Messed!Up
It was 2004, I lived in Bristol and a friend popped over to my neighborhood for a coffee at the beginning of May, and while we sat zipping on our coffees we saw a poster on the wall promoting Keane’s debut album Hopes And Fears which was to be released the following week. My friend told me ‘It’s the new Radiohead, I promise you’ (I thought they sounded like the new Coldplay), and on the way back to work I saw a poster about the band playing a show later the same evening. So, a quick run to the ticket office, and I got my ticket for Keane at The Ansom Rooms. That was my first Keane experience! Six months later they sold out another venue in Bristol for times as big as The Ansom Rooms.
Keane’s music career was a quick rise to the stars. Their first three albums, Hopes And Fears, Under the Iron Sea, and Perfect Symmetry, were all high up the charts including several number one singles. But things took a bad turn; frontman Tom Chaplin’s drug and alcohol addiction meant things had gone badly awry by the time Keane took an indefinite hiatus in 2013. However, Keane pulled themselves together and returned in 2019 with Cause and Effect and have since then kept it together (with a smaller break during the pandemic just like every other band).
And here they were in Hamburg again to play at Stadtpark Open Air 19 years since the last time I was at a Keane show. The atmosphere at Stadtpark was electric as the quartet took to the stage, greeted by a huge applause from the crowd as the band thrust off in “Can’t Stop Now” followed by “Somewhere Only We Know”. In the following banter break, it was clear that Chaplin was in a great mood, and he told people to clap their hands whenever they wanted to, sing along even if they can’t sing, and dance like they’ve never danced before while also pulling a few jokes about the venue’s patio-like layout (yes, it looks like someone’s garden). The fun fact is that German audiences always do what the bands ask about. I’ve been in this country far too long to see that much of the atmosphere at gigs depends on how the bands want it, so here’s some advice: just tell people what to do and they’ll do it!
Most songs off Hopes And Fears followed – like personal favorites “Everybody’s Changing”, “Bend And Break”, and, especially, “This Is The Last Time” – but in terms of songs, She Has No Time is a set highlight – not only for the composition itself but also Chaplin’s soaring falsetto and the atmosphere the song created at Stadtpark. And of course, the “Hamburg Song” that made its tour debut, and with that, Keane held the audience in the palm of their hand.
Frontman Chaplin also took the time to reminisce between songs, speaking of times early on about their influences, and just like the friend once told me, they wanted to be the next Radiohead when they started. However, they found their own way and I can’t find many similarities with Radiohead at all, which is very clear in tonight’s post-Hopes And Fears stop-offs including the much-needed energy sources “Perfect Symmetry” and “Spiralling” – two of my favorite Keane songs with their trademark sound on there.
The night ends in a four-song-long encore with “My Shadow”, “In Your Own Time”, the brilliant “Sovereign Light Café”, and the last song off Hopes And Fears, “Bedshaped”.
It’s evident that Keane’s music left a huge mark on the hearts of the audience. It was a night of pure magic, reminding us of the transcendent power of music to move, to heal, and just to celebrate the 20 years of an amazing album.
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Photos: Niko Schmuck
