The Black Keys welcomed Nathaniel Rateliff to the stage during their Dropout Boogie Tour stop at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver last night. The collaboration took place during the evening’s encore and featured a cover of “Broken Finger Blues” by the late Richard Swift.
Wednesday’s encore began with The Black Keys performing “Little Black Submarines” from their 2011 album, El Camino. Rateliff then emerged to help sing “Broken Finger Blues,” which appeared on Swift’s posthumously released solo album, 2018’s The Hex.
Swift was a highly talented musician and producer who toured as a member of The Black Keys and was a member of The Arcs with The Black Keys’ frontman Dan Auerbach. Swift, who died at age 41 on July 3, 2018, produced Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats’ 2015 self-titled debut album and its 2018 follow-up, Tearing at the Seams. Rateliff’s 2020 solo album, And It’s Still Alright and its title track were influenced by Swift’s untimely death.
“We’re gonna play a special tune for you guys – one we’ve never played before,” Auerbach told the Red Rocks audience. “We lost a good friend of ours not too long ago. His name was Richard Swift. And we’re gonna play a song of his. And we’re gonna ask another one of Richard’s friends to come out here and help us. Give it up for Nathaniel Rateliff, let’s here it for him!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf-0uwBlbBp/
Touring in support of Dropout Boogie, The Black Keys played just two songs from their newly released studio album, the singles “Wild Child” and “It Ain’t Over.” The setlist was filled in with selections from across the band’s catalog, with El Camino and 2010’s Brothers featuring most prominently.
Watch pro-shot video of the show opening performance of “I Got Mine” off 2008’s Attack & Release below:
