Keane’s evergreen anthem “Somewhere Only We Know” is a beautiful piece of music and it hits even harder watching the band rock it to the huge crowd at Live 8. The original recording is more delicate, but playing in front of 200,000 people at Hyde Park in London made the band put out some crazy energy to match the vibe.
Frontman Tom Chaplin gives a passionate performance and really nailed both the crooning vocals as well as the huge chorus. It’s a beautiful moment when he puts the mic to the crowd and you hear 200,000 people sing the chorus as well. The performance has gained 44 million views on YouTube and you can watch it below.
At Live 8 in London, Keane performed “Somewhere Only We Know” as well as “Bedshaped”, which are the first and third single from their debut album Hopes and Fears. The band rubbed shoulders with some real rock royalty for the concert, with the lineup also featuring U2, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Madonna, Coldplay and Robbie Williams.
The benefit concert was organised by Bob Geldof in support of the Make Poverty History campaign. Geldof spontaneously performed his band the Boomtown Rats’ hit “I Don’t Like Mondays” on the day as well. The concert was most notable for featuring the classic lineup of Pink Floyd reuniting to play together for the first time in 24 years. Check out Keane playing the piano rock ballad “Bedshaped” at the concert below, where Chaplin shows off some really stunning falsetto vocals.
Fans had plenty of praise for Keane’s performance on YouTube, adding comments such as “I love artists who can actually sing live and need NO autotune and sound just as good if not better than the studio recordings” and “Goosebumps, teary eyed and yet at ease. This song and its delivery is spot on!”
“Somewhere Only We Know” was a must-play for Keane at the concert, as it’s by far the band’s biggest hit, having gone double Platinum on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s also their most popular song on streaming services, with the single being one of a very few songs to have surpassed one billion streams on Spotify. It’s currently clocked at 1.2 billion streams on the platform.
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