The Arcs are Currently Touring, and You Need to See Them Live.

There was a lot more going on than a guitar and drums.

Last night my brother and I went to see the Arcs at the Pageant here in Saint Louis, and it was a very good show. The Arcs is Black Keys front man and lead guitarist Dan Auerbach's side project. I've written about them a couple of times on the site before, but last night was the first time I had seen them live. They were very good.

The band was very tight and you could tell that they enjoy playing music with one another. Auerbach seemed a bit more relaxed on stage as well. Not that he isn't relaxed with the Black Keys, he just exerts so much energy when performing live with the Black Keys because they are a two piece band. The Arcs, on the other hand, they had Auerbach on lead vocals and lead guitar, they had a bass player, a piano/saxophone player, a guy that doubled as a drummer and rhythm guitar player and Richard Swift playing drums as well as keyboards and a beat machine. They also had their openers, an all female mariachi band, come on and do background vocals and play some instruments on a few songs. This was a full band. I absolutely adore the sound and the show that is the Black Keys, I love two piece bands, but it's nice to see Auerbach venture out with a full band, and it sounds good. He also didn't look extremely exhausted at the end of the show last night, much like he does after a Black Keys show.

The Arcs are a very good band and they proved that last night with this show. They opened with "Velvet Ditch", which is a slower burning, almost psychedelic rock song and they crushed it. I knew I was in for a good 90 minutes after they opened the show so well. they went on to play 14 more songs, but not everything was off their album, which was nice. The majority of the show was from "Yours Dreamily", but they also did a new song, a few covers and they played the excellent "Lake Superior".

"Lake Superior" was written after they saw the Netflix show "Making A Murderer", and it's about the unjust way these people were treated and later convicted of a crime they may not have done. The song is eerie, but the melody and the music is upbeat in a weird way. I was very happy to hear them play this song live. I loved it when it came out, I listen to it on my iPod all the time, so it was great to get to hear it live.

The covers were old timey tunes. They played the Temptations "Smiling Faces Sometimes", The Blue Rondos "Little Baby" and they closed the night with Gary "U.S" Bonds "I Wanna Holler". Each song was great and they put their sound on each one. "Smiling Faces Sometimes" was slowed a bit and made a little more psychedelic, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Auerbach's solo's were clutch on this song. "Little Baby" was played just like the old time tune it is and I loved that. They played the sped up time signature, they sang it like the original band and the female mariachi backing band sounded really good on this song. Closing the show with a cover is always a little suspect to me, but they did and excellent job with "I Wanna Holler". It was a good choice by the band to play a song that is similar to their sound already and they did a great job covering it.

They played a newer song that they recently wrote called "Maybe I'm the Only One For Me". It was a very good, slow song. I liked the lyrics and the music. There was some great reverb from the guitar, the drums were slowed down to an excellent groove and Auerbach's vocals were awesome. They played a couple of other tunes that I'm not too familiar with. Right after "Velvet Ditch", they played "Bad Girl". This was a good, slower song, that had Auerbach using his newfound falsetto voice. It was trippy, but good. Right after that they played "Keep On Dreamin", which I think might be on the album, but I'm not 100 percent sure. It was good too though. Very good guitar and very good drums on the song. I liked it a lot. Their other encore song was a song called "Eyez". I think the Arcs were trying out a lot of newer material and that makes me happy. I like that they are giving the crowds at these shows a chance to hear stuff they've been working on. I liked this song too. It had a 50's sound to it, but spliced with their sound meaning, distorted guitars and loud drums. It was pretty good. 

The rest of the show featured songs off their record. They played, "Put a Flower In Your Pocket", "Pistol Made of Bones", "Stay In My Corner", "Chains of Love", "The Arc", "Cold Companion" and "Outta My Mind". I'm already a huge fan of "Put A Flower in Your Pocket", so to hear it live was a delight. They played it excellently and they even had the weird, choppy effect that starts on the song on the record while they played it live. Auerbach's vocals really shine on that song as well. "Pistol Made of Bones" is my sons favorite song and I got to say, they played it really well. Once again, great vocals and guitar from Auerbach, but the drums, with the loud splash when they sing, "I was shot!", was fantastic. "Stay in My Corner" was sweet and pretty and the solo was very well played. They even had a nice floral arrangement as their lights for this song. It was beautiful visually and sonically. "Chains of Love" was where the female mariachi band got their moment to shine. They got to sing the chorus and the added lines and they sounded great. Really excellent guitar on this one as well. "The Arc" and "Cold Companion" both sounded very similar, but very good. They sound alike on the record and the live show wasn't very different. Don't get me wrong, I loved hearing them both, they just sounded kind of the same. And "Outta My Mind" was great. It's a good song to begin with, but hearing it live and seeing the weird clips they added in the background made it that much better. It was done very well.

I knew going in that I was going to enjoy myself last night. I'm an unapologetic Black Keys fan, so anything that Dan Auerbach or Patrick Carney do outside of that, I'm probably going to enjoy and the Arcs, well I enjoy them quite a bit. It was a fun, fast in a good way and well done show. I liked it being in a smaller venue with a smaller crowd too, more intimate that way. The Arcs are a great band and they deliver when it comes to a live show. If they are coming close to your town, I highly recommend checking them out because you will have a good time. It was a very, very good show last night.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He would love to talk about your show in St. Louis. If you are a musician, comedian, or something in between, let us know and Ty will come to your show. Also make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.