MADRID LIVEBLOG

12:02AM: It’s all smiles in the dressing room, where the band are celebrating one of their favourite shows of the tour with pizza and cold beer. "That was really, really fun," says Tim, summing up the mood. Keane, it’s fair to say, will be leaving Madrid tired but happy.

And that’s it from us. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading the liveblog as much as we’ve enjoyed doing it. Thanks for your hundreds of emails, they’ve certainly kept spirits high in the production office.

Goodnight!

km.com
x

11.28PM: And so Bedshaped’s distinctive piano riff signals the beginning of the final song of a terrific show. Here’s the full setlist.

We’re off to watch the very end, and then get some post-show pics and thoughts from the band.

11.22PM: The band have just had a little towels ‘n’ drinks break before heading back on to play their three-song encore (which they’re currently kicking off with Black Burning Heart). They all seemed extremely pleased with how the show has gone. From the chanting to get them back onto the stage, it’s clear the crowd agree.

11.11PM: We’re getting lots of US weather reports coming into ontour@keanemusic.com. Sounds like it’s pretty decent everywhere. Ooh, Crystal Ball now. It’s great how the band now have three albums’ worth of songs to pick from. An abundance of riches, you might say. Oh, and we’ve been meaning to say, Happy Birthday to Rocio from Argentina. Hope you’re having a nice day. Right, only three more songs to go…

11.02PM: It’s still surprisingy busy here in the production office, with Colin, Beth, Ant and production assistant Cara all tapping away on their laptops while the band play Perfect Symmetry about 10 metres away from us. We’ve just been out in the crowd to take a couple more pictures. And here they are…

We love that a fan brought a lollipop to the show and then waved it in the air.

10.48PM: The band are in the middle of their three-song acoustic section. We made it into the pit (the bit in front of the stage) for the first song, which was Bend And Break. That one was played by Tom on his own and it sounded lovely. Here’s a pic…

10.36PM: "I would like to know what Colin and Beth usually do while keane are playing? And does Ant take some rest at last too?" Azilis (from France)
Well, they’re all right here in the office right now (Spiralling just started!). Beth was singing along a minute ago, now Ant is (albeit quietly). And Colin is sitting proudly with his new battery-powered lantern. They’re all very pleased with the amount of love you sent in for them. Right, we’re off out to take some more pictures now that the camera battery has charged a bit…

10.32PM: Well, the atmosphere out there is pretty amazing. The crowd just broke into a spontaneous chant of "Olé, olé, olé" after a raucous Again And Again. People from Madrid look particularly glamourous. And they’re smoking. We’d forgotten what it was like to be in a venue where people are allowed to smoke (it’s smokey!).

Here’s a picture of Tom doing his thing, taken through the venue’s palm trees. (Why do they have palm trees? We don’t know.)

10.13PM: The band are onstage! And they’re playing their third song! And our camera battery has chosen this moment to run out of charge! And our laptop just crashed! And the crowd just gave a massive roar for Everybody’s Changing! And we’re still sitting here in front of our laptop! So we’re off to watch some of the show! With our back-up camera in hand! (Sorry, it’s all getting a bit excitable here)

10.01PM: "Who choses the support act? Is it the band or the record label? Lots of love from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We’re waiting for Keane! Nathalia"
Colin: Oh, I was in Rio this summer with Rufus Wainwright. Lovely place. And it’s usually the band.

Thanks for all the Colin and Beth love. They’re happy now (and probably ready to answer some more questions). Ant would also like us to point out that he’s not really manic. Gig starts in two minutes…

9.54PM: Here’s the band warming up for the show in their dressing room a sec ago…

9.52PM: Colin and Beth would like some love. Please email it to ontour@keanemusic.com soon.

9.37PM: Ana Catarina from Portugal emailed ontour@keanemusic.com asking for a picture of David Fonseca. We managed to get one before we were bustled away by a slightly frightening security man who didn’t seem terribly keen on us taking any pictures. Hmm. Hope he’s changed his mind by the time Keane come on. Anyway, that pic of Mr Fonseca (who was rather good)…

9.27PM: "I wish I could be in the Production Office with you !! Will we have the chance to hear the Production Manager anytime soon?? Enjoy the show ! 😉 Azilis"
The production manager is Ant and he’s currently shouting out instructions and discussing "the rooming situation". His right leg is also tapping slightly manically.

9.22PM: We just popped back to the dressing room to see what the band were up to. And they were up to the following…

Richard is watching Breaking Bad on DVD and liking it very much
Tom ismanaging his podcasts on iTunes. He’s a big fan of podcasts and enjoys the ones by Stephen Fry, Adam & Joe and, previously, Russell Brand. He also likes the Skeptics Guide To The Universe one.
Tim is reading a French translation of the Black Burning Heart lyrics
Jesse was not there

9.07PM: "Colin, I’ve read your tourblogs (and I love them … they’re full of informations) and I was wondering : what does TMTTS stand for ? Have a lovely night in Spain Audrey, from France"
Colin would answer, but he’s too busy being tour manager to the stars…

By the way, thanks for all the emails everyone’s been sending to ontour@keanemusic.com – we’re enjoying reading them.

9.03PM: "Weather report just in from my husband in Afghanistan – sunny all day, about 14 deg, down to 1 degree now and freezing! Best of luck tonight, Katie (UK) x" That must be pretty much the whole world covered now.

8.58PM: The support act, David Fonseca, is due on in a couple of minutes, which gave us just enough time to sneak onto the stage and take this picture of the crowd…

Some impressive vogue-ing going on there.

8.45PM: Here’s a pic of tonight’s merch stand. Look out for many of these goodies in the official Keane shop soon.

8.40PM: Sorry we haven’t updated for a little while, we went to the dressing room, where a meeting was going on about the tour book for the UK tour. Afterwards, we somehow ended up doing what we believe is called "jamming" with Tim and Jesse, with us playing drums on a cover of U2’s With Or Without You. Having never played drums before, let alone with professional musicians, it can ony be described as very fun indeed. Still, we dragged ourselves back to the production office where the heater has finally started working and it’s now very hot indeed.

8.01PM: Crikey, it’s hot in Chile. "I am Barbara from chile! there is an incredible temperature! (32°, that’s too much here) It so much heat that might fry an egg in the street!! And we are just starting the summer!! (i need something cold!)"

Perhaps Barbara should swap countries with Di in Russia (see 6.13PM). In more pressing news, the venue’s doors have just opened. Keane are on stage in two hours.

7.48PM: A couple of film crews were here earlier, interviewing Tom and Richard about the new album. Here’s a pic…

7.38PM: "I would like to know where did they find those Keane-heads?" asks Isa from Brasil, to ontour@keanemusic.com.

Richard (who’s back in the production office sending some emails): They were a present from a fan called Mena in Barcelona. I think they’re wicked! We love the detail of them.

7.24PM: Some pictures from dinner, which was very nice (particuarly the lasagne).

Hmm, it was nicer than it looks in that picture. Honest.

That’s Tim’s dinner, that is.

7.18PM: We knew we coud rely on you foks – Flo very quickly emailed to say that the song Jesse was playing was The Magnificent Seven by The Clash. The band are very impressed that you got it Flo.

6.45PM: If you thought Richard’s drum challenge was hard (and a lot of you did send wrong answers), then you’re going to find the all-new Jesse’s bass challenge *really* tricky. First person to email the name of the song he’s playing to ontour@keanemusic.com is Very Clever Indeed. It’s not even a Keane song. But we believe in you….

And with that, we’re off to get some dinner…

6.40PM:  "Does the venue have wireless internet?" asks Mary Ann. Yes, it does – but it keeps going down. Aaaarrrggggh!

6.13PM: This just in, "Hello there, here’s Di from Russia – it’s cold here (+5 Celsius maybe) but there’s no snow yet, so it’s really cold and dark. Don’t come to Russia in November…(unless you’re searching for depression)". Poor Di. Sounds like she should move to Mexico.

5.51PM: ShelleyA just emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask if Colin has had chance to think of an answer to her question from earlier (see 2.52PM), "Er, no, sorry," says Colin, "I’ve been busy sorting budgets."

5.37PM: As promised, here are some pictures from the soundcheck, which is still going on. You’ll notice they’re in black and white. That’s because a) it’s arty and b) it makes bad live photographs look a little better…

5.14PM: Blimey, loads of you emailed your answer to Richard’s drum challenge to ontour@keanemusic.com – but the first to give the correct answer was Silvia, who knew that it was You Haven’t Told Me Anything. Well done Silvia, you rock da party.

5.08PM: Here are some pictures we took in the dressing room just before the soundcheck. Pics of the soundcheck itself to follow…

4.35PM: Those of you who remember previous liveblogs will no doubt be pleased to see the return of Richard’s drum challenge. First person to guess the Keane song and email the answer to ontour@keanemusic.com gets all the glory…

We’re off to watch the soundcheck…

4.19PM: OK, so here is the worldwide weather report, as brought to you by the readers of km.com

Mebourne, Austraia: It is 2am in Melbourne Australia and currently 19.7 degrees Celcius 🙂 – Symphonie

Zurich, Switzerand: Very dark grey clouds and strong winds in Zurich, and it just started to rain. For November rather mild temperatures of 13°C today. But they predict cold and snow for tomorrow. S Hoeppi.

Belgium: There are some clouds in the sky here in Belgium and it’s quite cold (11° C :D). It’s a typical weather of Autumn..!! Clemence

Rotterdam, Netherlands: Where I live it’s raining (as always) and we even had some hail and a thunderstorm before. Dani.

Oxford, England: It’s surprisingly bright here in Oxford considering that the entire sky is one huge, ominous black cloud. I wonder where the light’s coming from :S Martha

Argentina: It’s spring here in Argentina. In my city, i’ts cloudy, humid and warm. Euge

Portugal: It’s a rainy, miserable (and boring – that’s why I’m actually writing this) day here "in-the-middle-of-nowhere", Portugal, and I think it’s raining in Lisbon too. Lora

Dorset, England: Blue skies!  Sun out, but crisp outside! Charlotteh

Monterrey, Meixco: It happens to be rather lovely here in Monterrey, MX. Incredibly sunny but with 18ºC at 9am. Ana

Evora, Portugal: Here, the sun is beatiful! It’s a good day to visit this city, see Diana’s Temple, Praça do Geraldo.. and stay outdoor’s doing nothing!It’s 19ºC! Ruth

Holland: In the morning it was very stormy and with lots of rain, but the sun is shining a little, but still it is kind of cold (11 degrees). Ximena

Sao Paulo. Brazil: Here in Sao Paulo it´s a lovely day, about 24C, many clouds, the sun tries to appear, but no no no! Su

Belgium: Here in Belgium, it’ s raining very very very hard and its grey. Tom

Canterbury, UK: Blue sky here in Canterbury, not so cold outside! Emmanuel

Frankfurt, Germany: The weather is very fine here in frankfurt: blue sky, sunny and about 10 degrees. Christoph

Sounds like Monterrey is the place to be.

3.55PM: "What have your dreams been like lately?" asks Demetria by email.
Richard: I don’t dream much, actually.
Beth: I was dreaming about Swedish phone interviews on the bus recently.
Colin: I don’t dream, because I don’t sleep.

It’s still very cold here in Madrid. Actually, let’s have a quick worldwide weather report – please email a summary of the weather wherever you are to ontour@keanemusic.com.

3.38PM: We’ve just been in the dressing room with Tom, who’s practicing a cover of a song which we’re not allowed to tell you about (it’s by a band from Yorkshire). Sounded good, though. Here he is, tinkling the ivories…

3.12PM: Colin and Beth, beavering away (as Tom just put it when he popped his head around the door)…

3.04PM: Here’s a little video of the venue, beginning and ending with what Keane’s lighting guru Rob is describing as the Riviera’s "stained glass sorts". Quite.

3.00PM: Beth answers some questions…

How did you get this dreamjob?
Danielle
Beth: I was recommended by a friend.

What is the first thing you have to do when you arrive in the place of the next gig?
Juliana
Beth: The very first thing I do is scope out the dressing room and then find a clean bathroom for a shower.

What’s Beth’s favorite track on Perfect Symmetry?
Celine
Beth: You Haven’t Told Me Anything

Do you think the boys behave better on the bus when a female like you is around, or are they just the usual ‘male’?
Silvia
Beth: They are most definitely the usual male!

2.52PM: Colin answers some questions…

What was the most bizarre escuse that you listen from a fan to meet the band? Rute (Skyla)
Colin: "I’m the drummer’s sister" was one. And there was a girl whose last name was Keane insisted on meeting the band for that reason.

How do you choose the cities the band will play in a tour?
Juliana
Colin: I don’t, the booking agent does that.

As tour manager – what’s the strangest/weirdest request you have had from the guys for you to do for them?
ShelleyA – UK
Colin: I’ll come back to you on that one, Richard is sitting in the office just now…

2.43PM: "What is the most difficult song to drum for you?" asks Stephanie.
"A lot of the new ones are quite hard cos of the singing as well as the drumming," says Richard. "So Perfect Symmetry is pretty full-on and hard."

2.32PM: Right, who’s got a question for Colin (tour manager) or Beth (the band’s PA)? Email it to ontour@keanemusic.com…

2.10PM: "Do you guys ever sell backstage passes?" writes Missy.
"No," says Richard, "but I do keep all of the passes we get. I’ve got them from every gig and festival we’ve ever done. I think I’ve also got the little stub from every flight we’ve taken. It’s a pretty big box!"

2.08PM: "Can’t remember if Richard has ever mentioned what brand and type his practice kit is? Any chance of finding out?" writes Mart
"It’s a Yamaha DTXPRESS," says Richard.

"Can you tell me what you hear through your earpieces? Do you all hear the same thing? (is that last part a stupid question?) Thank you." writes Sam
"My in-ear monitors? Each of us having a different mix going through them. I have a click track, whick keeps me at the right tempo, plus a mixture of the various instruments that we’re playing. They also keep a lot of the noise out, so I’m not going totally deaf."

2.02PM: We just had lunch in catering, with Rich. We can heartily recommend the vegetable soup, vegetable noodles and cake-y, mousse-y thing.

1.30PM: Thanks for all the emails coming in to ontour@keanemusic.com – we’ve got people reading in England, Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Canada, Portugal, Ireland and France, amongst other places. Here’s a picture of the queue which is already gathering outside. Hope they’ve dressed up warm, cos it’s surprisingly chilly here.

And here’s a nice wall…

1.21PM: Katie has questions, Richard has answers…

Do you name your tour buses? No.
Do you have to draw straws for who gets the best bed?! Er, no, we pretty much go for the same bunk in each bus, as they usually have the same lay-out. I’m front left on the top row.
Do you fight over the remote controls? That’s Tom’s department. Tom is the only one who understands them.
Who snores the loudest? Tony
Does anyone sleep walk? Tom (who’s just arrived): I once did, in a hotel in Malmo, years ago.
And, apart from Berlin, which has been your favourite city on this tour? Tom: Oslo was cool, Richard: Yeah, cos we had a day-off. But it’s been pretty amazing all round.

1.11PM: Ximena from Peru has emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask about Richard’s Peruvian cajon instrument, which he’s been using during the acoustic section of the show. Ximena asks what the signature on it says. Luckily, Richard is sitting right next to us and says that this is his cajon…

http://gonbops.com/acuna/cajon.asp

and here is Alex Acuña playing it ("a bit better than me" says Rich)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXeNTf2EaUI

1.06PM: This is how it’s looking in the dressing room, where Tom is chilling out and browsing the internet. The band have instruments set up in there so that they can bang through a few songs before the show.

12.46PM: This is what Richard spent this morning putting together, after setting his camera to take a picture every 10 minutes on the tourbus between Barcelona and Madrid last night…

12.38PM: Here’s Tim, who’s just popped back to the band’s hotel to "do some work". Intriguing…

12.23PM: Sorry we haven’t updated for almost an hour, we’re trying to upload a video to YouTube and it’s taking an age. Hello to the Batcavers who’ve emailed us at ontour@keanemusic.com, as indeed has Mariana.

11.28AM: Hello and welcome to our special blog, live and direct from the Riviera in Madrid. We’ve just arrived, to find the band emerging from their slumber in the tourbus (which brought them from Barcelona overnight). We’re sitting in the busy production office, with Tom typing away on his laptop behind us and Jesse tapping away at his to our right. Here are some pics we’ve taken since we got here…

There’s talk of heading into Madrid in a minute, We’ll keep you posted on what we (and the band) get up to. And if you’re reading and you’d ike to ask a question / say hello then bang us an email to ontour@keanemusic.com.