English piano rock outfit Keane have been known for their uplifting, piano-driven tracks (think ‘Somewhere Only We Know’) from their debut album ‘Hopes and Fears’ (2004) through their most recent release, ‘Perfect Symmetry’ (2008). While their use of piano as their primary instrument rather than guitar is certainly different than most other bands out there, they’ve never strayed far from this distinctive Keane sound. If the track ‘Stop for a Minute’ is anything to go by, then that’s all going to change with their upcoming EP, ‘Night Train.’

Seeking to experiment with their sound, last summer Keane collaborated with a number of people, most notably Kanye West, but their most fruitful collaboration was with Somali/Canadian rapper K’Naan. They recorded two songs for the EP with the socially conscious musician, including ‘Looking Back’ and ‘Stop for A Minute.’ Lead vocalist Tom Chaplin has said “I think those tracks show us in a completely different light,” and I have to agree.

But for any fans worried about their new direction, it’s still distinctly Keane. In fact, ‘Stop for A Minute’ sounds exactly like what you’d expect if you put a rapper on a Keane song. The track has a stronger, more hip-hop inspired beat than most Keane songs, but the piano and Tom’s powerful vocals are still there in full force. While Tom Chaplin and K’Naan trade off on vocals throughout the verses, they’re both singing – the only actual rapping happens in the bridge, and it’s integrated seamlessly. So take a deep breath, Keane fans, and enjoy this irrepressible track. As it says on their website, “It’s still Keane, and it’s still ace. Trufax.”

‘Night Train’ will be released on CD and available for download on 10 May, and you can pre-order a special numbered edition of the EP through the Keane Store right now by clicking here. They will be touring the UK in June, read our ticket alert for more information, and click below to purchase tickets for the remaining three dates that aren’t sold out.

Keane have announced a series of gigs next summer around the UK’s forests.

Tickets cost £32.00 (subject to booking fee) and go on sale at 9.00am Friday 4th December 2009 from ticket hotline tel 01842 814612 or buy online at www.forestry.gov.uk/music & www.keanemusic.com

Thursday 10th June 2010 – Thetford Forest, Nr Brandon, Suffolk,
Friday 11th June 2010 – Pedgebury Pinetum & Forest, Nr Goudhurst, Kent,
Friday 18th June 2010 – Westonbirt Arboretum, Nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire,
Saturday 19th June 2010 – Sherwood Pines Forest Park, Nr Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire,
Friday 25th June 2010 – Dalby Forest, Nr Pickering, North Yorks,
Saturday 26th June 2010 – Cannock Chase Forest, Nr Rugeley, Staffordshire,

I can scarcely believe it’s been 5 years since Keane’s debut album, ‘Hopes and Fears’, hit store shelves in the UK. The music business – and surely the music landscape as well – has changed so much since then. Certainly Keane themselves have changed too. They charmed the world with expansive tunes like ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and ‘Everybody’s Changing’ and then seemingly conquered the globe with their subsequent album, ‘Under the Iron Sea’. I was never a fan of them back then – I shunned the aforementioned ‘Somewhere…’ as a snore fest and did not pay them any attention as the girls around me here in America went gaga over the Keane sound.

Their 2008 release of ‘Perfect Symmetry’, with its firm nod towards the Eighties and synthesisers, piqued my interest. At the same time however, the new offering effectively polarised the Keane fanbase, some fans disappointed in composer Tim Rice-Oxley’s new electronic direction. So perhaps it’s the right time for Keane to release a deluxe version of ‘Hopes and Fears’, the album that started the ball rolling for them, if only to remind people what they sounded like “before they was”.

My gut feeling: if you were already a diehard Keane fan before this album is released, you have probably already procured most of this “new” stuff by means not endorsed by TGTF, and/or you and many pounds have been separated from each other via eBay in your quest to be a Keane completist. But if these do not apply to you and you’re only a casual fan of the band, this 2 CD set is an intriguing if not essential collection of songs from the early days of a band that can now fill stadiums around the world. Included are the B-side ‘Snowed Under’ (featuring Tom Chaplin’s soaring vocals) from the ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ single, as well as B-sides from Zoomorphic and Fierce Panda singles and ‘On a Day Like Today’, a track conspicuously missing from the non-UK versions of this album.

Most captivating are the live versions being offered in this collection. Taped versions of album tracks from the now-defunct Radio1 programme Lamacq Live, Jo Whiley’s Radio1 Live Lounge, and even a live EP the band released in March 2005 all provide a pleasant glimpse back in time in the trio’s history. Usually you can tell if a band can deliver the goods based on how good they sound on BBC live sessions, and Keane (well, Keane several years ago) do not disappoint one bit. Chaplin’s voice is heartbreakingly beautiful for the ballads like ‘Bedshaped’ and ‘We Might as Well Be Strangers’ that still make women around the world swoon and fall at their feet. He can deliver the goods for their more upbeat numbers like ‘Everybody’s Changing’ and ‘This is the Last Time’. And most importantly to the synth-hating Keane fans who have been with them from the beginning, Rice-Oxley’s piano-playing is clear, commanding, and brilliant.

Keane’s ‘Hopes and Fears (Deluxe Edition)’ will be released in the UK on 9 November. Pre-order it from Amazon here.

It’s undeniable that V Festival is a lot more commerical than other music festival’s across the country, and while the bash has certainly recieved the odd bit of criticism for it’s uber radio-friendly line up, the fest is no less fun in our eyes. Certainly – going by the awesome line-up, it’s unsurprising that the event managed to sell out in just two hours this year.

The summer bash – which is happening on Saturday 22nd to Sunday 23rd August – will be taking place across it’s two usual sites this ‘09: Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire.

Oasis (pictured right) and The Killers are the two big name headliners confirmed to be playing the festival’s top spot this year. Other major acts gracing the fest’s main stage (aptly titled ‘V Stage’) across the weekend include Razorlight, Snow Patrol, The Specials, Elbow, Biffy Clyro, Lily Allen, James, Seasick Steve and, intriguingly, Taylor Swift.

The smaller sized ‘4Music’ stage will also be featuring further super cool artists including Fatboy Slim, Pendulum, The Ting Tings, The Wombats, Keane, The Enemy, Katy Perry and Dizzee Rascal.

If nothing has still managed to catch your eye (or ear!), why not head over to ‘The Arena’ where you can check out a varied selection including MGMT, Lady GaGa, Happy Mondays, The Streets, Pete Doherty, and latest girl band sensation, British Sea PowerThe Saturdays.

If that’s still not enough, the festival has another 50 acts up its sleeve to announce in the coming few weeks. Exciting!

As I told you earlier, tickets for the Chelmsford leg have sadly sold out. There are still some available for the Staffordshire event, however. For more information regarding ticket outlets, check out V Festival’s website.

Top photo comes from stevec77’s flickr stream, and side photo from John Griffiths’ flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

Just about every muso will be drooling, begging and stealing over these shows. The legendary Island Records are celebrating their 50th birthday this year, and to celebrate they’re holding a week long series of shows at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire, each night playing host to some of their most famous artists, past and present.

Tickets for all the shows below go on sale on Friday morning (13th March) at 9am.

Tuesday 26th May 2009 – Sly & Robbie & the Compass Point All Stars
Wednesday 27th May 2009 – The Fratellis
Thursday 28th May 2009 – Cat Stevens / Yusuf
Friday 29th May 2009 – Paul Weller (pictured top)
Saturday 30th May 2009 – Keane / Tom Tom Club
Sunday 31st May 2009 – Amy Winehouse (pictured top right)

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

“Music for Bedwetters” the legendary Alan McGee christened Keane. The Creation Records founder is usually right about most things, however he seems to have got Keane’s audience completely wrong. At the first of two sold out nights at London’s vast O2 Arena last night, everyone from grannies to teenagers to toddlers were present.

As front man Tom Chaplin commented, their first gigs were in venues smaller than their B-Stage on this tour, and his stage personality has certainly grown with the stages they’ve filled. Playing such big arenas on this tour has seen Tom go from a decent stage presence to a full-blown Bono impression, short of the preaching about the 3rd world.

Opening up the evening, we finally got a chance to catch the hotly tipped Frankmusik. He took over the arena’s stage like it was his own, taking his beatboxing, electro dance tunes a la old style Moby mixed with Calvin Harris to the masses and converting the hoards with the catchy hooks and recognisable samples.

Once the stage was set for Keane, they burst out, triumphantly opening with “Lovers are Losing”, they pleased everyone, playing the classics (Somewhere Only We Know, Everything’s Changing), the current chart hits (Perfect Symmetry, Spiralling) the fan favourite rarities (Sunshine, Snowed Under) and the obligatory new ones. 22 songs in 105 minutes isn’t bad pace for a well seasoned band, let alone some East Sussex kids who were unknown just five years ago.

Starting off the evening slowly, the light display was modest however as things progressed, the national grid was tested to the limits, with Again and Again featuring some computer game graphics on the huge screen behind the band, and A Bad Dream a rather haunting video of war-era dancing in gas masks. The production values were distinctly ramped up, with a B stage inviting a return to their early days, playing to an almost empty room at the Hope and Anchor in north London. Tunes like “Snowed Under” offered a chance to go back to basics.

Coming to the end of the tour, Tom’s voice wasn’t at its best; however this inevitably led to the mass yell-along to “Somewhere Only We Know” towards the end of the evening. Croaky, he took a break to let the crowd do what they do best: “Angels” for the bed-wetting generation, if you will.

Closing out with the usual mass-hug-along of “Bedshapped”, it was sadly time to go home. Whatever you may think of the Battle three piece, they sure know how to put on a good show and have some great pop tunes. Granted, they’re no Arcade Fire or other critics current hype band, but they do what they do best: make great tunes for the mainstream.

Tickets for this event were kindly provided by Needtickets.

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

After the jump: setlist and photos.

Read the rest of this entry »

The amount of emails we’ve been getting this past week has been quite something – so many new opportunities, great bands getting in touch, and some quite bizarre questions too (including one genius who asked if TGTF was a “music website”…. erm, last time we checked it was!)

First up, Daniel Merriweather (pictured top) has a new single out on February 2nd. Recognise the name? Yes, it’s him from “Stop Me”, Mark Ronson’s massive hit. He’s got a great voice, and he’s embarking on a solo career at the moment, starting with “Change”, the first single to be taken from his forthcoming “Love & War” album. I have a feeling I’m gonna have this stuck in my head, much like “Stop Me”. Watch the video below, and fall in love with him…

Some of you may have spotted that iTunes have announced a new flexible pricing scheme for their music, and (perhaps the biggest news story) have ditched the irritating copy protection from their songs (Guardian news story here). It seems to have been hailed by just about everyone, with Popjustice commenting “Does this DRM-free thing mean that people have now totally given up on the idea of revenue through music sales?” (Twitter). We7’s CEO Steve Purdham (who we first mentioned last week) hailed the news by commenting that “the spectrum of choice for music lovers is now greater than ever before and the stage is set for 2009 to really open the boundaries of digital music consumption”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Coming up on There Goes The Fear, we’re going to catch a preview screening next week of a new MTV show about Pete Doherty, and we’ll be bringing you a live review of the Kerrang! Relentless tour after the 20th when we catch the tour in Oxford. We may also be catching Keane in February, and possibly the Gaslight Anthem too. Yes, it’s all go.

As ever, if anyone wants to write for TGTF please don’t hesitate to contact us – tell us a bit about yourself, and we’ll take it from there.

Keane have announced that they’ll play three free UK Shows next week ahead of the release of their third album.

“We decided last night that we want to get out there next week and play our new songs to our fans in an intimate environment,” said lead singer Tom Chaplin. “We love playing live, we love the intensity of the atmosphere in those clubs, you just can’t capture that in an arena or festival. We want to do it like we used to! It is going to be amazing fun.”

Tickets for the three shows are free, but you’ll need to sign up here by 4pm tomorrow (Friday 10th October).

Keane will play:

Monday 13th October – Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms
Tuesday 14th October – Leeds Cockpit 2
Wednesday 15th October – London 100 Club

Following on from last year’s amazing lineup, the Mencap Little Noise sessions are back again this November to raise more money for the mental disability charity.

The series of gigs at London’s Islington Union Chapel will take place over about 2 weeks, with more dates and artists to be announced

The charity’s ambassador, Jo Whiley, may be on maternity leave from her job at Radio 1, but she’s managed to get an incredible lineup to play. She commented: “Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions are a great opportunity to see big name bands play an acoustic gig in an intimate setting, whilst raising money for a really worthwhile cause.”

Fans wanting to buy tickets need to register on Mencapmusic.org.uk between October 1 and 16. All proceeds from ticket sales go to Mencap.

Saturday 8th November – Glasvegas, Cage the Elephant
Sunday 9th November – Razorlight, Florence and the Machine, Esser
Monday 10th November – Stereophonics, Seasick Steve
Tuesday 11th November – Adele, Angus And Julia Stone
Wednesday 12th November – Biffy Clyro, Friendly Fires, Frank Turner
Thursday 13th November – James Morrison, Katy Perry, Sam Beeton
Friday 14th November – Kasabian, Reverend and the Makers, The Hours, Fight Like Apes
Saturday 15th November – Keane, The Script, Bryn Christopher, Red Light Company
Tuesday 18th November – The Fratellis

Those indie bedwetters, Keane have announced a fairly big arena tour for January and February next year.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (26th September) at 9am, and are on presale from their official website from 9am on Thursday (25th Sept)

Friday 23rd January – Belfast Odyssey Arena
Sunday 25th January – Dublin The O2
Tuesday 27th January – Newcastle Arena
Thursday 29th January – Glasgow SECC
Saturday 31st January – Manchester MEN Arena
Sunday 1st February – Nottingham Arena
Tuesday 3rd February – Bournemouth BIC
Wednesday 4th February – Cardiff Arena
Friday 6th February – Sheffield Arena
Saturday 7th February – Liverpool Arena
Monday 9th February – Plymouth Pavilions
Tuesday 10th February – Brighton Centre
Thursday 12th February – London 02 Arena