Name and shame setlist howlers.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

OK, I'll go with 'the bass is very quiet'... certainly the lowest part of the mix, but oddly it's the part everyone remembers.

It's a song Mrs Zero and I used to do as a bass and vocals number.

[Stub Mandrel]

I've hit a raw nerve with this one. Surely it's Ben E. King's vocals that make the song.

I really don't see what's so special about the bassline, just a simple walking line like the joggers in the park that go round and round and round...

[TrevorR]

5 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I think it is a myth that most audiences don't want to hear new material - certainly outside of the birthsdays/weddings/ etc.

I've yet to meet someone from a covers band that doesn't say 'we slipped in a couple of our own songs and they went down surprisingly well'.

Both the 'originals' bands I was in went down at least as well as the covers band I was in too.

Completely agree but that is fundamentally different from saying “why on earth would a band choose to do band X’s most popular/well known song?” which was kinda the inference in what the OP said. Actually, it didn’t infer it, it pretty much said it flat out.

 

Edit: I will concede, though, that Rosie isn’t actually AC:DC’s most popular. It’s only it’s 2nd most popular. It was 1st when I was growing up but then they released Back In Black.

Edited April 5, 2019 by TrevorR

[TrevorR]

23 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

My lips are sealed, mate. 😀

 

edit: Oh yeah, that was Fun Boy Three. Same thing though. My version sounds more like the bananas.

edit edit: I meant The Go-Gos.

Don’t worry mate,it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it!

[Maude]

One of my bands does;

Britney Spears - Toxic, 

Beyoncé - Crazy in Love, 

Girls Aloud - Love Machine, 

Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl, 

and I'm on doublebass. No that's correct, I have no shame 😁

[casapete]

3 hours ago, Maude said:

One of my bands does;

Britney Spears - Toxic, 

Beyoncé - Crazy in Love, 

Girls Aloud - Love Machine, 

Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl, 

and I'm on doublebass. No that's correct, I have no shame 😁

Sounds like a lot of fun to me.....

[BreadBin]

Regarding Whole Lotta Rosie - it's not like the entire crowd chants the guitarist's name during the intro or anything is it? Why would anyone think that would go down well?*

 

 

*Bad News being the exception, obviously.

[gt4ever]

I love throwing pop songs into a set, playing them a bit harder and funkier.  Enjoy throwing in a bit of Katie Perry myself 😜

[Maude]

7 hours ago, casapete said:

Sounds like a lot of fun to me.....

It's immense fun and always goes down well, along with stuff from Yazoo, Eurythmics, Duran Duran and other bands well known for their use of doublebass . 

We'll be debuting our version of 'Be The One' by Dua Lipa tonight which is working really well. 😁

In regards to 'bad' songs, a lot of simple to play stuff is the stuff the crowd loves the most. Two hours of fretboard wizardry might be fun to play but maybe not to watch or listen/dance to for pub/club goers, they're probably not muso's after all and just want some easy good fun. 

I'm off to learn Waterfront 😉

[Stub Mandrel]

I wonder if there's a market for a Spinal Tap tribute?

There are more than a few people out there who secretly think Stonehenge is a true classic 🙂

[Paul S]

Its all about context isn't it.  In my little band we play a highly respectable 2 guitar version of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' which I would personally listen to all day (slimmed down to a streamlined 6 mins) and which usually draws a little applause from the odd bloke at the back.  We follow it with 'Walk Like An Egyptian', which I would probably switch off if it came on the radio, and that generally gets the whole pub going.  

[peety]

My two pet hates Sit Down and Dancing in the Moonlight unfortunately everyone appears to love them , so we always seem to have to play them , Sit Down especially appears to make sensible people behave totally out of carachter and sit on the floor in the middle of a crowded pub !!! 

Toploader to me is just mind numbingly boring but maybe it's just me 

[chris_b]

27 minutes ago, peety said:

Toploader to me is just mind numbingly boring but maybe it's just me 

I understand, but when we are playing in a band we have 3 things to do: play our instrument well, play in the band well and play the songs that an audience wants to hear. There is only one of those that is important for an audience. There are songs I play that I like and songs I definitely don't like, but whichever one is liked by the audience will have my vote to get into the set.

If you are good enough you can make an audience like what you are playing but most semi-pro bands aren't that good or interesting enough, so covers it is. The era of self-indulgent bands has long gone. Ignore your audience and you'd be better restricting your playing to rehearsal rooms or taking up golf.

If we're not putting bums on seats, or selling beer (however you want to describe it) were are failing as entertainers, because and at the semi-pro level that is what our job is. . .  entertainment and sales.

[Stub Mandrel]

33 minutes ago, chris_b said:

If you are good enough you can make an audience like what you are playing but most semi-pro bands aren't that good or interesting enough, so covers it is. The era of self-indulgent bands has long gone. Ignore your audience and you'd be better restricting your playing to rehearsal rooms or taking up golf

I find this really sad if it's true. I don't think it's self-indulgent to perform your own material even if you aren't the beatles.

[peteb]

36 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I understand, but when we are playing in a band we have 3 things to do: play our instrument well, play in the band well and play the songs that an audience wants to hear. There is only one of those that is important for an audience. There are songs I play that I like and songs I definitely don't like, but whichever one is liked by the audience will have my vote to get into the set.

If you are good enough you can make an audience like what you are playing but most semi-pro bands aren't that good or interesting enough, so covers it is. The era of self-indulgent bands has long gone. Ignore your audience and you'd be better restricting your playing to rehearsal rooms or taking up golf.

If we're not putting bums on seats, or selling beer (however you want to describe it) were are failing as entertainers, because and at the semi-pro level that is what our job is. . .  entertainment and sales.

I have to disagree, to an extent. 

Our job is, first and foremost, to entertain. However, there has never been a great band (even at a covers level) that doesn't have an element of self-indulgence. Of course, there is a line - no one wants to hear a seven minute bass solo version of Chromatic Fantasy at a wedding gig, no matter how good you are! But as you say, the better you are the more you can get away with. 

It helps if you can judge things on their own merits and not get too precious - for example, I quite like that Toploader song...

Edited April 6, 2019 by peteb

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

Its all about context isn't it.

Entirely context, a pub needs something with a bit of life to it, which is why I hate the slow blues tracks that pub groups always want to throw in. Unless it is a blues night or you are really exceptionally good, there isn't much scope for that in a pub.

[peteb]

5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I find this really sad if it's true. I don't think it's self-indulgent to perform your own material even if you aren't the beatles.

It depends where you are playing. It is self-indulgent to play a set full of unknown original material on a pub gig where the audience wants to hear classic rock (or whatever) covers...

[chris_b]

9 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I don't think it's self-indulgent to perform your own material even if you aren't the beatles.

Depends on how good you are at writing songs and where you are playing.

Playing to impress yourself is a totally different thing to playing to an audience. Especially if you are expecting someone else to pay you.

[tauzero]

15 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I've hit a raw nerve with this one. Surely it's Ben E. King's vocals that make the song.

I really don't see what's so special about the bassline, just a simple walking line like the joggers in the park that go round and round and round...

There's nothing special about the bassline. You've just downplayed its significance enormously, as it forms the backbone of the accompaniment, not to mention introducing the entire accompaniment motif on its own. Like I said, I play it as a bass and vocals number - it wouldn't sound anything like as good if it was played as guitar and vocals.

[Stub Mandrel]

27 minutes ago, peteb said:

It depends where you are playing. It is self-indulgent to play a set full of unknown original material on a pub gig where the audience wants to hear classic rock (or whatever) covers...

Back in the early 90s I played loads of pub + small club gigs all original material. All-cover and tribute bands were much less common.

Perhaps expectations were different then?

[Stub Mandrel]

24 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by Stub Mandrel

[Stub Mandrel]

25 minutes ago, tauzero said:

There's nothing special about the bassline. You've just downplayed its significance enormously, as it forms the backbone of the accompaniment, not to mention introducing the entire accompaniment motif on its own. Like I said, I play it as a bass and vocals number - it wouldn't sound anything like as good if it was played as guitar and vocals.

During an interview with Spinner UK, King was asked if he had any favorite cover versions of this song. He replied: "...And, of course, the one that held up in my head the most was John Lennon's version. He took it and made it as if it should have been his song as opposed to mine."

 

[No lust in Jazz]

In one of my current bands the band leader(s) make odd choices of material, I have offered that the mid 90's album track by a band that I or no one else that I know has heard of, is a poor choice in a 20 song set, so all I can do is play it well and with conviction, they get the gigs, do the promotion and pay me - so I don't worry too much about it, at the end of the day its just opinions.

[peteb]

47 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Back in the early 90s I played loads of pub + small club gigs all original material. All-cover and tribute bands were much less common.

Perhaps expectations were different then?

Very much so 

[uk_lefty]

7 hours ago, Paul S said:

We follow it with 'Walk Like An Egyptian', which I would probably switch off if it came on the radio, and that generally gets the whole pub going.  

Damnit I was learning that... Because our guitarist now has an Egyptian girlfriend..... Oh yeah, and we play lots of 80's songs. But mainly because of the guitarist.