KEANE

Amsterdam/Paris live blog 17 October 2012

14.20: Right, it's time for km to head to the station to catch the train back to London, leaving the band here to play the Olympia show tonight. We'll leave you with a Tom's eye view of the venue. Thanks again for reading, commenting and emailing. See you for another live blog soon. Au revoir!

14.13: Here's the fellas in the dressing room just now (Tom's gone out for a wander)

13.38: Some more photos of tonight's Paris venue...

 













12.45: Just been for that wander to a coffee shop with Beth. On the way, we passed the front of the venue (fans have already started arriving).

11.45: Beth's still busy, so we just popped outside and did a quick lap of the Olympia to take some photos and give you a little French flavour. And here they are...

Folks do seem to enjoy a smoke in Paris.

 

11.32: For those asking, Tom was the first of the band to get up this morning. And then Richard. We've not seen Tim and Jesse yet. Although, of course, they may have snuck out to do some sightseeing when we weren't looking.

11.31: Beth has been briefly diverted by something else, so our coffee trip is delayed. In the meantime, here's a photo of a lot of Keane boxes which no doubt have a lot of complicated Keane stuff in them.

11.25: As ever, feel free to drop us a line to ontour@keanemusic.com (as Corina did - to explain that she was behind last night's sock giving! Apparently she also threw socks onto the stage at the band's Amsterdam show in 2005, having read Tom saying he needed new socks in an interview.)

11.22: Here's a pic of the crew, busily setting up the stage for tonight (all of which has arrived overnight from Amsterdam). "Two very full trucks," says Colin. And with that, we're going to pop outside the venue to take a few photos of Paris (and accompany Beth to grab a coffee).

11.18: When the Killers sang about "glamourous indie rock n roll", they may have been talking about sights like this. On the other hand, they may not.

11.16: For the record, today is Keane's 11th show in Paris - as you can see in our Live Archive, here. The band played at the Olympia back in March 2005, when, Colin tells us, they were supported by Rufus Wainwright. Apparently Colin remembers this because he recalls seeing Rufus's manager doing "samurai sword dancing" in the carpark. Which is. indeed, quite memorable. Support tonight comes from AGOP.

11.10: Today's show is another sellout, at the 3,000-capacity Olympia. It's quite ornate.

11.08: The view from the tourbus this morning. Ah, Parisian glamour.

17 October, 11.00: Good morning! Or, indeed, bonjour! We've made it to Paris and we've taken a few pictures (km is not off to tonight's Paris show, but we'll share pictures with you until we head off back to London). Here's a couple from the tourbus last night, including one of Tom pointing at a true British hero...

16 October, 23.39: And with that, we'll bid you goodnight - but we're joining the band on the bus overnight to Paris, so there should be a few more photos to post tomorrow (although not from the Paris show). Huge thanks to everyone who's read the blog, and the many hundreds of you who've emailed in and commented. You lot really are incredible and Keane are very lucky to have you.

And so to our bunk...

23.30: And, as well as opening his new socks, Richard has already sorted out his hi-res crowd shot for tonight's show. Here it is. Click on the picture for the full-size version.

23.23: Richard has opened the socks he swapped his drumsticks for. Niiice.

23.00: As promised, here's tonight's setlist...

22.53: And, after a rousing second encore of Under Pressure, it was goodbye from Keane. Great night, great show.

22.51: Remember the sign from earlier asking Richard to swap his drumsticks for socks? Well, he gave them his drumsticks and, sure enough, they gave him four pairs of gift-wrapped socks. Superb.

22.48: It's fair to say that the crowd enjoyed themselves tonight.

22.47: Tim 'n Tom

22.45: The view from the back of stage left...

22.44: The show is done. The band are very happy with how it went. And there are more photos on their way.

22.28: After the main set, before the encore...

22.26: More live shots, mainly from Bedshaped...

Turning the mic on the crowd for them to bellow along...

22.22: Back again, with a memory card bursting with pictures for you...

22.14: But I don't *have* any signs. :-(

Oh, and thanks to Annika for letting us know about the England match being called off because of rain in Warsaw.

22.13: It's a great venue, by the way. Very much recommend you coming to a show here if you have the chance.

22.10: The view from the balcony.

22.08: More pictures coming in two shakes of a tick...

21.58: Thanks for all the emails / comments you're sending / posting, by the way, We're a bit busy rushing between stage and laptop to read very many now - but, for those asking, we will post the full setlist after the show.

21.54: Here's some more photos from the show, which is going down an absolute storm with the people of Amsterdam.


It's a tempting offer...






21.45: We're back. More photos coming...

21.28: We'll pop off and take some more...

21.24: Some photos from the first couple of songs...










21.17: Here they are, going on stage...

21.12: From the dressing room to the stage (being filmed by a Dutch TV crew)

21.10: The band are on. They just played You Are Young and then Bend & Break and the crowd are going bonkers. Photos coming....

20.55: Right, they're on in five minutes. We'd best go and take some photos of them taking the stage and wotnot. We'll be back before too long with those pics and some live shots...

20.48: Stage time in 12 minutes. Last minute preparations are go...

20.34: Saskia - who we wished a happy 21st birthday to earlier - is in the building! (She's in the middle with the red hair.) Liking the hats!

20.30: Annika is reading the live blog while she watches the German national football team play. Impressive multi-tasking. Let us know if you hear the England score...

20.25: Juli has emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask if Beth picks the band's stage outfits. We asked Beth. She laughed. No, definitely not.

20.21: Here are the pictures of Zulu Winter...

(Love that woolly hat)

20.16: And we're back. Zulu Winter photos coming...

20.04: Tonight's support act, Zulu Winter, have just come on. Off to take a few snaps...

20.02: The band are currently chilling in the dressing room. They all seem in very good spirits today. Which is nice.

20.00: ONE HOUR UNTIL KEANE SHOW TIME

19.53: The view from Richard's drum riser just now. It's looking pretty full already...

19.43: Tim's in the dressing room at the moment, having a bit of a sit down. (77 minutes until stage time)

19.40: Seems a lot of you are reading the live blog while studying - like Jo Ann in Philadelphia who's studying music theory and Mireille from Lebanon who's working on her architecture project.

19.38: Matilda - the youngest member of Keane Chile - seems to be enjoying the blog...

19.36: Su from Sao Paulo's biscuits are ready! (One of more than 70 emails to arrive to ontour@keanemusic.com while we had dinner.)

19.27: Jesse, messing about with the big photos of past gigs they have on the wall in the catering room...

19.21: Here's tonight's menu from catering. (We had the curry. It was nice.)

19.18: Beth is back at her desk. Here's a question that Elena emailed to ontour@keanemusic.com.

Hi Beth! I know your job is extremely hard, but what was/is the most difficult thing in your job?? Hope you're well!!
All the best,
Elena

Beth says: It's when we're just releasing a record, because there is just so much going on. All over the world, with so many different departments.

19.15: And we're back...

18.35: Right, doors are open and the band will head through the door below in 2 hours and 24 minutes. Off to grab something to eat. Back soon...

18.20: Doors open in ten minutes. Here's the merch stand which will greet folks when they do.

18.19: Here's a very red corridor which we got lost in earlier on...

18.15: Hi km.com! So who's doing all the blogging? 1 person, or 2? And who are you?? Just curious about your team in HMH! Greetings from Amsterdam (getting ready for the show tonight!!)
Sarah

There's just one of us (so please excuse any gaps in service). And *we* are km.com.

18.14: And Tracy is reading the blog from Hong Kong with her panda, who seems to be a bit upset by it (must be more of a dubstep fan).

18.10: Rather closer to home, Lizanne and Stony are reading the blog outside this very venue while waiting for the doors to open. (They open in 18 minutes.)

18.08: Meanwhile, Rebecca in Sao Paulo is reading the blog while studying criminal law. Concentrate, Rebecca. Photos of shoes will NOT help you get the bad guys. 

18.05: "As I am reading your Blog my boys, Daniel and Matthew, are dancing in the kitchen!" writes Susan. And here's the proof...

Nice moves fellas.

18.02: Btw, thanks for all the comments below this blog (as well as your emails). We're reading all those too. Glad you're enjoying it...

18.00: Here's Richard in the dressing room earlier, working on his hi-res crowd shots for the shows in Offenbach and Beirut (which we'll post once we're back on an internet connection that won't take an hour or so to upload them...!)

17.55: Gabi is currently reading the blog in a hotel room in Indianapolis while waiting to go and see a keynote speech from Michael J Fox! Now *that* is impressive.

17.52: Here are Lali's from Argentina's cats - which are called Hopes and Fears. Wonder if the contrasting nature of their names is reflected in their behaviour. One very optimistic. One a bit scary.

17.48: 'Can you please take a picture of everyones' shoes?' asks Emelie from Sweden. Well, we did take this in the dressing room earlier. No idea whose they are, though...

17.46: Thanks to all of you from Beirut and Offenbach who've emailed to say how much you enjoyed the shows in the last few days. Very glad to hear it. And HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY to Saskia, whose sister tells us she'll be celebrating her birthday at tonight's show here in Amsterdam.

17.45: A couple of you - including Aline - have emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask what camera we're using. It's a Nikon D7000.

17.42: Donna from Mexico has emailed in this great photo of the fans greeting Keane in Mexico in August...

Have we mentioned that Keane have amazing fans? Keane have amazing fans.

17.41: Sandra - who's a Pharmacy Computer Systems Manager at a hospital in the UK - has emailed to ask if we'd like to swap jobs. Not sure her hospital's patients would thank her for having us in charge of their medicines...

17.39: For those of you asking which songs the band were soundchecking earlier, while we were down there it was Neon River and then Spiralling (where they were talking about doing some kind of complicated key change thing which we didn't understand).

17.34: Su from Sao Paulo is reading the live blog while baking heart-shaped biscuits (or, for our American readers, cookies). Feel free to email us a pic of what you're doing while you read, to ontour@keanemusic.com - and that includes you, Su, when they've finished baking.

17.25: BREAKING NEWS FROM THE KEANE SHOP: You can now order the bespoke, hand pulled, silk screen prints for each night of the European tour. Click here to order (then select the show from the dropdown menu). The A2 screen prints are printed on 250 gsm archival paper and are hand numbered out of 10. There is one print design made to commemorate each show on the current Strangeland world tour. Here's the poster for tonight...

17.15: And finally, a couple of shots which show tonight's venue (which, you'll remember if you've been reading since the start, is 5,500 capacity and long ago sold out).

17.13: Hey mister bass man.

17.10: And here's Rich, Instagramming up a storm...

17.07: And another one of Tom...

17.03: Tim, taken from up on the stage...

17.01: Jesse's chatting to soundman Matthew about something in this one...

16.58: And here's Jesse (as you might also gather, the full stage lighting often isn't on for soundcheck)

16.55: Tim looking deep in thought (the soundcheck is obviously where the band check their levels and run through any potential changes to the songs, etc)

16.53: Tom, singing Neon River during soundcheck...

16.51: The view from the back...

16.50: Here's the queue outside the venue, which we passed on the way to the stage. (To be honest, we got quite lost.)

16.46: Sorry for the gap in blog service - turned out that when we got into the venue, the soundcheck had begun. Photos incoming....

16.18: Off to take a couple of photos of the venue itself. We'll leave you with a photo of Tom making us a cup of tea earlier (and very nice it was too).

16.17: M from Spain has emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask how long it takes Richard to unfold his bike. We saw him do it and it was about, ooh, 30 seconds.

16.15: "Happy Keane-Day" to Laura Araujo who, we're told, is eating this cake in Peru, right now. (Wonder if it'll be like that bit in Back To The Future and the band will actually start to disappear as they're eaten. We'll let you know...)

16.13: Oh, and now Colin's back.

Colin, you have an orange watch, where did you get it?
-Laurel
Mongolia

Colin says: It's red, actually. And it's a very cheap Casio! I bought it online.

16.10: Colin's wandered off somewhere, but Beth the band's lovely PA is still here. Any more questions for her? Email 'em to ontour@keanemusic.com....

16.09: Beth, Who's your favourite Keane member?
Lots of love!
Lali from Buenos Aires

Beth says: Haha! It depends what day of the week it is...

16.06: Here's Zoe from Uppingham, who wins the Send A Photo Of Yourself On A Bike Like Richard Challenge...

Nice T-shirt too, Zoe.

16.05: Another question for Colin...

Colin, Where's your favorite venue??
Olivia

Colin says: Well, I have to say, I'm particularly passionate about the Greek theatre in LA, because I'm from LA.
Beth [Keane's PA] says: You're not from LA Colin. You were born in Scotland.
Colin says: Where you're from is not just about your accent, Beth. And there's church in Istanbul that's an amazing venue too.
Beth: I like the Fox Theatre in Oakland.

15.59: This just in from Wajeeha in Pakistan. Good effort!

15.54: Right, here are some of Colin's answers to your questions...

Q. Do you get to watch Keane playing during concerts? Can you just sit and enjoy it or do you have work to do during show time?
From Aline Shinzato
Sao Paulo - Brazil

Colin says: I fluctuate betwixt side of stage and back stage. I do get to enjoy it from time to time.

Q. Did you get the little clogs with your name on them which I left you in Taiwan?
Thanks a lot.
Chi from Taoyuan City, Taiwan.

Colin says: I did and I love them. Thanks!

Q. Hi colin! Who's the keane member you argue with the most?
Lali

Colin says: We don't argue. They just do as they're told.

15.50: And hello to Spain, Canada and Peru. (Keane fans really are *everywhere*.)

15.48: To inspire your Colin Questions, here's a photo of him, hard at work. (The teddy is not his.)

15.45: If you have a question for Keane's Tour Manager To The Stars, Colin, then please email it to ontour@keanemusic.com and we'll do our best to ask him...

15.44: For those of you asking where Jesse is, he's gone to buy some shoes....

15.38: OK, that seems like a good photo theme for you guys, Can you recreate Richard's bike pose below, on your bike? Email it to ontour@keanemusic.com (hello to those of you in Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, Germany, Mexico, Norway, the US, Finland and lots of other places who've already emailed to say hello). Oh, and these guys from Indonesia...

15.34: Earlier today, Richard went for a ride around Amsterdam on his incerdibly nifty folding bike (which he keeps in a case on the tourbus). He biked to this cafe and had "a very tasty flat white". Here he is, wrapped up warm agains the chilly weather.

And here's how small the bike folds..

Nifty!

15.04: Here's Tim and Tom in the dressing room just now. They were actually looking at old videos of performances of Clear Skies on YouTube. The band are all in good spirits, and enjoyed last night's show in Offenbach, Germany (where they travelled overnight from - about a six hour drive, says Colin TMTTS, who's sitting opposite us).

14.59: Hello to Chi from Taoyuan City, TAIWAN, who was the first person to email ontour@keanemusic.com after the blog started and say hello. Hello Chi! And also hello to Tali from Buenos Aires, Joliem from Apeldoom, Meire James from Sao Paulo, Laurel from Mongolia, Ces Boco from the Phillipines and Natalia from St Petersburg. You guys are the km.com hardcore who got to the blog before we did a tweet or anything...

14.56: Here's an interview with the band in a Dutch magazine in the venue's reception...

14.48: And here's a slightly arty way of showing you that the weather today is a little bit mixed.

Saying that, as we uploaded that photo, the sun came out. Hurrah!

14.45: The venue is right across from the Amsterdam ArenaA, home to one of European football's greatest teams, Ajax.

14.33: Let's begin with a photo of tonight's venue, the Heineken Music Hall, capacity 5,500, which has completely sold out for tonight. (You'll notice that there are already some fans outside.)

And here's an extremely tasty waffle which we bought from a stall just outside the venue. They might be more famous for their waffles over the border in Belgium, but this was *good*.

14:30: Hello from Amsterdam! We've arrived at the Heineken Music Hall, we've scooted around to take some photos and we're ready to blog. As always, we'd love to hear from you at ontour@keanemusic.com - let us know where you're reading from.

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