The Story of the Shirt

I take my camera everywhere.

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I love taking pictures, whether I'm travelling or exploring my own hometown. I take pictures of my cats, signs, and any and all random things.

It's also no secret that I love Keane, and that I avidly follow all photoblogs put up on their web site by Richard, the drummer. We have a similar style, taking pictures of interesting signs, cool buildings or architectural details, and other random things.

So last week, I went to Target for a few things, and I found a t-shirt. I had to buy it.

I saw this at Target and I just stood there, laughing quietly. Yes, this shirt was a must-have. And I knew where I would debut it--at the Keane concert. I had high hopes of meeting some of the guys, and I knew, if I wore this t-shirt, I was sure to get some sort of comment from Richard, fellow photography nut and awesome all-around human being.

Before the show...

After the show, Summer, being the awesome friend she is, waited with me outside near the stage door, with several other Keane fans. The guys are pretty good about coming outside to acknowledge their fans, and I was really, really hoping to get an up-close glimpse of them and a picture with them, if possible (autographs aren't a big deal to me).

After a little bit of time, Tim Rice-Oxley came out. Tim is the primary songwriter and keyboard player extraordinaire of the group. He comes across as quite shy and soft-spoken, but a Keane documentary called "Strangers" shows us that he has a very goofy side, as well. He's adorable.

Summer took a picture of us. He was very sweet to everyone there, even when dorky Meg said, "Oh my God, you're so tall!"

Well, he is!

(Or I'm just really, really short.)

After getting the picture (thank you, Summer!!), we moved aside to let others get a moment with Tim.

Then we waited. I tried to be polite to the people we chatted with, but I couldn't help but turn around every ten seconds to stare at the stage door. A couple of fellow Keane Forum members (a message board at the official site) recognized me by the description of my infamous t-shirt, which I had described in a post a few days ago.

Finally, FINALLY, there was Richard. It took him a few minutes to get out to the fans, and when he did, he found we were all stuck right next to a large dumpster. He proposed we all move down a bit, so the crowd around him obligingly shuffled to the right. Then he started signing and taking pictures.

Here's the thing--both Richard and Tim did something that absolutely blew me away and made me love the band even more: they don't just sign, sign, sign, looking down the whole time. They stop and look at the person who has come for an autograph, making eye contact and thanking them for coming to the show. In pictures, they put their arm around the shoulder of the fan and smile genuinely. They joke, they smile, they listen. Hell, they even remember faces from past shows! I've never seen rock musicians so unaffected by their success, so down-to-earth with their fans. These men just blow me away.

Anyway, while I'm inching my way forward, grinning like an idiot, inwardly squealing and surreptitiously pinching myself to see if I really am standing three feet away from Richard Hughes, human-rights activist and drummer for my favorite band in the whole world, Summer, bless her, was taking pictures.

Finally, it was my turn. Summer had muttered, "Show him your shirt!!" before I stepped up for a picture, but it turns out I didn't need to. Richard took one look at me and said, "I like your shirt!"

I almost fell over.

I think I squeaked out a, "Thanks!" before we took the picture, and after the flash, I said something inane like, "Can't go wrong with a Nikon!" (Richard uses a Nikon, too). He agreed.

We stuck around for a few minutes, listening to him chatting with other fans, and helping a few people who had camera malfunctions. Richard was as charming and funny as I've always heard he is, and I'm so very excited that I got a chance to meet him (and Tim!).

I know I go on and on about Keane, probably to the point where my regular readers just roll their eyes and keep scrolling, but they are truly an awesome band--not just in their talent and music, but in how they treat their fans. Each fan is special to them, worth a moment of recognition. Both Tim and Richard stayed out until everyone there had an autograph, picture or a bit of conversation. It's classy as hell.

Before leaving, I took one more picture of Richard:

Something about it just made me smile. : )