Photo Credit: Maryleen
A few weeks after Keo released debut album Put A Smile On For Me (read our album review here) they are taking the album on tour, they were unlucky to be kept off the number one spot by Taylor Swift … let’s move swiftly on from that! Tonight we are here to celebrate that album and more. We have saw the London-based band five times now this year although this is the first time seeing them play a headline show. The performance at Leeds Festival where they played to well over thirty thousand fans in the middle of the afternoon is deeply imprinted in the memory.
Before Keo though we have another Dublin breakout band in Brooki – named after vocalist Sarah Brookfield – we saw them back in July at Y Not Festival where they put in a great performance with all members of Keo watching on from the side of the stage, we would imagine that’s when they met and were offered a tour opportunity with Keo. Forming in Dublin in 2023 there is a little mystery surrounding them as they don’t have any music released on the streaming services, their music style is very similar to that of Keo, lots of 1990s influenced grunge and alternative rock. The twenty-five minute set goes by in a flash with the pick of the tunes being Little Portland Street and final song Amber, there is another band playing tonight with that word in a song title. Touring with Keo puts Brooki on a pedestal and we are sure that they will gain an army of new fans during the sold-out tour. 8/10
At 9pm chants of Keo, Keo, Keo reverberate around the O2 Academy, we decided to head upstairs to the balcony for the main act for a better view. As the Stone Roses play over the PA the crowd erupts in delight when Finn Keogh (vocals & guitar), his brother Conor Keogh (bass), Jimmy Lanwern (guitar) and Oli Spackman (drums) take to the stage. They begin the set with Be Happy, the opening track from Put A Smile On For me, already even after one song we can feel how special this show is going to be. Finn tells us that this is the biggest show they have played to date … well that’s true if you leave out this summer’s festival appearances at Sound City, TRNSMT, Y Not and Reading & Leeds Festivals, trust us Keo are going to be playing in arenas soon enough. Pistol has the crowd chanting back the lyrics to the stage while Best I Can Do is a real crowd pleaser, an early contender for the best song of the night is Thorn, the energy in this building is incredible as we all collectively chant the chorus “And you’re so much more, than a change in the tide, a thorn in my side/I adore watching you cry, the love in your eyes like a chore”.
Spent On You is the last track on the album and one of our personal favourites, it begins slowly and builds up into a wall of guitars that hits you hard, I Lied, Amber is a real goosebumps moment with Finn commenting afterwards “that’s special”, it certainly was! Next up we have a choice of songs, we choose Stolen Cars from the Sirens EP while Loser is so self-deprecating and that’s the thing about the music of Keo, it hits the stomach just like Nirvana back in the day, the guitar riff on this one reminds us so much of the classic U2 track One. The next song they play will stay in our memory bank for years to come … That’s Me is the most popular Keo song right now and even though it runs to just over two minutes, those two minutes are filled with so much emotion tonight, every single person in the O2 Academy is singing the chorus back at the stage in an explosion of joy “That’s me in the corner, that’s me that gets in your way/that’s me sucking the life off her, that’s me I’ve become a fucking plague”, we haven’t witnessed that kind of collective energy for a long time in this old building. Thankfully the band have an extended outro for the fans to scream back the chorus a few more times, there is such an outpouring of emotion that the show has to be stopped for a minute or so due to someone being injured in the crowd.
Blue Song and Black Dress are played so well and the cover of The Doors song The End is a welcome addition to the set that ran for just over the hour mark, Fly is already a fan favourite and goes down really well. We got ten songs from Put A Smile On For me, the only one missing was Bird On The Wire. Most bands would normally leave their biggest song for the end of the set but not Keo, they end with unreleased song Only We Know, it is a nice surprise ending to a set that was highly-charged from beginning to end. Appropriately it is David Bowie track Heroes that plays as we exit the O2 Academy, every single person in this venue tonight was a hero – band and fans alike – well done Glasgow you did us proud!
Keo recently announced another tour for March next year when they will be back in Glasgow for two shows at the iconic Barrowland Ballroom, it goes without saying that they are both sold out already. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
