Last News Of Keane


->Richard send a blog to km.com

Hi everyone, here are a couple of pics I took at the launch of the Gibson Guitartown exhibition. In the first one, Tom is chatting to the artist, Tommy Penton, and the other pic is the 10-foot guitar, as painted by Tommy, before we defaced it with our signatures! We did ask Tommy where we should sign it so as to not ruin the beautiful artwork.





If you are coming to London for Saturday's show then I'd definitely recommend popping by to see the display of all the giant guitars, it's really impressive. It's over on the South Bank by Tower Bridge (a short tube or boat ride from The O2). Click here for more info from the Gibson website.

I think the guitars are there until the end of August. But if you can't make it along, there are loads of pics on that website (here, for example) so have a look.

And I think Tom's right, that Tommy's is the best!

Richard



->Live In Dublin



Hello

THUR 7.02PM: We've just been to dinner. The fillet of beef diablo was nice, although the pepper sauce was *very* peppery. Anyway, here's that video interview with Tim that we promised you...

(youtube link 1)

THUR 5.52PM: Hello again. We've been busy for the last hour, interviewing Tim for a wee video blog which we'll hopefully be posting later on. The band are in a meeting with their manager, so we're back in the office with Colin, who's going to answer some more of the questions that you sent in...

Does Colin get to sit back and enjoy the show once it starts or is he running around working throughout? Where does he stand / sit to watch?
Laura L, USA
Says Colin: I like to watch the first half of the show, usually from the front of house mixing desk. Then I have to come back and "settle the show" with the promoter, and then get things ready for the band once they come off stage.

What does it take to be a good tour manager?
Katrina
Says Colin: A calm head and the organisational skills of a robot. Plus the ability to survive on three hours sleep a night.
Says Beth: And it takes OCD.
Says Colin: Shut up!


THUR 4.24PM: The band are in a post-soundcheck technical meeting and Colin has suddenly become very busy, so we're not sure we'll be able to ask him any more questions for a bit. But thanks to everyone who sent them in. He seemed very pleased by the number of them.

Let's get ready to merch...



THUR 3.59PM; Vanessa from Barcelona asks what makes Colin lose his patience before a show. "It takes me a lot to lose my patience," says Colin, "but...". At this point he goes quiet, a slightly intense look upon his face.

Anyhoo... here are some pictures from outside the venue. Big up the boardie massive for being out there already.





Good that they turned out to need their umbrellas as sunshades rather than to keep them dry (it was tipping it down earlier, but it's nice now).

THUR 3.41PM: Lisa asks Colin what the best thing about being a tour manager he. Says Colin, "The best thing about it is that I get to align the furniture in my office the same way every day, nomatter where it is." Colin is happy because some presents have just turned up from the fans outside and he's been given a keyring that says "The Boss" on it. There were presents for Beth, Asbo and Rob too. Oh, and the band. Thanks to Amanda, Trace and Linda for those. Keep those questions coming for Colin to ontour@keanemusic.com. Sounds like the band have started playing full songs in the soundcheck, so we're off to have a look...

THUR 3.29PM: Does anyone have a question for tour manager Colin? We get the feeling he'd like it if you did. Email ontour@keanemusic.com and we'll have a quickfire Q&A session. The band are still soundchecking without actually playing songs...

THUR 2.59PM: We just popped out to the soundcheck to take a few snaps. They're not actually playing songs at this point, just working out song transitions, snare drum sounds, video bits and other things that we don't really understand. But here are some pictures...












THUR 2.11PM: The band are in a quick technical meeting before they start the soundcheck. We'll definitely be getting some pictures of the soundcheck, plus (fingers crossed) a video. Watch this space. In the meantime, we'd better write this week's KWN...

THUR 1.42PM: Mmm, that was nice. Shepherds pie with potato wedges and salad. At lunch, the conversation was about how difficult it is to act natural when you're talking between songs in front of thousands of people. Tim was saying he couldn't do it, Tom was saying he still struggles. Our experience of such things only extends as far as karaoke down the local pub, and you get kicked off one song. So we just nodded.

Paul's emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask who tonight's support act is. Well, Paul, it's Findlay Brown. He's on at 8pm, Keane are on at 9.15pm. Also, Emily has emailed to ask who "we" are and if "we're" one person or lots. We're just one person, but the "we" is keanemusic.com, if that makes sense.

THUR 1.04PM: We just popped next door to the band's dressing room to see what they were upto and to take some pics. Barbara from Spain emailed ontour@keanemusic.com to ask if we could film the lads making a smoothie, but it appears we were too late!



Looks a bit like a scene from a horror film, no?

Richard is on his computer, sending some emails. Tom, meanwhile, has just had a shower. His hair is still wet, so he asked us not to take a picture of him til it's dry. We brokered a deal and agreed to a picture of him tying his shoelaces (sorry, but we were asked to white out the text on the letter...)



Elsewhere, Tim is doing an interview with Tom P, who's filming extras for the DVD which is being made of The O2 gig. As you can see, he seems to be enjoying it.



And here's an action shot of Beth doing some ironing...



Right. Time for lunch.

THUR 12:36PM: Hello again. We're now comfortably settled into the "Tour Manager's Office" with tour manager Colin, who's just popped for a shower, and Beth, who's typing quite frantically next to us on the desk. "It's quiet today," she just said. And what is "it"? "Just it". Right. Of course.

Moving on, here are some pictures which we took on the ferry and in the venue.


Rich and Tim do breakfast on the ferry. "Basic" is probably the kindest thing we can say about the food.


You can probably work this one out for yourselves...


I predict a smoothie.



Richard's camera bag. And Richard's foot.

Glad the video blog thing seems to have gone down so well - more of those to follow later.

Oh, and if there's anything you particularly want us to do/find out/film etc (or you just want to say hello) then drop us a line at ontour@keanemusic.com.

We're off for a wander...


THUR 11.45AM: We've made it to the venue. Everyone's setting up their stuff (tour manager Colin has asked me to point out how neatly he's set up his desk, which he has).

Now, excitingly, here's our first ever video blog, which we just made on the bus from the port to the venue...


(Youtube link 2)

THUR 10.56AM: Hello again. We're back on the bus for the short trip from the port to Dublin. The ferry journey went smoothly and quickly, with Tim and Richard reading the paper after their breakfasts. Tom's up and about now too, very fresh faced after a long sleep. "The bus is the most comfortable place to sleep in the whole world," he says.

We should be at the venue soon, at which point we can post some pictures...

THUR 8.31AM: Good morning! We've just boarded the ferry to Dublin and we're sitting in the cafe. Tim is checking messages on his phone, security chap Andy is on the phone and Richard has just gone to freshen up in the bathroom. Oh, he's back, suitably freshened. He's very impressed by our fancy blogging-on-the-move machine. Tom, meanwhile, is just getting up.

It was an interesting experience sleeping on the bus last night. At first it feels very odd to be in a bed that's moving, but after a while the gentle rocking is quite soothing and we got a good night's sleep, helped by the fact that nobody snores. "We're not big on snoring," says Richard, who's about to go and get some breakfast.

Tim is feeling quite nostalgic about the trip, because Keane's guitarist used to live in Dublin and the band used to go and visit him via this very ferry. "One of our first gigs was at the Mean Fiddler in Dublin," says Richard. Was it good? "Phenomenal," says Tim. Really? "I can'tremember to be honest. I know we played a cover or Airbag by Radiohead. Actually, that was the trip where we came up with the name Keane, in a pub in Dubin."

Right, breakfast calls...


WED 11.56PM: Hello from the Keane tourbus which has just left London for Dublin. We appear to be in some sort of traffic jam as it's not moving. Yes, Richard has just looked out of the window and we are indeed in some heavy roadworks. You read it here first!

Tim and Tom are both in their bunks already, getting an early night before tomorrow night's show, and Richard is heading off to bed now too. Once we've finished typing this, we'll be doing the same. We're in the bunk above Tim's, if you're interested.

What else can we tell you? Well we're in the lounge bit of the bus, which is in the back. The upholstery is an '80s-style grey and there's a Cafe De Los Maestros CD on the table, still sealed. Other than that, there's just a couple of half eaten bars of chocolate. Oh, and Tim's shoes are on the floor, with his socks in them.

We'll write again in the morning when we're on the ferry to Ireland. And then it'll be full-on blogging once we hit Dublin.

Night night.