Undoubtedly one of the best debut albums ever, KEANE’s HOPES AND FEARS will be released as a special remastered version on May 10, 2024, exactly 20 years after its initial release. In celebration of this special anniversary edition, the band will play a handful of UK dates including London’s 02 Arena on May 10th before officially kicking off their world tour on April 1st in Mexico City, Keane reaches the U.S. in September, including shows at LA’s Greek Theatre, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.
A landmark album for Keane, Hopes and Fears set all kinds of records upon release on both sides of the Atlantic. As one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history, selling over 2.5 million in the UK in its first year, it sold platinum here in the U.S. (shipping almost 2 million units). The album locked in the #1 position on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, propelled by their classic songs “Somewhere Only We Know” and “Everybody’s Changing” which claimed the #2 and #6 spots on Billboard Adult Alternative chart respectively.
Selling over 10 million copies worldwide, Hopes and Fears was hailed by Rolling Stone as having “more hooks than most pop groups manage in their careers” while All Music praised its “beautiful, emotive dalliance of instrumentation.” Bestowing an A- rating, SPIN called it “soaring, romantic debut,” noting the band’s “ear for melody that make such an impressive debut out of so few instruments.”
Emerging alongside a new vanguard of bands such as Snow Patrol, Scissor Sisters, the Killers and Coldplay that would change the shape of music, Keane was the first to create a sound solely revolving around keyboards, enhancing the emotional pull of their songs. “Everybody’s Changing” from Hopes and Fears quickly became a fan favorite and a top-five hit.
As a testament to the band’s long-standing legacy, “Somewhere Only We Know” has enjoyed a recent revival on Tik Tok, going viral in Indonesia which lit the spark for a global renaissance of the track which currently clocks up two million Spotify streams a day. In the past 12 months, it has become Island Records’ biggest selling single, having been streamed over a billion times so far.
Next year’s tour will celebrate Keane’s acclaimed body of work from their imperious debut Hopes and Fears to their 2019 studio album Cause and Effect.
Lead singer Tom Chaplin says: “I remember standing by that amazing old mixing desk at Heliocentric Studios where we made Hopes and Fears, listening to an early mix of ‘Somewhere Only We Know.’ I had this feeling that we’d come up with something that had an extra bit of magic. Making music is so often a process full of doubt…but on this occasion there was something undeniable about what we’d created. Clearly, a lot of people felt the same when the album came out!”
Founding band member and songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley said: “When I think about these songs, I still picture us playing them in little rooms in pubs around the UK. I remember how exciting it was watching the crowds start to grow. Those songs opened the door to another dimension for us; everything that has happened in our lives since then was born out of that moment. It’s an incredible privilege for us that people are still listening after all this time.”
