Apparently possessed by the spirit of holiday giving, Keane has issued a previously-unreleased single called “Love Actually,” and if you’re thinking, “Gosh, that’s quite the coincidence that we've just entered December and this new single should share its title with a classic holiday film,” well, it’s not: the band originally wrote the song with an eye toward having it used for that very soundtrack.
Mind you, when you take a step back and look at the situation, the reason why it wasn’t utilized starts to come into focus: at the time, not only had Keane not yet become KEANE, but they hadn’t yet even secured a record deal at the time Love Actually was in production.
Tom Chaplin of Keane performing at The Palladium, London on October 22, 2022
“In 2002 we were an unsigned band; and our friend and manager Adam was working for the producer of Love Actually,” Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley said in a press release. “While they were making the film, Adam suggested we should quickly write a song and he’d see if he could get it into Richard Curtis’ hands…and maybe we could sneak onto the soundtrack and get our big break! Needless to say it didn’t turn out that way, but Richard always very graciously said he loved the song and wished he’d put it in the film.
"We all loved the song too, but having called it ‘Love Actually,’ it was very hard to do anything with it!" admitted Rice-Oxley. "In fact, for 20 years whenever I’ve played a new demo to my mum, her response has usually been, 'Hmm…when are you going to record ‘Love Actually’?' Well, the film Love Actually is 20 years old now, which at last gives us a perfect reason to record our song properly.”
And so they have, delivering a recording produced by Keane themselves, as you can hear below.
“Everyone makes mistakes - even if they’re understandable ones," admitted the aforementioned Richard Curtis, who also chimed in for the single's press release. "When I first listened to ‘Love Actually’ by this totally unknown combo called Keane, I thought it was beautiful. I tried really hard to put it in the film - but in the end it was a little melancholy and, dare I say, a bit DEEP for the film I’d made. Of course, I realized what a dreadful mistake that had been when six months later Hopes and Fears was Number 1 in the charts.
"It is SO wonderful that the song is now being released for everyone to hear," continued Curtis. "I’ve listened to it a lot over the years and love it even more now than I did then. And this time, myself and my son Spike have made a little edit of the whole film to go with the song. I think I actually prefer that three minute version of 'Love Actually' to the long, chaotic film that’s been doing the rounds now for 20 years.”
While this new single will hopefully keep Keane fans pleased through the holidays, they’ll still have to wait a bit yet for the upcoming remastered version of the band’s debut album, Hopes and Fears, which will be reissued on May 10, i.e. the 20th anniversary of its original release.
Not coincidentally, the band will also be performing at London’s 02 Arena...or maybe it is purely a coincidence, being as they’ll be in the midst of a world tour at the time. At the very least, we can call it a nice bit of happenstance.
For the full list of May tour dates in the UK and Ireland as well as the September 2023 dates in the US and Canada, just keep on scrolling...
Tour Dates
May
Fri 3rd LEEDS, First Direct Arena
Sat 4th BIRMINGHAM, Utilita Arena
Sun 5th MANCHESTER, Co-Op Live
Tue 7th BOURNEMOUTH, BIC (Sold-Out)
Wed 8th CARDIFF, Utilita Arena (Sold-Out)
Fri 10th LONDON, The O2 (Sold-Out)
Sat 11th LONDON, The O2
New Date Added - Mon 13th DUBLIN 3Arena
September 2024
Wed 4th The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley - Berkeley, CA
Thu 5th The Greek Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
Fri 6th Humphreys Concerts By The Bay - San Diego, CA
Sun 8th TBA - Salt Lake City, UT
Mon 9th Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre - Denver, CO
Wed 11th The Majestic Theater - Dallas, TX
Thu 12th ACL Live At The Moody Theatre - Austin, TX
Sat 14th The Eastern - Atlanta, GA
Sun 15th Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN
Tue 17th Palace Theater - Minneapolis, MN
Wed 18th The Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL
Fri 20th The Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Toronto, ON
Sat 21st The Met - Philadelphia, PA
Mon 23rd MGM Music Hall At Fenway - Boston, MA
Tue 24th Radio City Music Hall - New York, NY
Thu 26th The Anthem - Washington, DC
