Keane Curate A Night For War Child

Late last year, Keane held a night in support of non-governmental organization War Child at London, England's Brixton Academy. This DVD documents that night, and while it's for a good cause, it's ultimately pretty boring. In fact, it says something when the most interesting numbers are those performed by Keane, who are a pretty boring b(l)and. While Teddy Thompson kicks the night off in a promising way with his country-infused numbers, things go downhill from there with Findlay Brown. Brown's laid up in a leg cast and while he does his best with his performances, they'll put you to sleep, which actually happened to me because I dozed off halfway through "Nobody Cared," and it wasn't because I was tired or had had a long day. The appearance by the Pet Shop Boys is meant to pique attention, since they're an electronic act on a pop/rock lineup. It does the opposite, since Neil Tennant mostly just stands in the same place while singing and looking creepily at the audience. Ironically, Keane frontman Tom Chaplin is the most animated person in the entire lineup, jumping around on stage and acting like he should be on Ritalin. It would have been nice if the concert had been interspersed with more spots from War Child (for instance, how many children are casualties in armed conflict?). Instead, material about the charity is buried in the DVD's bonus features, which I'm willing to bet barely anybody will watch. That's unfortunate.