PHOTOS: Keane raise the roof at the BIC with much-loved songs

TWENTY years after Hope and Fears was released, Keane packed out the BIC as the third date on the UK leg of their world tour.

Reforming in 2019 after a 10 year hiatus, the band is obviously enjoying their second chance at hitting the headlines.

The resurgence could partly be due to debut single Somewhere Only We Know, which has turned into a TikTok phenomenon notching up millions of plays.

Keane share a space alongside Coldplay and Snow Patrol, those contemporary bands who have proved themselves to be more than one-hit wonders.

I should mention the fabulous Lathums, supporting band for Keane but after two no1 albums, really a headlining band in their own right.

An indie rock band from Wigan, often spoken about in the same vein as the Artic Monkeys and the Smiths.

They are fronted by singer/songwriter Alex Moore, who is a charismatic personality. They performed a top quality 45 minute set to start the evening on a high note.

Keane came on at 9pm, led by Tom Chaplin, who has become an accomplished frontman. He has that undefinable knack of mesmerising audiences and holding their attention with pure stage presence, which is still there after all these years.

The entire stage is white, bathed with white light initially, with a T walkway extending in to the arena.

The minimal instrumentation of keys, drums and bass produce such a broad spectrum of sound no other instruments are needed.

Keane do not need huge gantries of moving lasers and lights, it would simply would not enhance their music.

The audience has grown as the band has, with Chaplin certainly affected by the level of affection and the audience response during sing along anthems.

The level of audience interaction was perfect, chatting where he needed to, but certainly not dampening the mood by drifting on too long.

The singalongs he encourages are simple, and again enthusiastic but suitably timed to keep up the interest.

Every track from Hopes and Fears was played, sensibly interspersed with a choice selection from later albums.

The opening song, Can’t Stop Now, set the scene for the show with a typical upbeat anthem, first among many anthems!

Swiftly followed by Silenced By The Night and Bend And Break, the audience were totally involved and captivated already.

To name all the twenty-two tracks would be superfluous.

Every song, whether fast or slow, had the typical Keane approach we had all come to savour.

Chaplin is equally capable of performing an emotion-wringing slowie such as She Has No Time, or a more powerful, almost proggy, anthem.

The song I have to mention individually is of course Somewhere Only We Know which is a high point among many.

Judging by the number of phones and waving arms, the audience agreed!

All too soon the main set ended and the band certainly made us work for the three-song encore.

We Might As Well Be Strangers preceded Sovereign Light Café, both of which were received with the required audience response.

The final song could only be the totally uplifting Bedshaped, with the crowd raising the roof with the chorus.

The show could not end on a better note and merely watching the manner of the audience leave was equally uplifting!