Rising Irish Born, Raised in Portugal and now based in London, grunge rock band Keo played the Academy Green Room, and also recently announced a concert for the full Academy venue next year.
A concert I wasn’t necessarily inclined to go to, but went on the request of a friend. A really raw sound, that kind of pure distortion and scream singing that would’ve been worldwide had it come in the early 90s.
An energetic live band, with a sound that was perfectly suited to the venue, a sound so raw and so dense you could nearly feel it when you walk through the venue, a wall of sound nearly made physical.
This is a band I’m sure will be playing venues much bigger than this very soon, as said before there coming back to to the Academy, which is a little under a thousand people, but after doing their rounds as support for ever other band going, their fan base has grown, and when their first album finally comes out, I’m sure it’ll be a big hit, with a big tour to go with it.
Stage Setup: 7/10, As I’ve said in other blogs, it’s hard to do much with a small venue stage setup, but they added their own little touches to it, some very nice lighting and smoke effects, and a few decorative pieces like a handmade flower piece showing the flower off the cover of their latest EP.
Band Performance: 9/10, A young band in top form, it would be hard to expect them to keep up this level of energy for long, or for the lead singer to put his voice through that much strain for many years to come, catching them at this time was the perfect flashpoint between their rise in talent, and their eventual rise to fame.
Support: 10/10, Brooki did the support for this gig, the same band that did the support for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in September when I saw them, and if there’s anything to be said about Keo being a band to watch, I’d nearly watch this band more, the amount of pure emotion and talent in that band, with a sound so unique and so captivating, I’d be surprised if they weren’t headlining bigger gigs than the ones their supporting soon.
Merchandise: 6/10, Decent selection of merchandise here, four different t shirts, although none with dates, which are the kind I like, their EP on record, and a t shirt from the support band, very nice t shirts but all around very standard merch selection.
Crowd: 6/10, a very half and half crowd for me, people were nice for the most part, but also a bit entitled, featuring my least favourite thing in all of my concert goings, the number systems, where people in the line will impose their own system of putting numbers on people’s hands, and then using them to push up to the front of the crowd. Didn’t expect to see that system in play for a venue of 300 people.
Overall: 8/10, A great gig from a band that are sure to be doing much, much more in the future, with a support band that could be doing even more than them in time, with a divisive crowd and decent merch options, certainly a band I would follow.
Next up: The Offspring 12/11/25
Jays Concert Blog 