We Might As Well Be Strangers

June 27th, 2006

OK, I know I have a tendency to exaggerate and be overly dramatic but I am NOT KIDDING this time – last night’s Keane show at the Mod Club was mind-numbingly amazing and hands down the best show I’ve seen in 2006 so far – and that’s saying a lot, considering I’ve been blessed to see my three favourite bands on earth in the last 2 months alone. Man, what a great year!

But back to Keane and how I nearly lost my mind last night.

I’ve been a Keane fan since the early beginnings, when all I had to listen to was an archived in-studio session they did for U.S. radio station KCRW. When I first saw them at the Mod Club in 2004, they blew me away. So when I heard at the last minute that they were doing a ‘secret’ show at the Mod Club again, I made it my mission to be there. Unfortunately no one else had forgotten how great the combination of Keane + Mod Club’s sound was, and tickets sold out in a couple of minutes! In the end I was able to get to the show after all and I’m so glad I did!

The amount of energy and passion that the guys put into every single show is incredible – as you can see from the pic, they were completely soaked through by the end of the show (by the halfway point, even, I’d say). It was as though they had jumped into a pool with their clothes on. That’s the result of leaping and writhing across the stage for an hour and a half. Tom’s voice has never sounded better. Tim’s genius at the keyboards can’t even be described – he jumps and pounds at the keys like you wouldn’t believe. And Richard looks like he’s going to shoot through the roof; he’s hitting the drums with so much intensity.

And the crowd – wow, the crowd was loving every minute. I’ve never been to a show with such a strong singalong – EVERYONE knew every lyric and was singing it back to Tom. He could have stopped singing and we would have finished the job for him. From the front row, the view was incredible; Tom singing to each of us one by one and really connecting with the fans. What an incredible experience!

Stay tuned for my one-on-one interview with Tim Rice-Oxley in the next few days, wherein we discuss taking new direction, organic beer & channeling Eminem as inspiration on a new song!

* Photo by Leah on the Keane message boards.

Posted on Tuesday, June 27th, 2006 at 10:23 am by Kat and is filed under Blog.