KEANE

Richard’s Latin America photoblog 05 March 2012

Rio / sunday / 1530

apologies for the lack of photos – it’s not for want of trying, but the internet is so unbearably slow i just can’t get them uploaded – i have been taking many, and some might even turn out to be usable.

thoughts on preparing to leave? what a wonderful continent. i have had a really fun tour, even despite the flying (one to go!) and the illness (have totally lost my voice now – what a range of symptoms, enough to confuse drs house and wilson). it must be lupus.

anyway, the shows have been the most fun – i have loved every moment of every song, and that’s pretty much because the crowds have been so brilliant. bring on the next tour. time for a rest, maybe a bit of studio time (if we are lucky) and then australia here we come. oh joy – more flying…

will upload pics if / when we make it back to the uk.

 

 

Belo Horizonte / thursday / 0250

RH: alex. artist; photographer; long-term keane collaborator. where are you right now?

AL: I’m in Brazil. I am in Tim’s hotel room with you, Jesse and a [possibly slightly] drunken journalist. As. You. Do.

RH: cool. why do we have the pleasure of your company?

AL: Cos I am here to take lovely photos of your time in brazil, and if you have your way with me, as you have tonight, make me drink irresponsible amounts of alcohol on a school night.

RH: sorry about that. it’s tim’s fault, as usual. So what kind of glamorous evening have you had? presumably something pretty amazing?

AL: Yes of course. Y’know, the usual faces. What can I say about those that you and they haven’t heard before? Oh, how we laughed… No, for me the highlight was 24 hours of travel to wind up in a Brazilian strip mall riding on Tim’s back trying to joust someone off Jesse’s shoulders after a wee dram or two. Erm, or something like that. Did I mention I love these guys? Oh dear. Oh dear me very much. I should be working or sleeping but I don’t know where I am.

RH: on that note, i’m gonna post a couple of pics that i took on the way back, and say g’night. see you tomorrow, folks!

 

Sao Paulo / tuesday / 1925

still feel rubbish, but have had the lensbaby out (it’s a weird lens that throws the focus into a strange pattern, as you will see).

also took a few pics of the skyline last night, in this crazy, busy, massive city.

oh, and thanks for the cakes – as promised, here are a couple of the pics.

colin’s cake

mine

there’s a guy called jason who travels everywhere with our gear, seeing it all through customs – apparently they frequently open every single flightcase, and weigh them each on entering and leaving the country. it’s insane, i could never do his job. thanks jason for getting my drums to every gig!

photoshop in a knife / baseball bat / amusing object!

i love taking photos at night. here’s why

cities just always look better at night. i love the little lens flare that looks like a comet, just by the top of the row of skyscrapers.

enjoy the show!

 

Buenos Aires / monday / late

still up, just sorting through some pics after a late night celebrating tom’s birthday, listening to paul simon, and generally putting the world to rights. anyway, here are some pics of where we’ve been, and what we’ve been doing. went to la recoleta too, but i was shooting film, so i have to wait for those. in no particular order…

i love doorways

the graffiti here is sick

tim got a gift

style!

shapes

colour

mosaic

on the pavement

gold in argentina! thanks!

sick!

good and bad

partner in crime

legendary photographer Mick Hutson is out here shooting us. revenge is sweet!

graffiti here is up there with the best

been there…

 

Buenos Aires / sunday / 1157

just a couple of pics from last night. it was mind-blowing. more later!

passed this place on the way to the show

i think this is the best shot i’ve ever taken on stage

 

Buenos Aires / saturday / 1330

 

apologies. i’ve been ill for a few days. it doesn’t make flying any more fun, that’s for sure. anyway, i’m on the mend, and have been snapping away throughout, so here’s an update from the last few days…

 

Bogotá, where my fantastic drum tech Scott had his birthday, complete with candles that wouldn’t go out – always a good gag, that.

 

 

 

 

 

Santiago – this is how it looked when we arrived, just as the sun was setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and finally, tom singing to the end of the earth

 

Bogotá / tuesday / 1108

this is a lovely city. we went for a wander round the old town, then up the teleferico. it was a good day!

 

Bogotá / sunday / 2355

a few pics from various places in Mexico…

 

airport / saturday / 1211

waiting for a plane (delay number 2 – i really hope i don’t come to regret saying i’d count…); listening to the skeptics’ guide to the universe podcast; feeling really good after last night’s show – the atmosphere was utterly amazing. the crowd really really rocked (again!) – as tom says, mexico is a great place to come and play music.

i’ve got some more pics, but i forgot to bring the right cable to the airport, so i can’t upload them – i will later.

oh, and it was a nice surprise to see some of my blog pics in Reforma – a newspaper out here… i’ll be sending an invoice!

looking forward to the show tonight, and i’m happy to read that NIMW went down well. did you enjoy under pressure? i love playing that song – it really is ridiculously good.

 

Ciudad de México / friday / 1251

i went for a wander earlier, around a park by el Castillo de Chapultepec, and took a few pics. bumped into a few fans round and about too, which was cool. it’s pretty surreal to be in a park in a city over 5,000 miles from home, and bump into someone wearing a keane t-shirt – if you are reading this, i hope you enjoy the show! we are so lucky to be able to come and tour here. wandering around at 10am in t-shirt weather, taking pictures. it doesn’t get much better.

now listening to 808s & Heartbreak right now. say you will is an immense opener!

taxi

just three of the myriad wrestling masks you see on sale in the park

prohibido el paso

Republica Mexicana

watering


Ciudad de México / thursday / 1815

 

made it to Mexico City after a very bumpy (but not delayed!) flight.

 

i love being here – this is such a colourful country. flying in, i really began to appreciate what a massive city this is (the second largest city by population in the world – over 22 million people according to wikipedia), and you can believe it as you drive through the hectic streets, with so many people and such hectic traffic all fighting for the same piece of tarmac.

 

we loved the show last night in guadalajara – the crowd was so loud! thanks to everyone who came along, i hope you enjoyed it. makes us look forward to tomorrow and another chance to play some songs. sorry if you missed nothing in my way – maybe we should think about playing that song again! we might even have a go at something else…

arriving in Mexico City

leaving Guadalajara

JQ

CD, TMTTS

a couple more shots of last night’s venue

 

guadalajara / wednesday / 1838

just a couple of pics. soundcheck is done, and we just got a ton of amazing gifts! thanks so much. oh, and it was Jay-Z!

 

wednesday / 0950

been up for about 3 ½ hours already, and got the black album on. what a record!

really looking forward to the show, and seeing some familiar faces, and hopefully some new ones too!

richard

guadalajara / tuesday / 2200 

well, we made it to guadalajara. that was a very long day of travelling. we landed late, rushed to the next terminal, got on the plane, and i instantly felt unwell.

not a good night’s sleep, but a day in the fresh air and sunshine seems to have helped. we went for dinner at Santo Coyote where i took a few pics:

candles

rob:

cheese / mushrooms / onions – this was my dinner – it was tasty.

rob and i popped out to take a few pics before hitting the hay – not my best, but i love the roadside foodstalls here – they are much more like little restaurants than the ones you get in the uk.

airborne / monday / 1500 mexico time; 2100 uk 

we’ve been looking forward to this tour for 18 months – since we were last here. it’s a shame we couldn’t fit in more new countries, though it’s gonna be very cool going to Bogota, Colombia for the first time. my apologies for missing off accents in place names, by the way – i can’t work out how to do it. anyway, the only downside of this tour is that to get around we have 16 flights to do in three weeks. we hate flying. i wish there was a better way to get to mexico, but there isn’t. not that we have time for, anyway. so place your bets – how many of our flights will be delayed or cancelled? so far we are 1/1, having left London about two hours late. Colin (Jesse’s hero) is already in contingency-planning mode in case we miss our connection to Guadalajara. i love any place name that has 5 “a”s in it. can’t think of any others though. it’s 1504 (in Mexico) and i just took these pics on my phone:  

Canada looks cold:

this could be the worst pic i’ve ever put on the blog, but it’s tim, and i thought you might like to see him…

the nearest town shown on the map is called Chicoutimi. i can’t be sure where it is – maybe Nova Scotia, or Quebec? one day i want to go to Godthab – it’s always on the map, somewhere in Greenland – we see it every time we fly across the atlantic. i wonder what it’s like. anyway, we are on our way to Mexico. hello Canadians! hello Maher Arar. our ground speed is 563 mph and we have exactly 2600 miles to go (four and a half hours).

i started writing what i’d been doing on the flight, but it is basically a list of time-using things, and it’ll probably sound very boring. but that’s flying for you… 

took off! slept, approx 1 hour. read chapters 3&4 of the great war for civilisation; the conquest of the middle east by robert fisk. it’s so depressing to read sentences that talk about the soviets in afghanistan that you hear repeated today, only with the current occupying army instead of the soviets. our so-called leaders learn nothing from history. 

listened to democracy now (www.democracynow.org/) and kcrw’s excellent left right and center www.kcrw.com/lrc. i was very saddened by the news of the death of Gerry Niewood, the famous saxophonist – we knew of him from Simon and Garfunkel’s Concert in Central Park. He and bandmate, guitarist Coleman Mellett were killed in a plane crash near Buffalo, NY, a crash that took the lives of 50 people, including the peace activist Beverly Eckert  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/17/beverly_eckert_1951_2009_9_11 and Rwandan expert and Human Rights investigator Alison Des Forges  http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/16/human_rights_investigator_and_rwandan_expert

caught up on some emails; watched a series of short rock climbing films called committed; then began writing this, listening to beirut – nantes is a cracking song. and in the time i’ve taken typing away we have covered a ridiculous 250 miles, at 581 mph and we are flying towards places called Timmins and Kapuskasing. now listening to Aladdin Sane.

6h 39 mins down, about 4h to go.

heathrow / gate B32 / midday

london / sunday / 1900

packing! n.b. yellow fever vaccination certificate; guide book; film!
 

one of my cats, archie, wanted to come too:

 

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