Keane reach near-perfect symmetry

Keane, the three-piece electronic rock band hailing from Battle in East Sussex, UK, stormed Singapore on 13 August 2009 at Fort Canning Park. This reviewer wasn't much of a fan to begin with, but their show was so immaculate that I even went out and bought myself a copy of their latest album Perfect Symmetry. Not being totally clued up on this Keane phenomenon, I was overwhelmed at the amount of Keane fanatics that showed up (armed with beer in hand, of course) to welcome them to Singapore for the first time, thanks to LAMC Productions.

Singapore's homegrown rock band The Fire Fight (no stranger to opening for mega acts) were one of the two opening bands for Tim Rice-Oxley and the boys, followed by the band Cyril Niccolai. Manic hand-clapping ensued, but if there was a general lack of interest in the two bands, it was only because the crowd was just waiting for Keane to come on.

When Keane finally took to the stage, the crowd got on their feet and you could finally hear the 5,000 or so people who were queuing outside earlier in the day. Cue head-bobbing and mass singalongs (this is Keane, so you don't expect crowd surfing, do you?). The opened with the first single off Perfect Symmetry, 'The Lovers Are Losing', which displayed their new electronic bent.

"We've moved in a different direction", said lead vocalist Tom Chaplin during a press conference at The Fairmont Singapore. And brains behind the band/pianist Rice-Oxley added, "We've added new elements such as synthesizers or technology as you can hear from the 'Spiralling', one of the most exciting songs off the new album to record." They said that with Perfect Symmetry, they wanted to "look to the future" and be more forward with their music. After all, this is the band that released a single 'Nothing In My Way' on a USB stick back in 2006. It's true.

Despite the evolution of the sound into something more futuristic, they have not forgotten the bedrock of their success-the original guitar-free jangle with just the piano, drums and vocals, especially on the ubiquitous mega hits 'Everybody's Changing' and 'Somewhere Only We Know'. The latter especially was moving; Chapin, dressed as a slightly tubby cowboy, was drenched in sweat and let the crowd sing almost half of the song.

Keane were definitely out to please and bond with the crowd; they whipped out a whopping total of three encore songs! The highlight of the encore bit was a brilliant cover of the Queen classic 'Under Pressure'. Good job I managed to as I quite blindly followed the rest of the crowd who left after the first encore song 'Is It Any Wonder' ended. All in all, it was one heck of an evening. Now all we have to do is pray for them to come back.

Click HERE for the full photo set!

Setlist:
The Lovers Are Losing
Everybody's Changing 
Bend And Break
We Might As Well Be Strangers 
Your Eyes Open
This Is The Last Time
Spiralling
Try Again
You Haven't Told Me Anything
Leaving So Soon
Nothing In My Way
You Don't See Me
Perfect Symmetry
Somewhere Only We Know
Crystal Ball
Atlantic
Is It Any Wonder?
Bedshaped
Under Pressure

WORDS ALEXANDRA TAN PHOTOS REUVEN TAN