Words and pictures by Rhona Murphy.
London based Keo are nearing the mid-way point of their UK/Ireland/European tour with the Portsmouth show at The Wedgewood Rooms their penultimate mainland UK gig (11/3/26).
If you’ve never heard of Keo you’re probably in the majority but the band is currently one of the most exciting and hottest new bands in the business going from 0mph to 100mph without seemingly passing through the in between speeds! Meteoric rise is the most quoted phrase for Keo who recently signed to Island Records with a relatively small back catalogue of music which includes the EP Siren released in June 25.
Comprising two brothers Finn (vocals/guitar) and Conor Keogh (bass) plus Oli Spackman (drums) and Jimmy Lanwern (guitar) 2025 saw the extraordinary rise of Keo including drawing the biggest ever crowd to the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading and Leeds Festival. Comparisons have been made to Wunderhorse but Keo stand by themselves as performers and the Portsmouth gig was a great example of a band who people will be talking about in future years as a “I was there and saw them in a small venue and now they’re headlining major festivals” kind of way.
The support band for Portsmouth was alt-rock/alt-indie Dublin band Bleech 9:3. Named in in the NME 100 list for 2026 and with their own headline tour this April/May it’s worth checking out this band. They play at Heartbreakers, Southampton, on 21 May and if the fan support they had at the Keo show is anything to go by it’ll be carnage. Catchy lyrics, loud and slightly scary I’m looking forward to the next time.
Keo took to the stage with the crowd chanting their name. They headlined the Golden Touch Festival Edge Of The Wedge stage in 2025 and to now play the main stage to a capacity crowd is extraordinary.
Opening up with the lyrically powerful ‘Hands’ Keo captivated the audience who listened to and sang back every word. Frontman Finn engaged with and thanked the crowd throughout the show and the adoration was palpable. Unreleased songs ‘Be Happy’ and ‘That’s Me’ followed ‘Hands’. The whole set felt like an ethereal experience and Keo powered through their setlist of released and new songs before briefly leaving the stage and returning with a cover of ‘The End’ by The Doors before finally ending up with ‘I Lied, Amber’.
The question I had at the start of the gig was how can a band with only 5 released songs sell out increasing big venues and appear at or near the top of festival line ups? They’ve even already released their own concert film ‘Live At Village Underground’!
The reality is that the music industry is rapidly changing and the traditional route to the top has been ripped up with the use of TikTok and other social media platforms which are now crucial tools for all bands.
Keo are still in their infancy as a band but they’ve skipped the usual support slot stage and gone straight to their own headline shows. They were incredibly good at The Wedge and now I get it. They’re relatable to all ages but particularly the teen/early 20s fans and the song lyrics are a journey through teenage emotional angst to maturity. Golden Touch Festival was onto something when they secured them for the 2025 festival and the stages will only get bigger and bigger from here.
They come into their own on a stage and if you get the chance to catch them playing live at a festival then do it. I’m a convert!
Setlist:
Hands/Be Happy/That’s Me/Thorn/Young/Spaceman/Spent On You/Hazel/Fly/Stolen Cars/Black Dress
Encore:
The End/Crow/(Kind)/Interlude/I Lied, Amber
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