The Black Keys blame management for tour cancellation and defend playing Crypto gig

The Black Keys have blamed their management for the cancellation of their 2024 tour, while defending their decision to play a Crypto gig.

• READ MORE: The Black Keys talk returning to the UK and their “epic” new album 

Last April, the band announced the ‘International Players Tour’ to support their 12th album ‘Ohio Players’, which was set to include 31 dates across North America. The tour was scrapped in May, however, with speculation that it was due to low ticket sales.

The duo – comprising Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney – later opened up about the cancellation, saying it was axed and re-planned in favour of smaller theatre venues. They also announced that they had split from their management team – Irving Azoff and Steve Moir of Full Stop Management – following the decision.

Now, Auerbach and Carney have given an interview to Rolling Stone in which they discussed the fiasco. “The essential thing that we learned here was how many management companies are directly connected to a company that runs every single aspect of promotion in this country,” Carney said.

“This whole industry is so intertwined from ticketing to promotion to the management company. But essentially as artists – and this is the thing that we care the most about – it’s almost impossible to talk about this…. You’re dealing with management companies that co-own festivals with this other company. You’re at the [whims] of these people who have other interests.”

“There’s a concentration of connectivity that eliminates competition,” Carney continued. “Our tour, we had about 10 [arena] shows that were not doing great. They were just in rooms that they shouldn’t have been in. So, in any situation like this tour, we might’ve had to take one on the chin and find new venues to play in certain cities, but instead, we were advised to cancel the whole tour. We were told … there were other venues being booked, and it was all going to get into more intimate rooms, and it would be great. But that wasn’t accurate. That didn’t exist.”

In the same interview, the duo defended their decision to play a show at ‘America Loves Crypto’, an Akron, Ohio event hosted by the Stand With Crypto Alliance political organisation.

“It was very simple: we had lost all of our income for the year,” Carney said. “We had retainers for people that we were working with. We got offered a lot of money to play a show, and we saw that the Black Pumas had done the same event and we were like, ‘Book it.’ It’s that simple, bro.”

“Of course we saw all the shit coming in, but it was like, ‘What are you going to do?’ We were told it was a bipartisan thing,” he added. “It was what it is. It was very small. It was in our hometown, so we got to go home and see our folks. I’ve definitely seen my name in bad light in the press before, so it wasn’t anything fucking new … If us playing a concert for 300 people is going to sway the whole state’s vote, then we have bigger fucking problems, bro.”

Presenting the first leg of the NO RAIN NO FLOWERS TOUR, with special guests @HermanosGMusic and @theheavyheavyuk joining on select dates. 
 
Ticket pre-sales begin TOMORROW Tuesday Feb 4 @ 12PM Local at https://t.co/RdKJzndXAq using code: NORAIN

Tickets will go on general sale… pic.twitter.com/TkfyLEIk3d

— The Black Keys (@theblackkeys) February 3, 2025

Earlier this week, The Black Keys announced a new North American tour. Kicking off in May, the ‘No Rain No Flowers’ tour will see them play a run of 13 dates, with support from Hermanos Gutierrez and The Heavy Heavy. See the full list of dates here, while tickets go on general sale here on February 7 at 10am local time.

Shortly after the conclusion of that US tour, the band will head to the UK and Europe to commence their Summer tour, which will run through late June and July – check out the full list of dates and score any remaining tickets here.

In a three-star review of ‘Ohio Players’, NME nodded to its litany of guest stars, including Beck, Noel Gallagher and Juicy J. “Playing music with your pals isn’t a radical act – it’s what most musicians do and the bedrock of any scene in any city the world over – so given the fanfare the listener might reasonably expect ‘Ohio Players’ to hum along on the star-wattage of its guest list.”

“Instead, this is a pretty good Black Keys record that chiefly serves to underline how wedded they are to the fundamentals of their own process.”

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