The Black Keys will headline an evening of alternative music on July 6, during the Summerfest 2011 season. Three bands make up this night of music that caters to non-country music fans. Okay, I'm sure that there are a few people that like both styles. Opening for The Black Keys will be Florence + The Machine and Cage the Elephant. Am I the only one who noticed that all three bands have three words in their name? Is that part of what makes a great alternative band name?
The Black Keys crushed it on SNL a while back. I'm a fan of drummers who use the floor toms in place of a high hat. Yes, their drummer plays a high hat, but in their more popular song Howlin' For You, he hits those toms with power.
Florence and the Machine is really all about "Florence." She's a voice, and the band is secondary. The UK likes her, and she's trying her best to make a splash here in the US. Let's put aside the fact that SPIN thinks she should be Artist of The Year, after she hit one million album sales. Her following here is growing, but I must admit that she sounds a lot like so many others. At times she's a carbon copy of Melody Gardot. Still, she's only begun to tour in the past few years, so I don't want to write her off completely.
As I visualize her performance on the massive Marcus Amphitheater stage, before the sun goes down, with people coming and going, I don't really think it's going to work. Put her voice on a movie soundtrack and it fits. Put her in front of 30,000 seats (half of them empty,) and it may be a long night. The Summerfest openers don't get the same respect as the headline acts, and her voice may not have the power to suck in the fans that are waiting for the Black Keys to hit the stage.