KEANE are the second big name to confirm they will play Dalby Forest next summer, following the earlier announcement of Simply Red’s appearance.

Tickets for Keane’s woodland concert on June 25 2010 go on sale at 9am on Friday at £32, available from the ticket hotline, 01842 814612, or online at www.forestry.gov.uk/music and www.keanemusic.com

Mick Hucknall’s Manchester soul band, Simply Red, will perform the following night in the Forestry Commission’s tree-lined auditorium in North Yorkshire’s biggest woodland, where the capacity for each concert is set at 5,000.

Keane and Simply Red will follow in the forest footsteps of past performers Paul Weller, Pulp, The Beautiful South, Status Quo, M People and James Morrison in playing the 8,600-acre Dalby Forest, near Pickering.

This will be the ninth year of Dalby concerts, and once more, money raised will be used to care for woodlands across North Yorkshire and the Tees Valley, as part of the Forestry Commission’s Live Music touring programme to benefit everything from butterflies to mountain bikers.

Organiser Paul Cody says: “Keane are another fantastic name to add to the Dalby play-list and a tribute to the pulling power of the forest.”

Dalby will be one of six woodlands settings where Keane will play next summer. Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley and Richard Hughes have enjoyed three consecutive number one albums with Hopes And Fears in 2004, Under The Iron Sea in 2006 and Perfect Symmetry last year, selling ten million copies en route to winning BRIT, Grammy and Ivor Novello awards. Their hits include Everybody’s Changing, Is It Any Wonder?, Somewhere Only We Know and Spiralling.

Tickets are still available too for Simply Red on 01842 814612 or online at www.forestry.gov.uk/music