PREVIEW: Keane @ O2 Academy, May 25th

Just shy of four years since their last studio album, Keane are back on tour; coming to the O2 Academy on May 25th.

Promoting their latest release – ‘Strangeland’, a 12 track album and “3D return” to the piano led rock of their earlier material, Keane play 10 dates across the UK; before embarking on a 2 ½ month tour of North America and Europe.

Selling over 10million albums worldwide; half of which were UK sales of their debut album –‘Hopes & Fears’, Keane have not had the easiest road to success.

Marred by; absconding founders, absentee front men, substance abuse and very public spats with wannabe grumble fuckers Kasabian; whose lead singer, Tom Meighan, infamously said that Keane front man, Tim Chaplin, “lives on a diet of pies and Quavers” (Ed – Meighan also called Justin Timberlake a “midget with whiskers”), Keane have continued to tour; and despite never recreating the sales success of their debut album, maintain a strong global fan base.

Also followed by constant comparisons to Coldplay, whilst the the two Brit bands are identifiably different, they do share a strange symbiosis. Both are known for piano led scores, both were ‘discovered’ by Simon Williams from Fierce Panda – the London Indie label,  and founding Keane member Tim Rice Oxley was once invited to join Coldplay as a pianist; but declined to concentrate on Keane. Both bands have also had significant success in America, a nut not often crack by UK Indie rock.

Playing their 3rd UK gig at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, Keane will no doubt be performing new material from ‘Strangeland’.

And whilst critics have questioned what, if anything, new Keane’s 4th album offers; Chris Roberts claiming ‘it doesn’t get much more play-safe and back-to-basics than this’ on the BBC Review, UK audiences seem to be eagerly purchasing a chance to find out.

Keane play the O2 Academy, Birmingham, on May 25th. Cesilia Oriana Trecaquista will be there for the Birmingham Review.

For details on this, and other gigs at the venue, visit http://www.o2academybirmingham.co.uk