Keane goes from light to dark

The evening began with a sneak attack: an aural assault in the form of catchy techno trip-hop ripped through the Henry Fonda well before Wednesday’s 9 p.m. start time. Assuming such blasts were the work of a warmup DJ, the crowd shared a collective gasp as the heavy velvet slowly lifted and bore the revelation of opening performer, human beatbox Kid Beyond.

With only his mouth, a mike and a custom pedal-driven looping device, the San Franciscan with a shaved head layered teeth-rattling, larynx-generated ersatz electronica, rendering the sold-out house equal parts confused and impressed.

As he paused mid-set to explain his technique, a blond with a beer was overheard asking no one in particular, “He’s kidding, right?”

A golden eternity then passed before the darkened stage was stabbed with sapphire spotlights, and Brit band Keane stormed on, launching into “Put It Behind You” from their freshly released sophomore album “Under the Iron Sea.”

What first sounded like mortifying squeals of feedback upon closer listen were the shrieks of female fans; Keane was here to please.

The trio of hard-working lads, fronted by vocalist Tom Chaplin, made quite a show of their efforts, and Tim Rice-Oxley engaged in near-pornographic exertions over his double-stacked keyboards.

With dutiful rhythms that would draw high marks at a University for Utilitarian Pop Drumming, percussionist Richard Hughes stayed on-beat with the restrained pounding and gentle shimmers of cymbal that anchor the guitar-less mellow rock outfit.

Drawing equally from their new cache of tunes and tracks off of their 2004 debut, “Hopes and Fears,” the one-time U2 cover band urged the mezzanine on their feet to belt along with their most successful singles, “This Is the Last Time” and encore “Bedshaped.”

But for all their efforts, it was regrettably clear that the darker work on their new album (consisting of more raw vocal stylings and distortion effects that edge their signature piano sound into guitar riff territory) lacks the bizarrely sunny melancholy that elevated the songs off their last release into sing-along pop anthems.