SamIAm Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 I'm looking for some inspiration around putting together a setlist for my band. I'd love to hear what your perform, what goes down well with the punters and is fun to play! S'manth x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Anything from The Trooper to Superstition ( rock version ) The usual rock band classics and crowd pleasers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 2 minutes ago, Smanth said: I'm looking for some inspiration around putting together a setlist for my band. I'd love to hear what your perform, what goes down well with the punters and is fun to play! S'manth x depends what sort of band you are, IMO it's no good trying to please everybody, people get bored with the stuff they don't like, focusing (more or less) on one genre and you'll attract that sort of crowd, for instance Ska is very popular. I'm in a punk band, but we do stray into heavy rock (whole lotta Rosie) and the novelty songs are popular, Jilted John and Nellie the Elephant, basically people love to sing a long and dance, I'm talking about pub gigs btw 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkie635 Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 47 minutes ago, Smanth said: I'm looking for some inspiration around putting together a setlist for my band. I'd love to hear what your perform, what goes down well with the punters and is fun to play! S'manth x Agree with what's been said. Depends on the genre of music, the lineup in your band (sax, keys, Peruvian Nose Flute?), and who you see as your target audience. Might be ballads, rockers, funk, etc. some gigs draw punters who want only songs they know (this depends greatly on the age of the punters - "Who's Paul McCartney?" -What's Greenday?) - other crowds are there to listen to 'originals' . I'd suggest befor learning a million songs and attempting to become a human-jukebox, you/your band, need to give thought to who you're likely to be playing for, where/why you're playing -a dance, pub, background music, etc. - and what you are trying to achieve. If you know the film, you'll remember when the Blues Brothers ended up playing 'Bob's Country Diner'. Your band may be superb in some contexts and struggle in the wrong environment. As said by Paul above, you'll never please everybody. Focus on your 'target' and you should avoid becoming the 'square peg in a round hole'. i distinctly remember, years ago, an unscrupulous 'agent' sent our 'west-coast American' soft rock band to play in a venue, which turned out to be expecting an accordion player and snare-only drummer. As we unloaded a full Transit load of gear, I had a feeling we were in the wrong place. The average age of the audience must have been 60+, so we spent the evening working, not as a band, so much as a group of individuals, coming together in various permutations to provide everything from folk songs, to numbers best described as 'easy listening'. We got away with it, just, but had we been more thorough in ensuring the right genre in front of the right audience, the stress levels would have been much, much lower. Hope this helps you in some way? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boodang Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Our current crowd pleasers that are super fun to play; Chip : The Real McKenzies I'm Shipping up to Boston : Dropkick Murphys Drunken Lazy Bastard : The Mahones I like the last one just for the song title, but all the Boston punk numbers go down well. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 A couple of covers thrown in (in an otherwise originals band) that were very popular with the punters were... "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-las.. and "Carwash" by Rose Royce.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted March 24, 2023 Author Share Posted March 24, 2023 At present it me and a strings player/singer. Current candidate list will be trimmed down from ... ABBA, ‘Dancing Queen’ Aretha Franklin, ‘Respect’ Beach Boys, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ Ben E. King, ‘Stand by Me’ Beyoncé, ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)’ Big Mama Thornton, ‘Hound Dog’ Bill Withers, ‘Lovely Day’ Blondie, ‘Dreaming’ Britney Spears, ‘Toxic’ Buzzcocks, ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ Carly Rae Jepsen, ‘Call Me Maybe’ Chic, ‘Good Times’ Chuck Berry, ‘Johnny B. Goode’ Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams, ‘Get Lucky’ Dolly Parton, ‘Jolene’ Don Henley, ‘Boys of Summer’ Elvis Presley, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ Gloria Gaynor, ‘I Will Survive’ Green Day, ‘Basket Case’ Jet Are you gonna be my girl Joni Mitchell, ‘Both Sides Now’ Leonard Cohen, ‘Hallelujah’ Madonna, ‘Into the Groove’ Madonna, ‘Vogue’ Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, ‘Uptown Funk’ Michael Jackson, ‘Beat It’ Michael Jackson, ‘Billie Jean’ Paul Simon, ‘American Tune’ Prince, ‘Kiss’ Sugar Hill Gang, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ The Beach Boys, ‘Good Vibrations’ The Beatles 8 days a week The Beatles, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ The Beatles, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ The Beatles, ‘Let It Be’ The Beatles, ‘Penny Lane’ The Beatles, ‘She Loves You’ The Beatles, ‘Yesterday’ The Crystals, ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ The Eagles, ‘Hotel California’ The Jackson 5, ‘I Want You Back’ The Kinks, ‘Lola’ The Kinks, ‘You Really Got Me’ The Monkees, ‘I’m a Believer’ The Police, ‘Every Breath You Take’ The Rolling Stones, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ The Rolling Stones, ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ The Rolling Stones, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ The Ronettes, ‘Be My Baby’ Thin Lizzy, ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ U2, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ Ukulele Lady The Jacksons - Blame It On the Boogie 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 A decent set list takes a bit of curation. Stuff that's in your genre/niche/usp that people have heard of but no other bands do. We centre around 70s rock and absolutely refuse to play Mr Brightside, etc. because nearly every other band does that. We venture into funk, pop and prog too - the proggy stuff especially helps us to stand out 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 We're classic rock covers, I'd like to avoid the most hackneyed but we do have Dakota and All Right Now in the set. @Smanth, I've done some songs as bass plus vocals (Mrs Zero doing the vocals) - Stand by me, Fields of gold, and Fever by Peggy Lee. We're also looking at Wicked Game by Chris Isaacs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gasman Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Ukulele Lady as per the Temperance Seven? Wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Dave Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 What's on my set list .............. Footprints and spilled beer mostly ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorkie635 Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Smanth said: At present it me and a strings player/singer. Current candidate list will be trimmed down from ... ABBA, ‘Dancing Queen’ Aretha Franklin, ‘Respect’ Beach Boys, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ Ben E. King, ‘Stand by Me’ Beyoncé, ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)’ Big Mama Thornton, ‘Hound Dog’ Bill Withers, ‘Lovely Day’ Blondie, ‘Dreaming’ Britney Spears, ‘Toxic’ Buzzcocks, ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ Carly Rae Jepsen, ‘Call Me Maybe’ Chic, ‘Good Times’ Chuck Berry, ‘Johnny B. Goode’ Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams, ‘Get Lucky’ Dolly Parton, ‘Jolene’ Don Henley, ‘Boys of Summer’ Elvis Presley, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ Gloria Gaynor, ‘I Will Survive’ Green Day, ‘Basket Case’ Jet Are you gonna be my girl Joni Mitchell, ‘Both Sides Now’ Leonard Cohen, ‘Hallelujah’ Madonna, ‘Into the Groove’ Madonna, ‘Vogue’ Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, ‘Uptown Funk’ Michael Jackson, ‘Beat It’ Michael Jackson, ‘Billie Jean’ Paul Simon, ‘American Tune’ Prince, ‘Kiss’ Sugar Hill Gang, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ The Beach Boys, ‘Good Vibrations’ The Beatles 8 days a week The Beatles, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ The Beatles, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ The Beatles, ‘Let It Be’ The Beatles, ‘Penny Lane’ The Beatles, ‘She Loves You’ The Beatles, ‘Yesterday’ The Crystals, ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ The Eagles, ‘Hotel California’ The Jackson 5, ‘I Want You Back’ The Kinks, ‘Lola’ The Kinks, ‘You Really Got Me’ The Monkees, ‘I’m a Believer’ The Police, ‘Every Breath You Take’ The Rolling Stones, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ The Rolling Stones, ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ The Rolling Stones, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ The Ronettes, ‘Be My Baby’ Thin Lizzy, ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ U2, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ Ukulele Lady The Jacksons - Blame It On the Boogie That's an impressive list. Best of luck in your choices. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackroadkill Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Smanth said: At present it me and a strings player/singer. Current candidate list will be trimmed down from ... ABBA, ‘Dancing Queen’ Aretha Franklin, ‘Respect’ Beach Boys, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ Ben E. King, ‘Stand by Me’ Beyoncé, ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)’ Big Mama Thornton, ‘Hound Dog’ Bill Withers, ‘Lovely Day’ Blondie, ‘Dreaming’ Britney Spears, ‘Toxic’ Buzzcocks, ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ Carly Rae Jepsen, ‘Call Me Maybe’ Chic, ‘Good Times’ Chuck Berry, ‘Johnny B. Goode’ Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams, ‘Get Lucky’ Dolly Parton, ‘Jolene’ Don Henley, ‘Boys of Summer’ Elvis Presley, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ Gloria Gaynor, ‘I Will Survive’ Green Day, ‘Basket Case’ Jet Are you gonna be my girl Joni Mitchell, ‘Both Sides Now’ Leonard Cohen, ‘Hallelujah’ Madonna, ‘Into the Groove’ Madonna, ‘Vogue’ Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, ‘Uptown Funk’ Michael Jackson, ‘Beat It’ Michael Jackson, ‘Billie Jean’ Paul Simon, ‘American Tune’ Prince, ‘Kiss’ Sugar Hill Gang, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ The Beach Boys, ‘Good Vibrations’ The Beatles 8 days a week The Beatles, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ The Beatles, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ The Beatles, ‘Let It Be’ The Beatles, ‘Penny Lane’ The Beatles, ‘She Loves You’ The Beatles, ‘Yesterday’ The Crystals, ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ The Eagles, ‘Hotel California’ The Jackson 5, ‘I Want You Back’ The Kinks, ‘Lola’ The Kinks, ‘You Really Got Me’ The Monkees, ‘I’m a Believer’ The Police, ‘Every Breath You Take’ The Rolling Stones, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ The Rolling Stones, ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ The Rolling Stones, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ The Ronettes, ‘Be My Baby’ Thin Lizzy, ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ U2, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ Ukulele Lady The Jacksons - Blame It On the Boogie Mate, I'd come and see that! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 No Maiden then !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBass Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 We are a punk band/new wave band so all our songs roughly fit into that category. With a previous band we tried Hotel California but it was vetoed by the guitarist as it was him on his own and I think the Eagles had three guitarists, one with a double necked guitar. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 3 hours ago, Smanth said: Current candidate list will be trimmed down from ... That's quite a good mix of songs. I'm in a band that has the standard 2 guitars, bass, drums and keys line up along with three Ukes, a banjo, a sax, trumpet and percussion. We have a similarly varied mix that includes Sloop John B, Then I Kissed Her, Ooh La La, Drift Away, Your Love, Under the Boardwalk and Midnight Hour alongside more rocky songs like Heroes, Dancing in the Dark, Treat Her Right, Have a Nice Day, the Sheryl Crow version of Sweet Child of Mine and Summer of 69. With that band, the ones that get the best reaction (dancing and/or audience participation) are Proud Mary, Dakota, Help Me Rhonda, 500 Miles and Hey Jude. With a previous band doing pub standards we found Mustang Sally would get the ladies up and dancing, Runaround Sue always got a huge positive reaction and Unchain My Heart usually hit the mark. We used to run Dakota into Sex on Fire as a mash-up, and that always got the dance floor bouncing (literally in some cases). Classic rock n roll tunes brought up to date were a surefire winner to wake up the audience at the start of the second half (Twist and Shout into Do You Love Me was popular). It was rare not to be asked to play an Eagles song during a gig. We would do Take it Easy and if we were running out of songs, Lying Eyes (which does go on a bit 😃). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 I don't know why, but "Bad Moon Rising" is a home banker for us - young and old, it always gets some folk up dancing. It's also a piece of proverbial to play, so win-win 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 9 hours ago, BillyBass said: We are a punk band/new wave band so all our songs roughly fit into that category. With a previous band we tried Hotel California but it was vetoed by the guitarist as it was him on his own and I think the Eagles had three guitarists, one with a double necked guitar. We do Hotel California and we have a single guitarist It sounds fine if you adapt the bass line in the chorus and solo to fill it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaypup Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 For my funk/Latin/jazz band we change 50% of the set every gig but here's the latest iteration (the last 2 tracks are to go with a separate performance so not part of the set) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Both my bands play mostly songs that they have written themselves. However we do a few covers: In Isolation play "She's In Parties" which we have very much made our own and more conventional versions of "Alice" and "Just Like Heaven" Hurtsfall currently have "Enola Gay" in our set list which is played relatively straight apart from the Peter Hook style bass solo during the instrumental verse and a cheeky drop of the "Da Da Da" Casio VL-Tone rhythm in the break down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBass Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, BassAdder60 said: We do Hotel California and we have a single guitarist It sounds fine if you adapt the bass line in the chorus and solo to fill it out Our guitarist was firm about not wanting a second guitarist but he was a rhythm guitarist trying to do lead and I think instead of putting the effort in to adapt he would veto stuff he found difficult. Edited March 25, 2023 by BillyBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martthebass Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Definitely hard to please everyone with a generic set list. IMHO best to try not to score the full house on cover band bingo though. My last but one band was a 60s/70s covers band and I definitely grew weary of trying to cop gigs and please audiences. I’ve found it much easier in the Glam rock themed band I’m now in, does what it says on the tin and very very rarely get asked for Sex on Fire..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewine Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 4 hours ago, martthebass said: Definitely hard to please everyone with a generic set list. IMHO best to try not to score the full house on cover band bingo though. My last but one band was a 60s/70s covers band and I definitely grew weary of trying to cop gigs and please audiences. I’ve found it much easier in the Glam rock themed band I’m now in, does what it says on the tin and very very rarely get asked for Sex on Fire..... Set list ? Whatever the BL calls out. Blue 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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