Groundhog Day set lists...

[jonnythenotes]

I went to a couple of outdoor charity events over the last 2 weekends, and saw a total of 12 bands over the three days that these two events covered...(one being a two day event.) I heard Sanctuary 3 times, All right now, 4 times, a collection of Stones songs on what seemed like an endless loop, Sex on fire 5 times, and Dakota 6 times. It seems that many of the thousands of cover bands that are out most weekends share a blue print of a few hundred songs covering the last 40 years or so... What is it that makes so many...(not all...) bands ignore the tens of thousands of other songs that have charted over the last forty years, or that an audience are familiar with, and concentrate on Mr Brightsides and Sweet Home Alabama type stuff. Is it because they are easy to learn, or they guarantee a response from a audience who crave familiarity and a sing-a-long chorus, or is it just p*ss easy money for almost no thought process. Surely no one in their right mind feels good about themselves or their ability after they finish another ripping version of Mustang Sally or Chelsea Dagger...... What I am saying here is in no way a reflection on young bands putting there feet on the first rungs of the music ladder... these songs are almost a requirment, pretty easy to learn, and really help young musos get started.. but seeing seasoned and good quality musicians and bands pretending to enjoy playing Brown Eyed Girl for the umpteenth time baffles me.. Surely a good delivery of a lesser known song, where your applauded for ability, is more rewarding than Sweet child o' mine or Yellow.... I have still got Superstition echoing in my mind from the weekend.....( 4 times.)

[Mykesbass]

Always tried to offer something different, but it seems there are large numbers of punters out there that want the same old same old. You only need to hear a Radio 2 request show to have this confirmed.

[mrtcat]

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1437402593' post='2825672']
Is it because they guarantee a response from a audience who crave familiarity and a sing-a-long chorus
[/quote]

Yes - its frustrating but true.

[ubit]

We do try to play off the beaten track type material but up this way, punters ask for the same old crud, so we are forced to include a smattering of the usual. It breaks my heart to play brown eyed girl or wagon wheel but it's what they dance to.
We tried playing a set of exclusively good but more obscure songs for a bit but got embarrassing silences after finishing and had to resort to the tried and tested.
Maybe you shouldn't judge bands harshly if they have the same set list. It's quite likely that they have learned the hard way that that's what they have to play!

[AntLockyer]

Just got the song list for my new band. A lot I'd not heard of even though I listen to those bands (Cream, Early Fleetwood Mac, Hendrix etc.) not much from after 1969 and all of them really really great songs to play. It remains to be seen if we make any money but it's going to be fun

[mrtcat]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1437403963' post='2825689']
Maybe you shouldn't judge bands harshly if they have the same set list. It's quite likely that they have learned the hard way that that's what they have to play!
[/quote]

Agreed.

[Lozz196]

If you`re a covers band and want work you need to play what the audiences want. That said, a band may settle on some lesser known songs and find people love them. A few weeks back we were on the same bill as a band doing early 70s glam tracks - and they went down so well, yet I`ve never seen another band concentrate purely on songs from that era. Choose good songs wisely and it is possible, but in general, it`s the crowd-fillers that get `em going.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1437407030' post='2825720']
If you`re a covers band and want work you need to play what the audiences want.
[/quote]

That's about the gist of it...

If you're getting paid to play stuff people like, you won't be very popular with landlords if you play a load of obscure stuff no-one has heard of...

[Cato]

I went to two weddings last year.

The first had a little form on the back of the RSVP where the invitee could suggest three songs for the band to play.(Annoyingly my suggestion of Gil Scot Heron's 'Whitey on the Moon' was ignored)

The second invitation had no such feature.

Both the band who's set was based on attendee requests & the band who presumably were just doing their standard wedding set ended up playing pretty much identical sets.

So based on that ridiculously small sample & depressing as it is, it would seem that all these bands belting out 'Sex on Fire', 'Mustang Sally' & 'Mr Brightside' are indeed giving the audience what they want.

[Roger2611]

We play most of the songs you mention above sadly, we used to have some definite obscurities in our set but they all gradually got pushed out when they failed to get any audience response, The Chameleons, Wildhearts, Echo and the Bunnymen, all gone replaced with the likes of Sex on Fire and Chelsea Dagger. But we get prime bookings from landlords purely down to the strength of our set list...a sad state of affairs but at least you didn't have to listen to Counting Stars by One Republic which is now in our set

[LayDownThaFunk]

Old people don't like change...

[bonzodog]

We are a mod revival band. We wear black ties and white shirts and decorate stage in union jacks and insist we are advertised as such but we still get no end of punters asking for sex on fire dakota and mustang sally

[pjb13.bass]

I've always maintained that there are really only two sorts of pub bands. One that tries to entertain the as many of the punters as possible which invariably means doing a lot of lowest common denominator material and the other sort that says 'This is what we do like it or not'. The reality is that you are likely to get more gigs and more regular punters with then first than the second, not always but mostly.

I have played in covers bands for most of my life and what is very rewarding is when you start to play a song and hear people say...' I haven't heard this in years' but trying to find popular songs not often played by other covers bands is of course the difficult part.

[Woodinblack]

Not just the audience. Our group has a set list with quite a few common ones on it, and some more interesting, and we are avoiding 'classic rock' but every time we say about adding other songs these old classic rock songs come out, and I would rather not do them.
There are hundreds of songs that are good, but it is trying to think of them. I think I might just go through 79-05 top 40 and see what is in there.

[crez5150]

I find it highly amusing...... Not that I play many pubs but we do try and play around ten pubs per year so that we can invite potential (mostly wedding) clients too.

I always go in with the same blurb that we are not your average pub band (we play predominantly Disco covers) and that always gets raised eyes from the landlords/ladys.

That'll never go down well here mate, they love the rock'..... I always make a bet with them there and then. If we don't entertain your punters as well as the best bands you have in here then we'll play for free. So far (7 years) we've not had to go down that route.

It does amaze me when you see 90% of the bands playing the local circuit that have a similar set.... why is it that bands think they have to do this.... Are they worried to go outside of their comfort zone?

Any way here's our set list -

[b]Carwash[/b]
[b]Play That Funky Music[/b]
[b]Ladies Night[/b]
[b]Last Night A DJ Saved My Life[/b]
[b]Groove Is In The Heart[/b]
[b]Turn On Tune In Cop Out[/b]
[b]We Are Family[/b]
[b]Jive Talking[/b]
[b]Get Down On It[/b]
[b]Kiss[/b]
[b]Kung Fu Fighting[/b]
[b]That's The Way I Like It[/b]
[b]Get Down Tonight[/b]
[b]Night Fever[/b]
[b]More Than A Woman[/b]
[b]Signed Sealed Delivered[/b]
[b]Pick Up The Pieces[/b]
[b]Treasure[/b]
[b]1999[/b]
[b]Good Times[/b]
[b]I Want Your Love[/b]
[b]Le Freak[/b]
[b]Move On Up[/b]
[b]Superstition[/b]
[b]Disco Inferno[/b]
[b]Funky Town[/b]
[b]Mighty Real[/b]
[b]Long Train/Jagger[/b]
[b]Uptown Funk[/b]
[b]Staying Alive[/b]
[b]You Should Be Dancing[/b]
[b]I Wish[/b]


[color=#ffffff][font=Verdana][size=1][b]Set 1 (16 songs)[/b][/size][/font][/color]

Edited July 21, 2015 by Rich
Set list hugeness tamed

[Truckstop]

Yeah, but disco's hard. Rock, in all its various forms, is easy.

[jonnythenotes]

I hate to broach a taboo subject here, but a large part of what determines a bands set is the skill level and competency of the individuals within that band... You can only play songs that all band members can manage collectively, which means performing at the level of the weakest member. Also the drive of band members to improve behind closed doors is vital. So often a band puts together a bunch of 'Quick to learn songs' to get them up and running, with the intention of adding too, or improving the set over the coming weeks after the first couple of gigs, and all to often, that knocked together set of 'easy' songs is still being played months later. I really don't buy the 'audience determines the set a band plays' argument. I don't want to go to the cinema knowing how a film ends, or see a comedian when I know all the punch lines... Surprise, and a bit of self belief and aggression will be just as entertaining to an audience as familiarity. Sometimes you have to give people what they want before they know they want it...

[Bankai]

As someone who used to work in GuitarGuitar, I've had more than my fair share of hearing Sweet Child o' Mine badly played.

[sykilz]

Also, not wishing to be a git, Crez, but your set list is kind of the disco classic equivalent of a rock classic set, those songs are the disco songs that everyone knows, just as All Right Now and Sex on Fire are the rock songs everyone knows, itjust so happens that there are sooo many more rock bands than disco bands. Probably because, as quoted above, disco is harder to play, generally. ( I happen to know your band is a bit tasty...!!!!)
Where you have struck gold, IMO is that you can play your classic disco set at pretty much any sort of function and it will go down well, whereas a rock set is more limited to pubs, not too many people want to thrash away to Ace of Spades on their special day, or at the end of year function for a big company!!

[barneyg42]

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1437415828' post='2825829']
I find it highly amusing...... Not that I play many pubs but we do try and play around ten pubs per year so that we can invite potential (mostly wedding) clients too.

I always go in with the same blurb that we are not your average pub band (we play predominantly Disco covers) and that always gets raised eyes from the landlords/ladys.

That'll never go down well here mate, they love the rock'..... I always make a bet with them there and then. If we don't entertain your punters as well as the best bands you have in here then we'll play for free. So far (7 years) we've not had to go down that route.

It does amaze me when you see 90% of the bands playing the local circuit that have a similar set.... why is it that bands think they have to do this.... Are they worried to go outside of their comfort zone?

Any way here's our set list -

[b]Carwash[/b]
[b]Play That Funky Music[/b]
[b]Ladies Night[/b]
[b]Last Night A DJ Saved My Life[/b]
[b]Groove Is In The Heart[/b]
[b]Turn On Tune In Cop Out[/b]
[b]We Are Family[/b]
[b]Jive Talking[/b]
[b]Get Down On It[/b]
[b]Kiss[/b]
[b]Kung Fu Fighting[/b]
[b]That's The Way I Like It[/b]
[b]Get Down Tonight[/b]
[b]Night Fever[/b]
[b]More Than A Woman[/b]
[b]Signed Sealed Delivered[/b]
[b]Pick Up The Pieces[/b]
[b]Treasure[/b]
[b]1999[/b]
[b]Good Times[/b]
[b]I Want Your Love[/b]
[b]Le Freak[/b]
[b]Move On Up[/b]
[b]Superstition[/b]
[b]Disco Inferno[/b]
[b]Funky Town[/b]
[b]Mighty Real[/b]
[b]Long Train/Jagger[/b]
[b]Uptown Funk[/b]
[b]Staying Alive[/b]
[b]You Should Be Dancing[/b]
[b]I Wish[/b]

[/quote]

Let me know if you need a dep.......love that set list!!

We play classic rock with a girlie singer, yes we do bloody sex/mustang/Dakota if needed but also try some other stuff that we think other bands don't play, Patty Smith/Pat Benetar/Heart etc, we also do stuff that is male singer driven but hopefully a bit different, ie Unchain My Heart by Joe Cocker, AC/DC, Springsteen!! We are playing a festival next weekend and we're on about 4th from 6, guaranteed that sex/dakota will have been played once or twice already! I'll be begging my singer not to include them if so, myself and the guitarist hate them with a passion! At least I know the headline band won't be playing them as its my mates band and I know the set list!!!

[Johnm93]

Our band is an originals job, but we run the set on a two of ours; cover; two of ours basis.
The simple reason is, the crowd starts to switch off if they do not hear anything familiar..

[NoirBass]

As someone who plays a lot of function and corporate gigs, I am still stunned that its not understood by other musicians that you have to play songs that the punters want/expect to hear.

As previously stated obscure songs, no matter how good clear dance floors in seconds - sometimes even old chestnuts can!

On the other hand we jokingly played Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight in a soundcheck recently and it received great acclaim from our apparently educated audience.

In order to keep getting repeat bookings you will be required to perform a lot of the same old stuff. Lets hope some new classics get written soon and we can all shuffle Brown Eyed Girl further down the set list pecking order.

Edited July 20, 2015 by NoirBass

[6feet7]

When I left my old covers band (and yes, we played every old cheesy chestnut that's been mentioned so far) to join an originals band (good enough to record a couple of albums and play a festival in California), our old drummers wife said that she wouldn't bother coming to see us as she wouldn't be able to sing along.
Needless to say we don't gig anymore and the guy whose band it is is using session guys to record the next album and it's back to cheesy covers for me if I want to gig.

[mingsta]

Crez5150 that's a great set list.

Out of those tracks, are there any that you think would work with a four piece band? Ie guitar, bass and drums? We'd love to do some more disco/funk tracks but always feel that we'd struggle without the keys.

[bassist_lewis]

It's been said by a few but it comes down to playing playing what people want to hear. As a function/party you're not there to please yourself, you're providing a service, which is get people dancing and frankly people only dance to what they know. I dep occasionally with one band who are a great band - great players, great arrangements and great song choices - and they do try to put some less well treaded material into their set but frankly it's the classics that get people on the dancefloor.

I sometimes refer to some songs as "dad songs": all the dads (by that I mean men, parent or nay) will nod to themselves and think "thats a great song" but they won't get up and dance (and honestly those are normally the songs I'd rather do). Women on the other hand will hear a song they like and dance: get the ladies dancing and the men will follow. I reiterate: you're there to do a job like a plumber or a chef, not to do whatever you want. You wouldn't hire a chef that made duck confit when you asked for beans on toast!

And Mr Brightside is actually quite difficult to play on guitar.