8 fun facts to prep you for Keane live in Manila
To prep you for the live concert of the U.K. band Keane on October 2 at Smart Araneta Coliseum, here’s a few fun facts about them.
1. Keane recently became one of three bands in pop history to have five consecutive Number 1 albums on the U.K. charts, with “Strangeland” released in May 2012. They tie with Radiohead and Coldplay, and are beaten only by The Beatles.
2. Coldplay was actually the name Keane co-founder, composer and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley originally thought of for the band. But Rice-Oxley thought the name as “too depressing.” So he gave the name to this guy he met in college who was then in a band called Starfish. The guy was Chris Martin.
3. While Keane’s music is often compared to Coldplay’s, Rice-Oxley once said in an interview that to someone who’s never heard the band before, he’d describe their music, thusly: “I would say to expect something very melodic and very English. I think our nearest touchstones are The Smiths, then people like the Pet Shop Boys and U2, and earlier writers like Paul Simon and David Bowie, and even the American songwriters like Irving Berlin. We're also influenced by a lot of more electronic stuff like Depeche Mode and the Chemical Brothers. I would also tell people to expect unashamedly honest and personal lyrics.”
4. All that came to mainstream fruition with Keane’s 2004 debut album, “Hopes and Fears,” which garnered multiple awards and sold over five million copies.
5. Keane’s biggest hits include “Everybody’s Changing” and “Somewhere Only We Know.”
6.“Strangeland” is Keane’s fourth studio album, after “Hopes & Fears” (2004), “Under The Iron Sea” (2006), “Perfect Symmetry” (2008) and the “Night Train” EP (2010).
7. Of their latest album, “Strangeland,” U.K.’s Sunday Times said it “pull[ed] the heartstrings with a strength that even a band as notoriously emotive as Keane have rarely managed before.”
8. Said Keane frontman Tom Chaplin: “Our bloody-mindedness and desire to keep on changing as a band seems to have kept us alive, as well as our incredibly loyal and dedicated set of fans—thanks to everyone who has supported us! We hope to see lots of you out on the road over the next year, after which I guess we'll get back in the studio to try to make it six in a row!”
Catch Keane’s Strangeland World Tour in Manila on October 2 at Smart Araneta Coliseum. Tickets are available at www.smtickets.com or call 470-2222. For sponsorship please call 415-35555.
