In sixth grade, my mom and I once gamely spent a whole Saturday morning on the phone, trying to get tickets to the local New Kids On the Block concert. We were unsuccessful—after a couple hours of listening to busy signals (remember busy signals?), Mom got frustrated and we gave up the good fight.
Since then, I never really had any sort of massive crush on any bands, except for that little college-era rendezvous with N*SYNC that I don’t like to talk about. Oh, come on, you never danced in your dorm room to “Tearin’ Up My Heart?” Don’t judge me.
So I made it into my adulthood with a minimum of embarrassing stories of being the ultimate “fangirl” over any band…and then, age 30, I met Keane.
I went to their gig in Oakland, California, based on one song, called “Somewhere Only We Know.” I had loved the song ever since its 2004 heyday on American charts, but I’d never heard much else from the group who created it, or paid much attention to whether or not they had anything else worth listening to. But that song, the second-most-played song in my iTunes library, and my desire to see more live gigs, had me driving an hour-and-a-half to Oakland to see some band.
Before the gig started, I turned to my friend and fellow music-lover and said, “Aren’t they Canadian?”
“I don’t think so…” she replied.
A fan standing next to us hastened to enlighten. “They’re English.”
That night, a fan was born. “Fan,” of course, is short for fanatic, and in the days after that concert, I was one. I endlessly searched YouTube for more interviews and music videos. I joined the fan forum. I bought every single song I could get my hands on, and purchased a single all the way from England on eBay just so I could have one b-side I really wanted.
Before long, I knew more than just the music, but about the band itself, made up of four really awesome Englishmen who seem unaffected by their fame. The drummer regularly interacts with fans on Twitter; and most of the guys come out after shows to greet fans, sign things, and take pictures.
And the fan community is fabulous. Brought together by a shared love for Keane’s music, many of us have found that we have other things in common. Friendships develop, and quite without knowing how, I’ve ended up with a circle of friends I consider very close. We share our lives, meet up when we can, and it was all born out of a shared love of Keane.
I’ve been told it’s silly for a grown woman to follow a band as much as I do, but I disagree. Music truly brings people together, and gives joy. Why shouldn’t we celebrate music that makes us feel good, that takes the stresses of our lives away for a few minutes?
Three years after that first amazing concert, I’ve now seen Keane a few more times, and have tickets on order for an upcoming San Francisco gig in January 2013. I’ll be the short lady rocking out, singing every single word…having a blast.
