Music Under Fire

The Helio Sequence was on the bill two nights ago, which pushed us over the edge when it came time to decide whether we wanted to see Keane and Mat Kearney in the historic Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA. After pulling the trigger, we were quite excited to see our #1 album from 2008 go live once again since we last hung with the duo in early 2008 at Johnny Brenda's.

The Helio Sequence


The Helio Sequence are a small band, consisting of only Brandon Summers and his drumming sidekick, Benjamin Weikel. It need not be said, but if you've read our site before you probably already realize how aesthetically pleasing THC is to us. Everything we stand for and drool over is unified into their songwriting and musical talents. Summers has the smoky rumblings of a folk rock singer, while Weikel supplies the tech-beats and machine-like drumming to bring their two-man and computer ensemble to an accord.

The venue gave THC an appearance of being quite small, and although they are only a two man band, their setup in Johnny Brenda's last year was ample for them to fit on the stage yet the Tower Theatre proved to make them quite minuscule on that large stage. Songs such as "Lately" and "The Captive Mind" brought the performance right back to the ground. They were clearly not too phased by playing at larger venues. Offering little talk inbetween songs, their performance was a delight to see, especially since so many people had not recognized how big a group they may be to others who familiarized themselves with this Subpop favorite.

Their set list was to be expected, nothing but mostly their fantastic tracks from Keep Your Eyes Ahead, including "Keep Your Eyes Ahead", "Hallelujia" were played. The crowd was appeased, who was now becoming educated and taking a liking to their small group before them. Such a change now stands before The Helio Sequence since headlining smaller shows last year. Brandon and Ben now appeared at the beginning of their exciting tour with Keane as the opening act.

MP3: The Helio Sequence - Everyone Knows Everyone (buy)




Mat Kearney


Not familiar with the growing popularity of Mat Kearney (pronounced 'Carney'), we were curious to see what would take place in front of us. With the feeling of being set-up for a sappy, love-song laden set list, the doors were practically closed in terms of our interest, but swinging open to keep any bias from clogging our suspicion. To our surprise, Kearney was not sappy, nor could he have been more captivating. Releasing his new album City of Black and White the previous day, Kearney was ready to play some of his new songs, which he did, including "Here We Go" and "Lifeline".

The set list included "Undeniable", played on the radio back in 2006, which does play much better on the radio, but to Kearney's credit was meant for the radio given the vocal layering and pace of song. His stage presence was there too. With a band setup of bass, lead guitar, drums, keyboard to support his act, the proper support for the music was created, particularly with "Breathe In Breathe Out" which started off with a piano solo, then rose to an orchestration of a total band effort. Kearney closed with his most upbeat song, "Nothing Left To Lose" and had the crowd singing to the end.

Although he was a plus to have in the lineup, the alt-rock style did not particularly fall into our specifications for a group we would spend too much time on. The performance was well-executed on Kearney's part and he surely won the crowd over offering free autographs with the purchase of his new album.

Keane


Unmistakably adorned for Keane's 2004 masterpiece Hopes and Fears, a near perfect album in our eyes, we were geared up to hear more from their first two albums since 2008's Perfect Symmetry did not particularly entice us. Their plan was instantly revealed as the stage lit up with their album cover in the background.

Kicking off the show with "The Lovers Are Losing", we were set to hear the majority of Perfect Symmetry, including songs which we not too fond of such as their first single from the album, "Spiralling". But when one new song was played, it was counteracted by some of the songs we loved such as "This Is The Last Time", which was done as a solo on the piano by Tom Chaplin. It was this moment that his voice truly shined. Nothing but the piano and his vocals were heard; his voice shimmered under the single light shone on the stage.

The first half of the show was done quite well by Keane with a nice change of pace in song and both movement on stage. At one point all four members convened in the middle of the stage, toning down Chaplins excited antics on stage for a few songs. Also notable was the fourth and newest member on tour, Jesse Quin, who has been used to enhance Keane's stage performance for which they had been somewhat scrutinized for on their last tour.

There was an even spread of songs from Hope and Fears and Perfect Symmetry up until this point, and the theme would carry throughout the rest of the show with only four songs from Under The Iron Sea. To my dismay, one of the songs I did expect to be performed was not. "Frog Prince", which stood second to "Crystal Ball" (which would be their second to last song in the encore) was not played. But fitting enough, Keane closed down the show with one of their most beloved songs, "Bedshaped".

The entire performance was animated and energetic. Chaplin announced from the beginning to "sing out loud and enjoy the show" as he would later dangle his microphone over the crowd to sing the words. His hand gestures and dancing around the stage upped the ante when it came to livening the crowd. At every moment Chaplin pulled the crowd in, commanding the attention with wild hand motions and his own giddy excitement over the music he's been working so dilligently in creating over the years.

MP3: Keane - Nothing In My Way (live) (buy)

Setlist:
The Lovers Are Losing
Everybody's Changing
Bend and Break
We Might As Well Be Strangers
Again and Again
This Is The Last Time
Spiralling
Playing Along
Try Again
Sunshine
You Haven't Told Me Anything
Leaving So Soon?
You Don't See Me
Perfect Symmetry
Somewhere Only We Know
Crystal Ball
Encore:
My Shadow
Is It Any Wonder?
Bedshaped