Keane -- The Starting Line (Acoustic) -- Live at Amoeba Records in San Francisco, 7-1-12, Front row. Tom Chaplin: You guys are the hardcore fans... you know songs that have never been released. Songs that we wrote about 15 years ago..

Amoeba Records held a free in-store concert to promote Keane's new album Strangeland. Keane had just played in Oakland at the Fox Theater the night before and this was the end of their North American tour. Everyone who bought the album there got a free Strangeland poster and a spot in the signing line.


Other Tidbits:

While going through the signing line, percussionist Richard Hughes was full of good jokes. I told him it was a great concert and he replied with great thanks, saying that he really likes to hear that because it plays well to his ego, "especially since he just plays percussion and shakes a tambourine." Then when asked if he was going to the Olympics in London, he said: You know... unfortunately... I didn't qualify.

When suggested to Tom Chaplin that they should put all their unreleased songs on YouTube, he said that "well, they're all there in some form or another.."

And once again, I stood behind the same twin Canadian girls I met at the Oakland show in 2010! They are from Vancouver and regularly follow Keane around on tour. They even got into the private concert in Emeryville held at the Expression College for Digital Arts on June 30th for KFOG. I told her I remembered her story about Tom wearing one of her fancy jackets, to which she then took out her camera and showed me the picture of her and Tom together wearing the jacket.

A few spots to her right was a woman who held up an orange sign asking the band to sing Happy Birthday to her, but Tom jokingly told her no, but they'll dedicate a song to her instead.

Before 'Sovereign Light Café', there were several shouted requests from the audience to play old unreleased songs, such as 'Walnut Tree', 'Closer Now' and 'Snowed Under'. When someone shouted that they should release them, Tom said that "no, we're far too stupid to do that." Tom: If I could even remember how that one (Walnut Tree) goes, I would love to sing it for you.

However, after some encouragement from pianist Tim Rice-Oxley, they almost decided to try to play 'Snowed Under', but then realized that Jesse Quin joined the band after they wrote that song. Richard Hughes: Jesse just said that he never even heard it. Can anyone out there play bass?


Setlist:
Acoustic

1. This Is The Last Time
2. Silenced By The Night
3. Everybody's Changing
4. The Starting Line
5. Bend and Break
6. Sovereign Light Café
7. Is It Any Wonder?
8. Somewhere Only We Know

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