The Black Keys chalked up another win Sunday night in St. Paul -- this time against the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. The Ohio blues-punk duo went from playing a sold-out two-night stand at the famous First Avenue last year to one big night at the infamous Roy. The move was bound to happen after three Grammys, one gold record plaque and numerous festival headlining slots.

Fortunately, the Keys handled St. Paul's cavernous mini-arena just fine. But the move up did come with a couple of disappointing steps back. Sunday's show actually wasn't that different from the First Avenue gigs. Keys singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney started the 85-minute set as a duo, expanded to a quartet mid-show, then stripped back down just before the encore.

The difference this time was a fancier light display, including a giant mirror ball and a flashing, blinding "Black Keys" sign, but also a noticeably lesser amount of spontaneity in the set list. The band left out a few of its best older nuggets, including the surefire classic "10 A.M. Automatic," to focus more heavily on the Grammy-winning 2010 album that broke them wide open, "Brothers."

Before the big "Brothers" tracks, though, came the little gems of their duo years. Carney and Auerbach showed off the uncanny chemistry they rode in on during the opener "Thickfreakness" and the wicked grinder "Girl Is on My Mind." Best of all was the slower, steadier jam "Ten Cent Pistol," which showed off the Keys' bluesy roots -- but also showed these guys are bona fide rock stars now, as cocksure and capable as the best of them.

Kentucky-reared opening band Cage the Elephant came off like uncaged chimpanzees in its 45-minute set -- wild, sort of cute and sort of annoying. Singer Matthew Shultz jumped into the crowd twice within the first four songs, which was about how long it took for his nasal primal scream of a voice to start to sound grating.

The Independent in Uptown closed June 30 at midnight, putting much of the blame on the state shutdown. On its Facebook page, the Calhoun Square bar posted this: "Long story short, our liquor license expires at midnight tonight and we can't get the renewal complete until the State reopens and we can take care of some business matters."

State and city officials told me the "business matters" include a little more than an expired license. Grant Wilson with Minneapolis licensing said the city can't renew the bar's license because it's behind in paying state sales taxes. It's been on the state's delinquent sales tax list since November and has been cited twice for buying liquor from retailers. The actual amount the bar owes is not clear; a manager did not want to comment. Robyn Dwyer of the state Department of Revenue said two liens -- one for more than $61,000 and another for more than $27,000 -- were filed against the Independent in May. Until the bar pays those taxes (and the state reopens), it will presumably stay closed.

Before a stirring montage of his songs from the Sean Penn-directed Oscar-nominated film "Into the Wild," Eddie Vedder made a special shout-out Saturday at the sold-out Orpheum to the movie's producer, who was watching from the fourth row, even though his family's team was taking on the Brewers a couple blocks away (it wound up being a good game to skip). "Sean was the guy most responsible for getting me to do the music in the movie," Vedder said, "and Sean would say the one guy most responsible for getting the movie made was Bill Pohlad." Shortly after that, one loud bozo in the crowd started shouting something incoherent at the stage, the only moment in which the crowd was anything but completely reverential to the Pearl Jam frontman. Vedder cut the dude off with a terse, "I'm taking back control of the show, so fuck off." After the rest of the crowd cheered, the singer added with a smirk, "Ironically enough, I learned to do that from Sean Penn."

Comedian Arj Barker is most famous for his role on HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" and as the co-writer for the off-Broadway hit "The Marijuana-Logues." But he's at his best on the standup circuit, which will be on full display at Acme this weekend. Also funny: his cartoon Web series "Arj & Poopy," which focuses on his adventures with a cat who communicates through farting.