Wild Crowds meet Lonely Boy: Black Keys Live at Sounds Of The City 2025

July brings an amazing gig season to Leeds. Sounds Of The City welcomes a multitude of artists of varying genres. The 2025 series brought the debut of indie garage rock duo The Black Keys to Millennium Square. They brought beautiful weather with them on a special day, with a triad of indie rock artists gracing the stage to keep the energy up for the sold-out crowd. 

The first support act is an artist that, if you don’t know by now, you need to get to know, after an unforgettable set. Alex Spencer is surely a future household name who keeps cropping up on the airwaves and his set is a perfect example why. His band played with passion, featuring memorable choruses, distinct guitar riffs, and confident vocals. A particular highlight was his tune Nightmares which was really catchy and had a great build up. He has an impressive repertoire of artists he’s supported such as The K’s and The Lathums whilst only being 18, now he can add The Black Keys to the list. It only keeps going up for him so keep an eye out.

After the excitement of Alex Spencer’s set, there wasn’t much time to settle until indie legend and leopard print fashion icon Miles Kane swaggered on stage to encapsulate the audience. A personal favourite, he once again proved he’s one of the coolest frontmen out there with snarling vocals, powerful guitar riffs and a charisma everyone wished they had. He was such a joy to watch, and his attitude was infectious. Everyone got involved with tunes like Rearrange and Come Closer, but the crowd were also treated to new songs Love Is Cruel and Sunlight In The Shadows off his upcoming album. After his set you would have thought he was the headliner; his set was immense as always.

After being well and truly warmed up by their wonderful support acts, it was The Black Keys’ time. Ohio’s very own Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney came jumping out with excitement and the crowd matched their energy right away. They played Your Touch just as a duo to kick things off before welcoming the rest of their live band to the stage to play a beautifully put together mash up of Thickfreakness/The Breaks/I’ll Be Your Man.

Gold On The Ceiling was a particular highlight with the iconic guitar riff ringing out across Millenium Square. The band continued to play through bouncing songs with funky drum intros and distorted guitar riffs. Auerbach demonstrated his vocal range across the night in songs like Fever, Everlasting Light and Lo/Hi. The latter being my personal favourite which I really enjoyed hearing live. It kept the attitude in the chorus and the addictive build up in the verses and for me was the highlight of the night.

Auerbach referred to the band’s longstanding relationship with Miles Kane when he dedicated Man On A Mission to the Wirral-born singer. Both artists have albums coming out soon with them collaborating on Kane’s album so this was a very sweet touch and what a song to have dedicated to you! Another song they played from the upcoming album was the title track No Rain No Flowers which was such a beautiful song with a gorgeous chorus and the light show that accompanied this song fitted so well.

The Black Keys put on an incredible performance with iconic guitar riffs, funky drums, and an unforgettable performance. The crowd were bouncing and swaying the whole way through, and the duo perfectly chose their support acts to keep the same energy right until the end with Lonely Boy which was met with a wild crowd. This night was a highlight of Sounds Of The City and I hope to see them welcomed back to the square again very soon.

Words by Ruby Macklin