Palladium, Cologne, Germany 6th September 2026
The Black Keys - “Peaches ‘n Kream Tour 2026” - Special guest: Robert Finley
There is an unspeakable magic that happens when industrial architecture meets raw, sweat-soaked Blues Rock. Last night at the Palladium in Cologne, a capacity crowd witnessed a masterclass in American roots music - a double bill that bridged the swampy deltas of Louisiana with the gritty garage-rock spirit of Akron, Ohio. With THE BLACK KEYS, who are internationally celebrated icons of Blues and Garage Rock, headlining the bill, around 3,500 fans in Cologne were in for a treat.
Robert Finley
Hailing from Bernice, Louisiana, ROBERT FINLEY stands as a towering figure in modern soul and blues. His musical style is a rich, fiery stew of classic Southern blues, gospel fervour, and raw soul-belted poetry. Finley spent decades working as a carpenter and playing music on the side before legal blindness forced him out of carpentry, leading to his late-in-life discovery.
His heritage is deeply rooted in the classic blues traditions of the American South, channelling timeless tales of love, betrayal, and heartache through an unmistakable, whiskey-smooth falsetto and commanding roar. After entering the global stage in his sixties, his growing discography includes standout albums such as his 2016 debut ‘Age Don’t Mean a Thing’, followed by his Dan Auerbach-produced breakouts ‘Sharecropper’s Son’, ‘Black Approaches’, and ‘Goin’ Back to Delta’. https://robertfinleyofficial.com
Music & Performance
At 73 years old, Finley showed the Cologne audience that age is just a number. Guided onto the stage by his background singer due to his impaired vision, he took centre stage with the presence of a true boss. Flanked by a well-versed four-piece blues band and his gorgeous backing vocalist, Finley delivered an opening set of raw, unadulterated passion.
Every time he launched into a powerful chorus, he pulled out his signature move - wagging his right index finger at the crowd with a knowing grin while belting out blistering, heart-wrenching vocals covering the subjects of love, heartbreak, and gospel. The crowd in the Palladium was captivated from the very first verse, taking in the gospel-infused soul and erupting into thunderous applause as his set wrapped up after forty minutes of playtime.
The Black Keys
Formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001 by guitarist / vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, THE BLACK KEYS redefined modern Rock music. Their musical style blends gritty Blues-Rock, raw Garage Punk, and memorable Indie Pop hooks. Rising from basement recordings to arena headliners, their heritage stems from North Mississippi hill country blues artists like Junior Kimbrough, whom they frequently pay homage to.
Their extensive, acclaimed discography includes early raw classics like ‘The Big Come Up’ and ‘Thickfreakness’, commercial juggernauts like ‘Brothers’ and ‘El Camino’, alongside celebrated records like ‘Turn Blue’, ‘Delta Kream’, ‘Dropout Boogie’, and ‘Ohio Players’. Their latest long-player is called ‘Peaches!’, and was released in May this year. https://theblackkeys.com
Music & Performance
At 21:15, THE BLACK KEYS took the stage to the deafening cheers of the anticipating crowd. They immediately plunged the room into a heavy, intoxicating groove with their opener ‘I Got Mine’. During ‘Gold On The Ceiling’, Auerbach showed off his prowess with a bottleneck guitar slide on his guitar, slicing through the thick venue acoustics with searing, electrifying riffs that had the entire Palladium swaying.
Auerbach has never been a frontman for mindless stage banter, and tonight was no exception. Between tracks, there was a brilliant, almost celebratory silence - a brief moment of calm where the musicians simply tuned their guitars, took a quick sip of water, or wiped the sweat off their foreheads while the energy in the room mounted like a pressure cooker. It wasn’t until an hour into the heavy-hitting set that Auerbach finally broke the silence, breaking into a warm grin to offer a simple, heartfelt: “Hello everyone. Thanks for coming out tonight. It’s really good to see you.”
The main set closed out after a good ninety minutes of blues-rock riffs. By the time the band returned for their encore around five minutes later the crowd was chanting for more. And their calls were heeded, as Dan returned with an acoustic guitar to perform the intro of ‘Little Black Submarines’, only to be joined a few moments later by his bandmates for the chorus. Finally, the line, “I got a love that keeps me waiting,” started to make sense and sounded delightfully prophetic as the band launched into their explosive finale, ‘Lonely Boy’, the uber hit everyone clearly had been waiting for.
After almost two hours of playtime, THE BLACK KEYS had left every drop of energy on the stage, delivering a night of unpretentious, Blues-infused Rock and Roll.
Setlist
01. I Got Mine
02. Fever
03. Gold on the Ceiling
04. Have Love Will Travel (Richard Berry & the Pharaohs cover)
05. Next Girl
06. Man on a Mission
07. Just Couldn’t Tie Me Down
08. Everlasting Light
09. Howlin’ for You
10. Lo/Hi
11. Weight of Love
12. Wild Child
13. I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges cover)
14. Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire (Willie Griffin cover)
15. Tighten Up
16. She’s Long Gone
---
17. Little Black Submarines
18. Lonely Boy
All Pictures by André Wilms
