Keane: A Tale of Two Cities

i forgot to post about keane! oh, will they ever forgive me? keane, who love me so much? keane, who stalk me around every city they show up in? keane, who are just so happy and cute and bouncy and dramatic and expressive and british and messy-haired and baby-faced and weepy? awwww. poor keane! sorry keanies, here ya go...

i saw them when they showed up both in seattle and vancouver. the following is my tale of two cities.

the players are:
tom = lead singer.
tim = pianist/songwriter.
richard = drummer.
legendary white belt = tom and tim both have a weird penchant for wearing white belts. tom dresses in all black on stage except for the damned white belt. we don't know why. no one does. but it makes him look about a foot shorter than he actually is (he's 6'2"), and a friend and i have a whole plot to steal that belt and hold in ransom.
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the seattle show:
of course it was excellent. tom was more energetic and confident than i think i've ever seen him. tim looked like he was going to expire at the end there. seriously, just sweating and panting and exhausted. tom said that the crowd made it seem like they were the beatles (we really were awfully loud), and tim furrowed his weary brow and yelled, 'WHAT?!?' to which i laughed. but he wasn't laughing. richard was though! richard was just as smilie as usual.

before the show i went to will call to pick up the tickets. i was in line with two other people, niether of whom were picking up keane tickets. i looked over, and who should be walking toward me but my stalker, richard (not only did we see him wandering around the streets of san francsico before that show in december, but it turned out we were staying in his hotel. so that's the joke. funny, huh? i'm hilarious).

when i first saw him, i actually just burst out laughing (yes, i was alone and yes, i looked like a lunatic). then i looked over at him again, remembering that he once said he never gets recognized on the street, and i smiled a knowing smile. he smiled back with that look of recognition (and he didn'trecognize me, he just knew i recognized him and was acknowledging that... duh) and walked down to his tour bus. good golly that's a skinny skinny boy. i couldn't say anything to him because well... i just couldn't.

then my friends and i were having dinner and drinks at a bar down the street, discussing the legendary white belt (of course. what else would we be talking about?), when tom chaplin strutted his bad, bad self, all dressed for the show (firmly ensconsed in velvet blazer, and, of course, the whitest belt in all of christendom), past the restaurant and our window. and of course, looked IN the window just as i was saying, 'UM GUYS!! GUYS?!?! LOOK LOOK LOOOOOOOK!!' and 3 other heads all whipped around to see tom, who i *think* had the theme to 'saturday night fever' running through his brain as he strutted past, looking in our window and of course, fixing his hair. it was, well. it was awesome.

anyway the show was great, the new song, 'try again,' was AMAZING (wow wow wow) but you know what? PEOPLE SUCK.

those of us with WRIST BANDS who got IN FIRST and staked OUR SPOTS in front got PUSHED in front of by people who... well let's just put it this way. 'she has no time' started and the girlfriend of this obnoxious arsepuppy says, 'um, is this bedshaped? what is this, the untitled one? what is this?'

and YOU pushed ahead of ME?!? beeeeOTCH!

anyway. eh hem. so the buttmunch kept taking pictures (blocking my view with his camera), then would lean into his featherbrained, non-keane-fan of a girlfriend to reminise about what had happened 2 seconds ago. 'hey wasn't it great when tom did that one thing? look!!'

guess what! DON'T! I'M STANDING RIGHT BEHIND YOU AND WOULD REALLY LIKE TO SEE THE FACKIN' BAND, KID!! NOT YOUR CAMERA AND YOUR WHITE-BOY, SUBURBAN, ABE-FROM-ROAD-RULES OBNOXO-FAUXHAWK!!

so the hinderpuppet pushed in front of about 3 rows of people, then started loudly complaining about the lack of space (we were about 4 or 5 rows from the front, standing room only). this guy next to me said, 'hey buddy? YOU'RE the one who pushed in front of everyone. deal with it.' i wanted to hug that man.

then everytime me and the people next to and behind me would let out a rousing cheer (which was, let's face it, often), he and his dunderheaded girlfriend would cover their ears irritatedly and look around at us, frowing. which would cause me, of course, to scream even louder and as shrill as i possibly could. you know what? don't push in front of ACTUAL fans if you can'thandle the noise and don't know the band.

that's aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall i'm sayin'.

so i was quite happy when tom introduced 'snowed under' as '....one for diehard keane fans.' i almost knocked those two out the way after that one. but no, i'm from seattle and far too polite. anyways.

OTHERwise... yay keane! the little animations in the background during 'we might as well be strangers' honestly almost made me cry. it was so incredibly moving and sad. and tom appeared to wipe away a wee tear after 'she has no time,' but i'm guessing it was sweat and not really a tear. in any case, it made its point. and that point was... it's NOT 'untitled1'!

no, i didn't stay around to say hello... it was pissing down and cold and just... no.

how those kids can look humbled and amazed at the vast crowds greeting them night after night is truly a gift. tom's banter was FAR more natural and confident than ever. very chatty and in control of the night. he always sounded somewhat awkward and shy before, but now he really seems to know his place and his role, and has started to embrace it. good man, that tom.

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the vancouver show:
it was a sad sad day for me because i am not the 'travel alone' kind of girl, and my friend ended up not being able to come with me at literally the last possible second. no one else could go on such short notice, so i went up by myself. ehhh.

the hotel was craptastic. but hey, it was right behind the theater with a perfect view of the tour busses and trucks, so i put up withthe narrow hallways and general crapitude. the things i do for keane, i tell ya...

of course my stalker richard was stalking me around vancouver before the show. i did, as is now routine for me, see him bouncing around down the street in front of me. when i walked out the door of my hotel, there he was walking toward his tour bus.

one of the people i met up there, however, being oh so jealous of my stalkers keane, told me the 'real' reason i see richard everywhere... because he's the only one who gets out of the bus and wanders around the city the day before a show. i don't buy it though. i think richard loves me.

anyway, the show itself -- um ok, the promoters got me 2nd row, RIGHT smack dab in between tim and tom. unreal. i've never been that close to tim and let me tell you, i was frightened for my life.

tom got jumped toward the end of the show, which was actually really hilarious. richard looked like he was going to fall off his seat, he was laughing so hard. either tim didn't see it or he was just not amused. tom, however, thought it was awesome. after it happened, he looked at the crowd and just started cracking up. he thanked the girlie who did it! after he said, 'well that's quite flattering, thank you,' i heard a couple of girls around me swoon, 'oh he's sooooo cuuuuuute!' at which i laughed even harder.

same set as seattle, same energy from the band, and again, the banter was great. there were some bits you know are scripted, but you can also tell how much more comfortable he feels, because a lot of it was, well, not. scripted, that is.

the crowd was better in some ways (no one pushed in front of me, so that's good ), but not as energetic as they were seattle. everyone was SITTING for 'can't stop now,' (the first song) until tom begged everyone to get on their feet. i couldn't believe how reserved everyone was. the screams were deafening and extended in seattle (hence the 'beatles' comment from tom), and it just wasn't like that in vancouver.

after the show i went around back and found hoardes and hoardes of people (some of whom were actual groupies... just like the kind you see on tv hanging around the tour busses for heavy metal bands. it actually amused the hell out of me), and i was quite disappointed, not only in the number of people (about 50), but also with the fact that it was all organized like a formal meet and greet now (not like that in san francisco). so you stand in line, get up there, they sign your shite, then you move along. i don't know... it just wasn't the same. AND they had barricades set up in front of the band so fans couldn't 'get too close.' that didn't stop the band from, of course, hugging and talking pictures with people (even though security said no posed pictures allowed).

so i was feeling weird and apparently not drunk enough to talk to them (or indeed, drunk at all), so i hung back, watched them sign stuff, then left. i didn't have anything for them to sign, and didn't have a camera, and nothing witty and/or fascinating to say to them was springing to mind, so i left them alone. FOR ONCE.

i was going to tell tom that i needed his white belt for...er... 'research' purposes, but alas. maybe in austin. they had to leave for salt lake city right after the show, as getting through customs back into the u.s. always takes a billion years (according allastair, one of their impeccably dressed techs), so i went back up to my room and watched the trucks and tour busses pull away into the night.

great show, of course. tom's voice sounded stronger than it did in seattle, so i don't know what he did between there and vancouver, but apparently it worked. loving 'try again,' (new song) but i must say, 'hamburg song' (another new song) beats all. i swear i lose conciousness a couple of times during that song, it's so incredibly beautiful.

and there you have it. i can't wait for austin.

Bloc Party: psuedo-depressive drama kings made a pretty good album, actually

i am one of those horrible people who, if i find out the band is full of personalities that make me want to punch someone repeatedly in the neck, the music dips a few notches in my book.

let's take ryan adams, kasabian and oasis, for example. ryan adams is fine. his music is fine, non-threatening, not challenging in anyway, just fine. i wouldn't turn it off, but i also wouldn't turn it up. however, when reports started trickling in of ryan adams being a complete assmonkey to people (screaming at them when they joked about his name, for example), well, his music got turned off. when i read that kasabian are a bunch of perpetually intoxicated 21 year olds who stagger around and grandstand about things they know nothing about (chicks dig kids with the name serge? think again), while i did laugh heartily, it also deflated them in my mind. and don't even get me started on the little arrogant-for-no-reason pieces of shite in oasis.

bloc party, while i'd heard a few songs, had not really registered yet, but for my good friend kerry falling deeply in love with them recently. then i read an article about them, and rolled my eyes so hard i think i actually caught a gimpse of my cerebral cortex.

the 'ooooOOOOOOOooooh i'm a deeeep, deeeeep, deeeepreeessed art school booooooy,' act is so old, it's a fossil. seriously. only morrissey can pull that off, and even then, it's tongue-in-cheek (though maybe not meaning to be) and, well, it's who he is. but these kids have literally nothing to moan and complain about.

oh, don't like being called the 'next big thing' to come out of britian? quit your band and leave us alone, then.

don't like performing? then maybe instead of whining about it in an article that will be read by thousands of the people who, oh i don't know, turn out for your shows and pay your bills, you should stay home.

think that people who compare you to musical pioneers like gang of four are complete morons (and that's a compliment, by the way, kids)? then maybe completely change your sound. because that's who you sound like (albeit not blatantly, but there's an obvious similarity).

so yea. after that article, i wasn't to keen on the bloc party scene.

but then again, not having really paid attention to the actual music, i thought, 'well, what the hell,' and downloaded all 14 songs from the debut, 'silent alarm' onto my trusty mr. peezen (my ipod. get it? peezen ipod? get it? *sigh*). i listened to the whole thing while stuck in mind-numbing traffic for an hour last night.

well let me tell you. that is one hell of a debut.

they can all suck my left buttcheek, because there is, most certainly, a gang of four thing going on there. but there's also lots of gorgeous, lilting guitar, really cool, unique lyrics (who writes about a girl shaving her legs? i mean really), and swelling, uplifting choruses... lots with a political agenda (specifically on 'price of gasoline') that, i'm sorry, i've been really missing from music today.

kele okereke has a high, clear, expressive voice that carries the songs up into the clouds, and matt tong's drums are borderline tribal in their urgency and intensity, yet they never overshadow the song. the music is at once lovely and atmospheric ('this modern love' is an instant classic), bare-bones and jerky... reminding us, of course, of some 80s new wave but updating it with so many influences, it's really tough to nail one down completely.

truly listenable, at times the choruses kind of blend into one another, but it's a flaw i'll overlook right now. this is one you'll want to listen to over and over again just to catch every sound and every hook and as many words as you can (kele's thick accent gets in the way sometimes for us bone-headed americans).

great as background, great as foreground. and even though they may hate it, i can't wait to see them live, which i'll be doing twice this year. maybe after the show i'll give them a firm talking to about those attitudes, mister. but right now? i'm just really happy to give it a listen, and push those personalities aside.