Staff Editor on November 21st, 2019

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The Black Keys have picked up right where they left off.

Off the radar for the past five years, the band built around the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney returned this summer with their ninth album “Let’s Rock.” And, sure, OK, that’s what they did Tuesday night at the packed Forum, ripping through 20 songs in a little over an hour and a half.

They played a half-dozen songs from the new album — “Eagle Birds” and “Tell Me Lies” early, “Fire Walk With Me” and “Shine a Little Light” mid-set and “Lo/Hi” and “Go” to kick off the encore. The crowd’s loudest adulation was reserved for tracks such as “Everlasting Light” and “Howlin’ for You,” both from 2010’s “Brothers,” and the show closer “Little Black Submarines”  (2011).

Auerbach, Carney and crew went through their bluesy ministrations without much chit-chat until they welcomed guest Joe Walsh to the stage. Auerbach told the crowd how he and Walsh were both inspired by the late guitarist Glenn Schwartz, like Auerbach a native Ohioan. Schwartz, who died last year, played in the James Gang and, later, the California band Pacific Gas & Electric. (Schwartz had also guested with Auerbach’s side project the Arcs in 2016 at their Coachella and Fonda Theatre gigs.)

“You guys may not know him, but he was really important to me and he blew my fucking mind when I was 16,” Auerbach said. “This was Glenn’s guitar and this was the guitar he was playing that night. Little did I know, when Joe was at an impressionable age, he walked into a bar and also saw Glenn Schwartz. And it blew his mind and it made him want to play rock and roll music, just like it made me. So in honor of our good friend, Glenn Schwartz, we are going to play one of his songs, alright? This one is called “Water Street.’”

After that song, Walsh stayed onstage to play on the Black Keys’ “She’s Long Gone.”

Modest Mouse preceded the headliners with a set that included “Doin’ the Cockroach,” “Dramamine” and “Dashboard” (but no “Float On”). Shannon and the Clams kicked the night off.

Black Keys Setlist: I Got Mine, Eagle Birds, Tell Me Lies, Gold On the Ceiling, Fever, Next Girl, Fire Walk With Me, Walk Across the Water, Everlasting Light, Howlin’ For You, Your Touch, Water Street (with Joe Walsh), She’s Long Gone (with Joe Walsh), Tighten Up, Thickfreakness, Ten Cent Pistol, Lonely Boy. Encore: Lo/Hi, Go, Little Black Submarines

Photos by Jessica Hanley