Live Black Keys video: full 2003 show from Austin, Tex.

I had no idea this was available. I feel like such a fool. Nonetheless, I believe I have a deep responsibility to move past my wounded pride and make sure you, dear reader, know about this video of a live Black Keys show from Oct. 2003 at the music venue Emo’s in Austin, Tex.

Apparently, a limited number of copies of the show were released on DVD, and it’s supposedly available in podcast form on iTunes (though I’ve tried many times to download it, and it never works). Based on the info I’ve found, what we have in this video that I’ve linked to above is the full show, almost 50 minutes; it’s incredible. The setlist is made up of songs from the band’s first two albums, both of which I also highly recommend (along with their other albums — let’s not forget those).

As for the band itself: the Black Keys are a couple guys from Ohio, both around 30 years in age, busting out the finest blues rock in decades — probably since Zeppelin. That’s right, you heard me. Like the White Stripes, to whom they’re often compared, the only instrumentation here is guitar, drums, and vocals (though I guess Jack White plays all kinds of other stuff, too, these days). Their style is also similar to the Stripes, loud and bluesy, though the Stripes are more erratic. The sound is raw and ragged, with lots of fuzz tones. And guitarist Dan Auerbach’s vocals are gritty, rough and extremely soulful, sounding nothing like any other band I’ve ever seen even remotely promoted by MTV.

In my opinion (which, let’s face it, counts for quite a bit), the Black Keys are the best rock band on the planet today. Period.

[Bonus: I also just discovered that the Keys have a free, four-track live album for download on their MySpace page (again, it's probably been there a while and I just didn't know). And they have a cut on the soundtrack to the new Bob Dylan psuedo-biopic, I'm Not There, a cover of Dylan's "The Wicked Messenger." All this stuff is good. I've never heard anything by the Keys that wasn't.]