Thursday, July 29, 2010

KEANE: BAD DREAM

We saw KEANE last night at the CHICAGO THEATRE and like their song "Bad Dream," it was. I have always been a big fan of the band and their music BUT I think they "Jumped the shark" and have certainly lost their "Cool." The feeling was unanimous with the group I went with. Their latest CD NIGHT TRAIN and even the one before PERFECT SYMMETRY, were starting to show signs, but this concert confirmed it for me. I have seen them live three times before and they were all great shows (also, their live DVD from the UNDER THE IRON SEA tour is great too).

We missed the first opening band but unfortunately caught the 2nd. The girl in the 2nd act sang about being a goof and closed with a Brittney Spears song and dance? The girls in the audience thought she was funny and applauded her music. Our group stared at each other in disbelief. Most of the audience in the Chicago Theatre were young girls holding one or two drinks in their hands. I don't have anything against girls with drinks in their hand, but this will give you an idea of the new audience for KEANE.

KEANE suffered from bad sound (Way too bassy and couldn't even make out what Tom was saying between songs), a horrible light show with blinding flashing lights about every 2 minutes, regardless of if it fit the song and an addition of a non-member bass player that was dancing around like his pants were on fire. The band's stage presence was all but gone. I saw the band at their first show on the HOPES AND FEARS tour at the RIVIERA and they had cool bands like THE REDWALLS open. What happened since then?

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