Tom Chaplin, a sincere lad with a big voice.

Still keen

By Nicholas Grossman

11 August 2006

The lads from Battle leave Bangkok triumphant

When you listen to Keane, you want to sing along, until you realize it’s hard to keep up with lead vocalist Tom Chaplin. The 27-year-old lad from Battle, England, who looks like a choir boy, has incredible range. He can do Thom Yorke’s whine, Bono’s wail, belt it out like Billy Joel and even sing softly like Paul McCartney. All the same, he’s an original too.

On Wednesday night at Impact, an estimated 5,000 Keane fans nodded their heads and occasionally broke out into song, inspired by Keane’s unique brand of catchy, “inoffensive” pop. It’s always hard to sell music as soft as Keane’s in a live concert format and their show on Wednesday struggled to maintain momentum, but the enthusiastic crowd kept the spirit alive and overall the Brits from Battle left victorious.

Keane is one of those bands that’s pretty famous but still strangely unknown among people you’d expect to know them. Their following isn’t huge, but those that like Keane like them a lot. For the past year and a half, this band got me through some tough mornings. Their songs – alternately melancholic and uplifting – can transform a dull moment into a meaningful one or a bad mood into a good one. You can listen to them while lazing on the couch, or looking out bus windows – their lyrics stirring up sentimentality.

Powered by Chaplin’s vocals and the keyboard melodies of Tim Rice-Oxley, Keane play sweeping soundscapes and wistful ballads and occasionally decide to rock out. This eclecticism is what makes Keane one of the more interesting new bands in the world of music. This and the fact that they don’t have a guitarist.

But this range and lack of a harder edge is also the drawback of listening to Keane live. Switching up the pace perhaps a bit too much, the band failed to set a coherent mood over the entirety of the show. The rather innocuous set design didn’t help. Their slower songs, especially from their new (and second) album Under The Iron Sea provided the dullest moments of the concert.

Nevertheless Keane’s first Bangkok gig, promoted by Riverman and their label Universal, had plenty of highlights, some of them provided by the genuine attitude of the band itself. Rice-Oxley bangs away at the keyboard like a maniac, headbanging and transforming his board into a lead guitar. As a frontman, Chaplin is energetic and earnest; he waded out into the crowd and often seemed to put his hand on his heart. During one sincere little speech introducing a song, a couple fellow Brits heckled him. Sure, Chaplin may seem like he could front a boy band at times, but he’s too talented to dismiss and his unpretentiousness is refreshing. What we don’t need is another obnoxious British singer in the world.

Chaplin must have had some time to kill on his flight here because he threw out more Thai phrases than any foreign performer in recent memory, endearing himself to the crowd from the outset. In the bathroom during the show I overheard a couple Thai fans mimicking his version of “Sawasdee kroop.” Later, Chaplin, who was wearing a “Long Live the King” yellow wristband, said some more words in Thai, and even dedicated one of Keane’s ballads to His Majesty the King. They didn’t clad themselves in yellow T-shirts and tight yellow jeans fortunately.

Keane has two albums to its name so there was no doubt they’d blaze through almost all of their hits. “Somewhere only we know” was one of the most rousing songs of the night. “We might as well be strangers” and “Can’t stop now” were other crowd pleasers. The only one I regretted not hearing was my personal favorite, the ballad “She has no time.”

Keane will be an interesting band to follow in the coming years. The talent is there, but maybe it’s time to consider a guitarist.

By the way, will someone tell Impact to treat us like adults and give us a proper beer stand. We don’t need McDonald’s and we certainly don’t need to line up 30-deep to buy 10- and 20-baht coupons to convert into small cans of Heineken at the depressing food hall. We need fresh draught. On tap. End rant.

Thai Day