At the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday, October 3

Both Ohio duo the Black Keys and opening act Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea got a lot of love from Canada on Sunday night. Upon announcing that the Keys’ latest album, Brothers, had recently gone gold in the Queen’s second-favourite country, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney were met with all-Canadian whooping and hollering from the sardine-packed, sold-out Orpheum Theatre.

Atkins and her band the Black Sea received a similarly gushing reception. When the singer (whose guitarist embarrassed her mightily by revealing it was her birthday) professed their love for our fair country with an upbeat, shoegazer-inspired “O Canada”, one patriotic audience member couldn’t help but yell “Fuckin’ Deaner!” Even if the birthday girl seemed a little confused by the timely Fubar reference, she pulled off a seamless show that earned a standing ovation in the soft-seat venue.

Psychedelic music is suddenly hot again, and the Black Sea showed its mastery of the genre with a well-executed cover of Can’s “Vitamin C”. Though Atkins’s booming vocals carried the pop-noir ballads, progressive songs like “My Baby Don’t Lie” and “The Tower” worked thanks to her slow-grooving licks and slides.

As soon as the house lights went down for the Black Keys, fans made it clear they wouldn’t be shackled to their seats; everyone in the room was up and dancing for the opening number, “Thickfreakness”. Giving long-time supporters what they wanted to hear, Auerbach and Carney then followed up with “10 A.M. Automatic” and “Stack Shot Billy” from their album Rubber Factory.

Once the audience had its fill of the old stuff, the Akronites (as they are wont to refer to themselves) invited bassist Nick Movshon and keyboard-percussionist Leon Michels on-stage to flesh out the Black Keys’ newer material. Kicking off as a foursome, the band took a turn for the mellow with “Everlasting Light” off Brothers. Auerbach’s voice suddenly sounded noticeably more trained and controlled while Carney played with a more-delicate-than-usual tempo.

The Black Keys quickly jacked the swagger back up with “Next Girl”. A rotating mirror ball and light show proved an appropriate accoutrement to the rest of the show, with “Tighten Up” and “Ten Cent Pistol” being highlights of the night. The Keys weren’t totally done with their older albums after their early Rubber Factory two-shot. Carney’s heavy and precise drumming on Attack & Release’s “Strange Times” was perfectly timed with a lowered curtain that revealed a lit-up billboard bearing the band’s name. The four musicians capped the set with a cymbal-heavy, fuzzed-out version of “I Got Mine” before leaving the stage for the inevitable encore.

“Your Touch” hit hardest during the group’s three-song return, leaving the crowd gleaming with sweat and pumped full of Canadian pride for being among the first countries in the world to truly embrace the Black Keys.