Kent State is on spring break this week, and isn’t it beautiful? The weather’s wonderful, we survived St. Patty’s Day, and now we are free to enjoy ourselves for an entire week.

What more could you want?

Well, for starters, a concert to go to would be pretty cool.

Lucky for those of us still in the northeast Ohio region, the Black Keys are coming home and will be playing at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Tuesday night.

So, what do we have to look forward to with the arrival of the Black Keys back in their native NEO? Here’s what:

• Songs off of their newest release El Camino, including “Lonely Boy.” The tightest songs in their career are featured on El Camino, and these cuts should translate nicely to both a live venue and a large live venue. Quicken Loans holds right around 20,000 people, and we should all be able to have a good time to the danceable, exciting tunes from the December 2011 release. My seats are more or less in the rafters (living that stereotypical poor college student life, of course), and I am still planning on feeling the energy however many feet up.
• Revisiting plenty of old classics. This should be especially… well, special, for a Cleveland audience, as the old classics are what originated here (more or less). Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney started nearly 10 years ago, and when they were playing around here locally, they typically played to around eight people (not even kidding). Those songs are going to become arena epics now, and that should be exciting to see.
• Hearing Dan Auerbach talk – or not. Auerbach is known for being low-key on stage, and so the chances that there will be banter are slim to none. We’re likely to get an introduction, and maybe a reference or two the duo’s Akron roots. However, Auerbach focuses on the music, and it will be interesting to see how he panders to what is essentially a hometown audience.
• The opening act is really, really good. How good, you ask? Well, the opening act is British band

  

  Arctic Monkeys – one of my personal favorites. The Monkeys are another band that have been working for years now; they formed in 2002 and released their debut album in 2006 (when I was in eighth grade!). Seriously, if I could pick an opening band for Black Keys, I could not pick a better one. Arctic Monkeys are similar enough to Black Keys but also different enough that they should hype the audience up just enough without outdoing the actual main act. (Except for me, maybe, because I really love Arctic Monkeys and might be more excited to see them…) Plus, Arctic Monkeys had an album come out last year as well, Suck It and See, that should be getting plenty of play on the big stage.

If ever you could see Black Keys, now is the time! Like I said, they’ll be at Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday (the 20^th), with doors opening at 7. Tickets are still on sale and start at $34 – which is totally affordable, especially compared to the cost of a vacation! You don’t even have to order the tickets online – you can get them at Drugmart stores throughout northeast Ohio. (They have a really cool touch screen system for ordering tickets that even allows you to pick your section!)

Not interested in Black Keys? There are plenty of other concerts coming up this week to keep you amused while you’re stuck only miles from the beautiful KSU.

• Jordan Knight will be at the House of Blues in Cleveland on Thursday, with doors opening at 7:30. If you’re really into Knight, there’s also a VIP brunch you can get tickets to earlier that day.
• Pop-punk act Go Radio will be at Musica in Akron with This Providence on Friday. Doors open at 6:00 and two other bands are being featured.
• Also on Friday night, the Saw Doctors will be making a stop in Cleveland at the House of Blues. Doors will be opening at 8:00.
• If you’re looking for something with a little more bite, Adema will be playing at the Carriage House Concert + Nite Club in Lousville Saturday night.
• Die hard Harry Potter fan? Harry and the Potters will be at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights on Saturday night. Koo Koo Kanga Roo will be opening for them.
• Not interested in music, but you still read this whole blog? Good for you! You can catch Joan Rivers’ comedy act Saturday night in Playhouse Square. You’re welcome.

Black Keys photo courtesy Simon Fernandez Music Photographer
Arctic Monkeys photo courtesy alterna2
Black Keys featured photo courtesy weeklydig