Made my way to Kitchener on the weekend to catch Keane @ Centre In The Square. This was one of their last shows on their Canadian Tour that saw them play in Vancouer, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnepeg, Montreal and even Thunder Bay. It was quite evident that there were a lot of people from outside the area who made the trip out to Kitchener to see the band. On the way in I could hear people talking about the Sound Academy show back in May. Having been at both I can say this show had a much more intimate feeling. The Venue itself was quite nice with great light and great acoustics. Maybe it was just that it was nice to see the band play in a venue where you weren't packed in like at most shows.
Their set included "Everybody's Changing","The Lovers Are Losing","Try Again", and "Is it Any Wonder". The band also played a new song "Sovereign Light Cafe" which was well recieved by the crowd. The song featured Tom on acoustic guitar which seems to suit him much better (also on "Playing Along") than the electric he uses in songs like "Spiralling". Highlights of the show were the highly anticipated cover of Queen and Bowie's "Under Pressure", their energetic and excellently executed "Crystal Ball" and the usual closer "Bedshaped". If there was one thing I'd have to say that makes Keane show really memorable its the way they really know how to use their audience as an extra band member. It is always nice to see and hear full crowd participation at a concert.
Lights:
Supporting Keane on their Canadian tour was Lights. Lights has been having a pretty good year winning awards at Canadian Music Week and of course a Juno for best new artist in 2009. I'll be honest this isn't the type of music I normally listen to but since I was there I had to check out what all the buzz was about. I was very impressed with the performance. She displayed lots of energy and her voice was well suited to the venue. Lights is currently keeping busy with a US tour that will have her back in Canada at the end of November. I'm impressed to see that she'll be playing a show at the Kool Haus. Her debut album "The Listening" was just released on September 22 In Canada and will be released on October 6 in the US.
