Wow! 4,000 tix in the presale? What can the Verizon Center hold? Can you imagine if it was Adele? There must be some complicated formula on what to release for pre-sales, venue capacity, perceived popularity, etc. You want to pre-sell JUST enough to sell out really quickly so the demand increases tenfold for the general. Ticket people are very smart about this.
Not to be cynical (NO!) and I love the Black Keys, but I think this is partially a "Nature abhors a vacuum" deal. In terms of "rock" bands having some traction with the general public, we're really at a nadir. And things may not pick up unless there's another U2/GNR/Nirvana/Strokes moment. I mean, no offense, but the Foo Fighters are touring like Led Zeppelin and I think 10 times the general public knows "My Hero", "Everlong" or "Big Me" more than anything they've released in the last 10 years.
U2, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Springsteen, McCartney and the Stones aren't touring. The new Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers albums are kind of DOA. There are worse things than the Black Keys selling out arenas. But man, did the White Stripes break up too soon!
Brian