Keane: Hopes And Fears 20th Anniversary Tour 01/08/2024

Rating: ★★★★★

O2 Academy Edinburgh Rating: ★★★★

Where I stayed: Premier Inn Edinburgh City Centre

SETLIST:

1.  Can’t Stop Now
2.  Silenced By The Night
3.  Bend And Break
4.  Nothing In My Way
5.  We Might As Well Be Strangers
6.  The Way I Feel
7.  You Are Young
8.  Everybody’s Changing
9.  On A Day Like Today
10.  Perfect Symmetry
11.  A Bad Dream
12.  Untitled 1
13.  Spiralling
14.  Is It Any Wonder?
15.  She Has No Time
16.  This Is The Last Time
17.  Crystal Ball
18.  Somewhere Only We Know
19.  Atlantic (Tour debut) (Encore)
20.  Neon River (Encore)
21.  Sovereign Light Café (Encore)
22.  Bedshaped (Encore)

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Only seeing Keane once this year didn’t feel like enough for me, since I love the band so much. Paul and I saw them on May 10th at The O2 Arena in London, which was the twentieth anniversary of their ground-breaking debut album, ‘Hopes and Fears’. It was lovely to see thousands of people singing and clapping along there, since they hadn’t done huge arena shows for a long time. Originally, there were no Scottish dates included on this tour. Tom Chaplin (lead singer) apologised profusely for this oversight and promised to make it up to us before the end of the evening. They are now also going to perform at The OVO Hydro in Glasgow, if any Scottish fans are still looking to see them. I am overdoing it with the amount of concerts I have booked already, though buying a ticket for that show is very tempting. Paul was working on this occasion, so didn’t join me. Unlike me, he doesn’t feel the need to see the same band one thousand times. I squashed myself onto a train at Edinburgh Waverley and arrived at the venue before 5pm. I found a wall to sit on, where I could relax and read my Kindle to pass the time. It was hot, so I was glad to find a spot in the shade. I had been directed to the wrong queue by a member of staff but, after some discussion with knowledgeable fans, figured out the correct place to stand. While this didn’t give me the best first impression of the venue, my opinion changed as the night went on and I really enjoyed myself. I could see the O2 Priority queue opposite ours was growing by the minute. I was anxious everyone in it would be let in before us, even though some of them didn’t know they were on the O2 network prior to arriving. They were given a ten minute head start but I got in at 7pm and still made it to the barrier, out of sheer luck. People complained the venue was too hot and the sound quality was bad. I didn’t experience either of those problems and actually found the sound to be crystal clear, though my concert earplugs helped. I could listen to Keane perform with the worst acoustics ever and still leave happily because TC’s vocals are astonishing.

Esme Emerson are a sibling duo from Suffolk who have recently released their deeply emotional EP, ‘Big Leap, No Faith, Small Chancer’. Their charisma was infectious and I could easily tell how close they are and how well they work together. Jesse Quin (Keane’s bassist) invited EE to be the opening act this time around, so it was exciting to see a band hand selected by him. He has watched them grow since entering the music scene a couple of years ago and obviously has a lot of faith in them. Their music has a very distinctive style, which I found to be a mixture of Pop and Electronic when I researched it again for this blog. I preferred how they sounded live, as Esme Lee-Scott has a gentle and melodic voice which doesn’t need edited. They were excited to be opening for Keane, to around three thousand highly-energised people. I imagine this was one of their biggest audiences to date, since they are a relatively new band. If they were nervous, I couldn’t tell. They did an excellent job pumping up the crowd and getting everyone involved. They told funny stories, including when Esme struggled to ride a children’s bike and change gears when shooting the music video for ‘Please’. I watched the video when I came home and it is very simple but effective. It is definitely worth a watch and is a good introduction to their music. Emerson opened up about writing songs about heartache and death, which was a little humorous since all of their songs sounded incredibly upbeat up until this point. They closed with ‘Too Far Gone’, which must be a brand new song of theirs because I can’t find anything about it online. They were very entertaining to watch and created a positive atmosphere, with plenty of jokes and smiles. Hopefully they will release new music soon and I am sure they will have gained more popularity from this event. I believe this is the only Keane show they have opened for, as it is usually The Lathums or The Sherlocks, depending on the location. We already saw The Lathums in London and they are joining Keane again in Glasgow, so it was nice to see someone different. JQ definitely knows talent when he sees it and it seems like they have a bright future ahead.

Keane came on after the stage was speedily rearranged and opened with the inspiring ‘Can’t Stop Now’, which got everybody dancing and waving their arms around. The band members were on top form and Tim Rice-Oxley (songwriter/piano) played so hard he broke the piano! Crew members had to inspect it with torches and various other tools. ‘Your Eyes Open’ and ‘Sunshine’ were removed to make room for ‘Atlantic’ and ‘Neon River’. ‘Atlantic’ is one of my favourite songs and I had never heard it live, so it was a magical few minutes for me. I am thrilled it was included and think it more than makes up for the lack of Scottish dates. ‘Neon River’ was requested by a fan earlier in the day, as far as I can tell. It is very pretty, though not one of my favourites. I realised afterwards the alterations meant they didn’t perform ‘Hopes and Fears’ in full, which they had done at previous shows and talked about in interviews. I missed ‘Sunshine’ but would trade it for ‘Atlantic’ any day. TC studied in Edinburgh and told us the city holds a special place in his heart. His studies ended up being a complete waste of time, according to him, as he was called back to London by TR-O and Richard Hughes (drums). He joked about suffering two years of “abject failure” before Keane really took off. The whole band seem to genuinely love ‘The Way I Feel’ from ‘Cause and Effect’ (2019). It is the only song they consistently perform from it. It has a different energy when performed live and is about feeling trapped. TC reminded us to keep pushing through and lightened the tone by getting us to sing along to ‘You Are Young’, after it. RH doubted the singalong segment would work in such a small “club” venue, until he heard the roar of the crowd. After wowing us by hitting those impossible notes, TC checked if everyone was okay. A lot of water was being handed out and he said people have been fainting at their recent shows, though it was probably because they were staring at Tim! ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ was dedicated to us for being such a great crowd and everyone around me whipping out their phones to record it was hilarious. The biggest hits, such as ‘Bend And Break’ and ‘Everybody’s Changing’, always go down the best. ‘Bedshaped’ was the last song and left most of us feeling like we had just dreamed the entire experience.

It took me a minute to remember where I was and return to reality once the band exited the stage. Most people at the front stayed where they were, in hopes of taking souvenirs from the stage home with them. Security can get grumpy after a while and start to chase people away, which always makes me feel awkward and apologetic. Someone came out with an armful of signed drum skins but I failed to attract their attention, which was disappointing. He walked right past me, so I’m guessing he was seeking fans who attracted the most attention. I have too much anxiety to completely let myself loose at gigs, unfortunately. Maybe that will change over time. I didn’t manage to get a setlist or drumstick either but I congratulate everyone who was successful in retrieving these treasures. My main priority is always collecting guitar picks for my jar at home but I didn’t see JQ throw any. I don’t know if it’s something he typically does. I’m not sure when I will see Keane next, though I did also consider going to their Manchester show in October. I have a strong feeling they will do a couple of special songs there too, since the concert got postponed because Co-Op Live wasn’t ready in time. I have heard whispers about a possible album being in the works and I hope the rumour is true. You just have to watch their recent incredible Glastonbury performance to see how beloved they still are, after all of this time. And it has already been five years since the release of their last album, ‘Cause and Effect’. Paul met me outside and we hung around the back for a while, to see whether the band members would make an appearance. There are not many bands I would wait behind to try and meet but we were told they had already left, since they had another show to prepare for the following day. They have done tons of shows this year, which is amazing to see after their long hiatus. It has been very difficult for me to go back to normal day to day life after this.

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GALLERY

When I arrived

Esme Emerson

Esme Lee-Scott

Siblings Esme & Emerson Lee-Scott

KEANE!

Tom Chaplin crouching dramatically

Close-up

Piano-off

Jesse Quin & TC posing together

Atmospheric shot

TC & Tim Rice-Oxley

Loving every moment

Feeding off the energy from the crowd

TC & Richard Hughes singing together

TR-O close-up

Getting the crowd to sing along

Saying goodnight