the free stuff, others politely declined.

The Akron event was the final stop on a seven-day Stand With Crypto tour across the country, with other artists including rapper Big Sean in Detroit, Lauv in Philadelphia and The Chainsmokers in Washington DC.

The concert was preceded by speeches advocating for crypto and crypto-friendly candidates from Ohio, prompting one concertgoer on stage to joke, “I knew there was a catch. It’s a timeshare!”

Crypto folks, including Andrew Burchwell of the Ohio Blockchain Council, who brought out several “blockchain innovators” and speakers to push the future of crypto and the importance of voting for crypto. Each speaker spoke about how crypto is simply misunderstood by most people and praised the blockchain’s potential to help in areas such as “public sector transparency and secure voting and digital identity verification.” They also touted what they say is the dual nature of their mission and the importance of America being at the forefront of the coming global crypto economy. When a woman in the audience loudly asked, “Why should we vote for crypto?” she was summarily ignored.

Other speakers talked about innovations such as a data center that uses the immense heat generated by crypto mining to fuel a greenhouse that grows food that it donates to local food banks. Another data center was praised for having a system that, should the grid fail, will quickly shut down and distribute the incredible amount of energy that data centers require so that ordinary people in the community can still have energy.