The Black Keys talk cancelled arena tour, fired management, that crypto show & more: “we got a little bamboozled”

The Black Keys‘ cancelled arena tour last year became the topic of much conversation (and a lot of headlines). They issued a statement about it at the time that didn’t really address the reasons behind the cancellation, although Patrick Carney later said (in a since deleted statement) that the band “got fucked,” and they also fired their management amidst the fallout. Now that they’ve announced a new tour for this year — which happens at amphitheaters, rather than arenas — they’ve spoken to Rolling Stone about the cancelled tour, a new album they’re working on, that crypto show they did, and more.

About firing Azoff Management, Carney told Rolling Stone, “I mean, we fired their ass. Shit happens. We spent a lot of time making Ohio Players and turned it in in October 2023 and had all this time to plan how we were going to tour. Things got off to this weird start where I was waiting for these European dates to pop up because our plan was to go to Europe first. We ended up getting nine shows sent to us [on] a three-week tour. There’s absolutely no way to make money [from] that. We kept having to move shit around for a Manchester show because there was a venue that our management company co-owned and wanted us to play, and it wasn’t ready. After going to Europe 30 times in our career for tours, this was the most poorly orchestrated tour we had been on. The shows were incredible, but [it] just became the first sign that maybe there was some poor organization happening.”

Asked by Rolling Stone when their relationship with Irving Azoff soured, Carney said, “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. 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. So when you’re called into a manager’s office and he suggests something to you, I was naive enough to think that that was on the up-and-up. And more and more, it’s just not. So it’s a hard thing because I don’t think Dan and I want to sit here and look like whining bitches. But we got a little bamboozled here.”

Carney continued to Rolling Stone:

It was a big no-no to even talk about what’s going on here. There’s a concentration of connectivity that eliminates competition. [For] a capitalist society to function, there has to be competition. And if everything’s connected and all the interests are shared on one side, there’s no way to compete. 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.

It’s all very fucked up, and the bottom line is that we can’t even really talk about it because we won’t be able to work.

Rolling Stone also asked the band if they thought there was truth to there being weak demand for the tour. Carney replied, “I don’t know, but all I know is this: After the tour was canned, I went through my email, and I had one email from Ticketmaster about the tour on the day it was announced and nothing else in my inbox for six weeks. When I finally went through the numbers after the tour was canceled, we had sold nearly $10 million worth of tickets, and we had four months till the first show. We just had to take one on the fucking face.”

He also told Rolling Stone they hadn’t been consulted about ticket prices, but said “On this [next] tour, we realized that we have to be more involved in this. The last thing Dan and I want to do is gouge a fan on a ticket.”

Rolling Stone also asked the band about their controversial “America Loves Crypto” show, one of the few they played last year. ” 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.”

Read the interview in full on Rolling Stone, and see The Black Keys’ upcoming 2025 dates below.

THE BLACK KEYS: 2025 TOUR DATES
Feb 21, 2025 – Innings Festival – Tempe, AZ
Mar 27, 2025 – Arena 1 – Lima, Peru
Mar 29, 2025 – Estereo Picnic – Bogotá, Colombia
Apr 2, 2025 – Pepsi Center – Mexico City, CDMX
Apr 5, 2025 – Pal Norte – Monterrey, Mexico
May 23, 2025 – Choctaw Grand Theater – Durant, OK
May 25, 2025 – Ford Amphitheater – Colorado Springs, CO – w/ Hermanos Gutierrez
May 27, 2025 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO – w/ Hermanos Gutierrez
May 29, 2025 – KettleHouse Amphitheater – Bonner, MT – w/ Hermanos Gutierrez
May 30, 2025 – Idaho Botanical Garden: Outlaw Field – Boise, ID – w/ Hermanos Gutierrez
May 31, 2025 – Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR – w/ Hermanos Gutierrez
Jun 1, 2025 – Greek Theatre at UC Berkely – Berkeley, CA – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 3, 2025 – The Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 7, 2025 – Moody Amphitheater – Austin, TX – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 8, 2025 – Walmart AMP (Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion) – Rogers, AR – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 11, 2025 – Live Oak Bank Pavilion – Wilmington, NC – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 12, 2025 – Red Hat Amphitheater – Raleigh, NC – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 14, 2025 – Stone Pony Summer Stage – Asbury Park, NJ – w/ The Heavy Heavy
Jun 26, 2025 – Tinderbox Festival – Odense
Jun 29, 2025 – Rockhall – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Jul 1, 2025 – Zitadelle Spandau – Berlin, Germany
Jul 2, 2025 – The Hall – Zürich, Switzerland
Jul 3, 2025 – Jul 6, 2025 – Château de Beauregard – Hérouville-Saint-Clair, France
Jul 4, 2025 – Garorock – Marmande, France
Jul 6, 2025 – Les Nuits de l’Erdre – Nort-sur-Erdre, France
Jul 8, 2025 – Millenium Square – Leeds, UK – Miles Kane
Jul 9, 2025 – Castlefield Bowl – Manchester, UK – Miles Kane
Jul 11, 2025 – Alexandra Palace Park – London, UK – Miles Kane
Jul 12, 2025 – Cactus Festival – Bruges, Belgium
Jul 13, 2025 – Bospop – Weert, Netherlands
Jul 15, 2025 – AMA Music Festival – Vicenza, Italy
Jul 16, 2025 – Rock In Roma Ippodromo delle Capannelle – Rome, Lazio
Jul 19, 2025 – Festival Internacional De Benicassim – Benicàssim, Spain