THEIR debut album was the best-selling release of 2004, and saw them lavished with praise, while their two follow-ups were also huge hits.

They even have a couple of Brit awards on the mantelpiece. Yet the sort of reverence afforded the likes of Coldplay and Snow Patrol somehow eludes Keane.

Seen as slightly safe, Sussex posh boys, even lead singer Tom Chaplin’s stint in rehab a couple of years back could not elevate the band into genuine rock star territory.

Not that any of that mattered to the 10,000 or so largely middle-aged fans crammed into the Echo Arena Liverpool on Saturday night for two hours of singalong fun. Opening with The Lovers Are Losing, from last year’s release, Perfect Symmetry, followed by Bend and Break, from Hopes and Fears, it was a low-key start, but, by the time the opening bars of the Keane classic, Everybody’s Changing, struck up, three songs in, we were up and running.

Given the band’s fondness for angsty lyrics, there were the moments of melancholy with tracks like Bad Dream and This is the Last Time but there were also huge bouncy sections with favourites like Crystal Ball and Is it Any Wonder.

Despite the band members now being on the cusp of their 30s, it was sometimes hard to reconcile the baby-faced bunch on the stage with the mature sound – particularly one encore track, the mega-ballad Bed Shaped – but there was no denying each song was faultless.

Safe Keane may be, but sometimes safe can be spectacular.

emmajohnson