Keane at the Beacon Theater 06.15.12

There's something undeniably different with British bands. It's a rare atmosphere. I experienced this for the first time last year, when I saw Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. The entire audience is engaged. They sing along to every song, they clap, they dance. That alone is an impressive ambience, and combined with the powerful lead vocals and stage presence of Tom Chaplin, Keane was an absolute pleasure to behold.

I'll admit I had my concerns seeing Keane live. Would the vocals be as good live as they were on the albums? Yes, yes they were. Chaplin was a force the entire night: engaging the audience, moving back and forth across the stage, pumping his fists, kneeling at dramatic moments, climbing the drum risers. The entire band had incredible energy that was completely infectious. I thought back to all my concert experiences and believe it or not, this was the first show I'd seen with a dedicated front man.

Opening act Mystery Jets put on a solid 45 minute set. I wasn't familiar with their work, but I'm definitely going to check them out.

As soon as Keane took the stage, fans were on their feet. It made for some creative cropping on my part, but I wanted to include a shot so you could see what I was up against. I'm not judging, everyone enjoys a concert in their own way, but it did lead to some bonding with the girl right in front of me who pretty much had to crane her neck to be able to see the majority of the night.

I like that I got a little bit of the architecture of the Beacon Theater in this shot. This was my third concert at this venue and it's both visually stunning and acoustically sound.

I eventually got a few complete band shots.

I featured this picture as my photo of the week. What I loved about this concert were the number of families I saw. There were at least 5 separate families in my immediate vicinity with young kids. I loved that this father brought his son to the aisle so he would be able to see for a few songs. Kudos to the parents that are willing to bring their kids with them, to give them the experience of a live show.

I actually shot video for an entire song, a feat that is so completely foreign to me, I can't explain. You can see just how much Tom moves around the stage and how many people I had to shoot around during the show.

During the last song of the night, Tom climbed the drum risers and the spotlight created the perfect shadow. I love this shot.

You really get a sense of how enthusiastic the crowd is in this picture.

Set List:
You Are Young
Day Will Come
Everybody's Changing
Leaving So Soon?
The Starting Line
Nothing In My Way
Neon River
Bend And Break
We Might As Well Be Strangers
Spiralling
A Bad Dream
Perfect Symmetry
Strangeland
On The Road
Disconnected
This Is The Last Time
Somewhere Only We Know
Is It Any Wonder?
Bedshaped
Sovereign Light Cafe
Encore:
Sea Fog
Silenced By The Night
Crystal Ball

Keane played a 22 song set, that ran for an hour and 45 minutes and spanned their four studio albums. It was a long show, but it flew by. For me personally, I struggled with downgrading to my point and shoot camera. I fear that it's not enough for me anymore, which is good because it's going to push me to make some kind of move towards my goal. I leave you with my favorite shot of the night. Go figure, another silhouette, but one that I think encapsulates the concert perfectly.