Bands coming to Pittsburgh this summer create excitement

For music fans of all genres, Pittsburgh will host a summer filled with concerts.

This summer, a variety of famous musical acts will travel to local Pittsburgh venues. Bands such as The Black Keys and Local Natives, among others, are set to come to Pittsburgh and put on hopefully impressive shows.

The Black Keys with The Flaming Lips

April 30, 2013

Consol Energy Center, 8 p.m.

The Black Keys, composed of musicians Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, are coming to Pittsburgh to headline a show alongside The Flaming Lips, bringing two rock ‘n’ roll heavyweights together.

Formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001, The Black Keys came into the national spotlight with their album Brothers, released in 2010. Look forward to hits such as “Everlasting Light,” “Gold on the Ceiling” and “Lonely Boy,” each one transporting you to a smoky hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint in the Deep South.

The Black Keys are known for their muddy chords and head-thumping, raw blues sound. Their songs ooze summer heat, concrete and a beat that reverberates in the recesses of your bones. This is a show you don’t want to miss.

Jeff the Brotherhood

May 24, 2013

Brillobox, 8 p.m.

Nashville rockers Jeff the Brotherhood have a sound that takes listeners into a cramped bedroom adorned with Ty Segall and Ariel Pink posters and empty Bud Light cans littered around the floor. The distortion-pedal-loving two-piece released their EP Hypnotic Knights last year to critical acclaim.

Their appeal comes in part from their old-school, brash, rock ‘n’ roll ethos, fueled by lyrics that are at once both rudimentary and profound. Jeff the Brotherhood just makes you want to have fun.

It is fitting then, that the southern duo is bringing the party to Pittsburgh’s Brillobox on May 24. The 21-and-up show is sure to inspire the perfect summer attitude as illustrated in their single “Sixpack”: “I wanna cool out / and get wasted.”

Local Natives

June 10, 2013

Stage AE, 7 p.m.

There are arguably few better ways to spend a summer night than surrounded by delicately, but lovingly, performed music that nestles against listeners with a soft, infectious sound.

Indie-rock up-and-comer Local Natives is scheduled to come to Stage AE on June 10. The band brings with it a sound that is modest, yet reverberating. Their latest album, Hummingbird, is decorated with the same type of sounds of ethereal intimacy as their previous album, Gorilla Manor.

While they’re not as boisterous as other indie-rock acts — especially the ones that typically perform at Stage AE — Local Natives bring an undeniable sing-along vibe to their live shows. Their heavy subject matter, oftentimes focused on lovelorn bouts of recovery or recollection, isn’t the cheeriest, but it’s catchy, nonetheless..

The crowd will pack closely together and sway in unison as Local Natives delivers a mix of their most well-known singles and lesser-known tracks, all of which will be sure to compliment a warm June night perfectly with sounds that demonstrate a carefully orchestrated and tightly organized immersive feeling of contradictory pumped-up lethargy.

Songs such as “Breakers,” with its vocal cooings that are secured between fluttering guitar strings and gentle, reassuring percussion, are difficult to not bob the head to. But the lesser-known songs, such as “Ceilings” or “Cards and Quarters” are where the band will really shine as a live performance, as their soft melodies surround the audience with immersive and melodic harmonies.

A live Local Natives show may not be the most high-octane experience, but it is undoubtedly rich in immeasurable mellow contentedness that not many bands can deliver while still keeping the audience engaged with an enrapturing sound that fills music halls just to the brim, never once pooling over in excess.

The Gaslight Anthem

June 12, 2013

Mr. Smalls Funhouse, 8 p.m.

On June 12, Mr. Smalls Funhouse hosts The Gaslight Anthem, a group whose fame has exploded over the last five years.

At a time where every new band has a lengthy description of what exactly its genre is, The Gaslight Anthem keeps it simple: It is a New Jersey rock band — period. Their songs reflect this, mixing imagery straight out of a blue-collar Jersey town with stories of fiery youth and romance. Combine that with tightly written, evocative music, and you get the band that’s been routinely selling out shows across both the country and the world.

If the whole thing sounds a little bit Springsteen-esque, that’s because it is. Frontman Brian Fallon, who, true to form, worked as a construction worker prior to breaking through as a musician, grew up on music from The Boss, and the two have become friends over the years, sharing the stage on several occasions. For his part, Springsteen says he’s a big fan of their music.

The knock on The Gaslight Anthem is that it isn’t doing anything new. It’s just grasping onto a bygone era of music and pumping out albums in this vein. But Fallon and the gang aren’t just hocking used goods. Every line seems heartfelt and sometimes a little painful. They’re the sort of lines that would sound trite if they weren’t so obviously real.

Japandroids

June 16, 2013

Mr. Small’s Funhouse, 8 p.m.

It’s been a long, strange journey for Japandroids, the Vancouver two-piece band that will come to Mr. Small’s Funhouse on June 16.

After spending a couple years promoting singles and EPs around the U.S. and Canada, both guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse decided in 2008 that their dreams of making it big with lyrics and raw energy were going nowhere. They recorded Post-Nothing, their first full-length album, that summer and got ready to go their separate ways. Then, as they were in the midst of breaking up the band, Pitchfork users began raving about the band’s single.

From there, the band became a sensation on the indie-rock circuit, eschewing complex riffs and shoe-gazing apathy for heartfelt, beer-soaked sing-alongs and a sound just catchy enough to keep the whole thing rolling.

Last year, the band released Celebration Rock, which builds off their ecstatic rise to fame with songs that don’t even pretend to be concerned with political posturing, heartbreak or first-world ennui. Even when they do hit on heavier topics, the tone is absolutely joyous. In “The House that Heaven Built,” the moving single off Celebration Rock, King says to a beloved ex, “You’re not mine to die for anymore, so I must live.”

That’s what makes a Japandroids show so special. It’s a band that never expected to be where they are playing to a crowd that throws its cares away and seizes the moment. Those are the makings of live music at its best.