The Black Keys @ O2 Academy, 28 Oct

This Ohio duo, comprising guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, have been having a good year. With their latest release Brothers shooting to number three in the Billboard 200, it's their highest charting release so far, and it’s easy to see why, being as it was a pretty much bulletproof collection of ballsy, naked rock while splitting at the sides with memorable riffs. Unpretentious but not unambitious, plaintive but not pleading, their blues-soaked rock is hardly a new idea, but an old one invigorated with blood pumping and knuckles clenched. This is how it’s done, folks. [Oisín Kealy]