Barking Spiders Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 (edited) Just wondering what the reaction from punters might have been if you played anything by Alice in Chains, Cure etc. Or do landlords rule out anything like that from the off? Edited May 17 by Barking Spiders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 Does 'Dead Flowers' by the Stones count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHM Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 +1 for Dead Flowers. How about Cocaine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 I'm in France; a lot of the repertoire I've played over the years is in English. A lot of the audience don't understand what the lyrics are, and don't really listen to 'em. They just dance, locking into the ambience more than absorbing the poetry. It's not the same as listening at home to a disk that's been bought, and being played, whilst reading the sleeve notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 Tainted Love and Paranoid - both have very negative lyrics. We also play an Oasis song, and they're all f*cking depressing. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumOne Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 Played Radiohead 'no surprises' a couple of times, it sounded good in rehearsals but it killed any live mood (even early in the set) so we dropped it. I suppose it depends on the gig and the audience. Radiohead sell out stadiums with people wanting to hear it, but with a local band at a pub on a Saturday night there are different expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 So that will include everything that comes under the banner of 'blues'... well for me personally! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 One person's 'miserable and depressing' is another person's 'sad and emotive'. Good job the folks at Hammersmith Odeon didn't rule out Bonnie Raitt singing 'I Can't Make You Love Me' otherwise I'd have missed the finest live performance of any song I've ever heard. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 Creep. The audience love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 I think the only song I’ve played where the material was like this was one in my old band. It was still a full on punk song but the lyrics were quite dark, it was about those rat-faced scum that killed Sophie Lancaster & her boyfriend just because they were different. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 We have played a few Cure songs, but mostly the quicker bouncier stuff. Never enough is my favourite but not a massive crowd pleaser. Pearl Jam Alive and Jeremy aren’t happy by any stretch but always go down well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 (edited) In a previous band we played O.V. Wright's 'Eight Men and Four Women.' During the break between sets, one punter felt the need to come up to the singer and tell him it made him want to slash his wrists. We dropped it from the setlist for the next gig. Edited May 18 by Jean-Luc Pickguard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveXFR Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 I played in a doom band, all our songs were miserable (except the one about alien lizard people). It goes down great for the right audience. Alice In Chains will go down well in any metal/rock gig. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 Morrisey has entered the thread…. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 If I'm honest I play in a tribute band which is 'probably' best known for having a big hit with the poppiest/bubblegum sweet song ever... I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick); yet that song is about unrequited love AND that is about as light as that band get! They have songs about suicide, STD, murders, sexual grooming, male prostitution, depression, mental illness, drug abuse. Literally every song is 'dark' if not depressing... and I LOVE playing them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 (edited) I used to be in a band that did Radiohead High and Dry, and the eternally depressing Snow Patrol “Run” which was guaranteed to clear any dancefloor. Edited May 18 by bassbiscuits 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 QReminds me we had to play Moon River for a 50th wedding anniversary. Rock drummer with no concept of 6/8. "That's 2/4 init?" Anyway, he bought us in in 4/4, and the guitarist somehow managed to play it in 4/4 as well. Car crash, how they managed to dance to it I'll never know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 I don't care about the words, I always play happy bass lines. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 I used to play in a band that had ‘I get the blues when it rains’ in its repertoire. And whenever we played at a wedding we always insisted on playing ‘Who’s sorry now’. No point in raising expectations unduly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 We used to do the Kaiser Chief's Everyday I love you Less and Less...for some reason every time we were asked to do a wedding the brides and grooms always put it in the set list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 My band used to play Tito and Turantula's 'Strange Face Of Love'. Tito and Turantula are a Mexican/American goth band who were the house band at 'The Titty Twister' bar in From Dusk Til Dawn (think Sema Hayak's dance with the Boa Constrictor). I used to love playing it but it tended to leave the audience a bit shell shocked and confused, considering that most of the rest of the set were danceable crowd pleaser stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilorius Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 I have played a lot of depressing songs for me, but no other choice - You have to play them, or not get the money. Just play them and forget about it, get the money and it's ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 On 17/05/2024 at 17:44, Barking Spiders said: Just wondering what the reaction from punters might have been if you played anything by Alice in Chains, Cure etc. Or do landlords rule out anything like that from the off? Sometimes it can be good, but I wouldn't make a habit of playing depressing songs in a pub, as people generally go there to have a nice time. Whenever I see a "singer songwriter" type with their acoustic guitar my spidey sense tingles, because far too many just spew "deep" dirge song after song and it would definitely make me want to relocate to happier venue for my libations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 3 minutes ago, mcnach said: Whenever I see a "singer songwriter" type with their acoustic guitar my spidey sense tingles, because far too many just spew "deep" dirge song after song and it would definitely make me want to relocate to happier venue for my libations. As soon as they start the chat between songs, why they wrote it, what it means to them - I'm off. Why do they ALL do that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted May 19 Share Posted May 19 1 hour ago, Mykesbass said: As soon as they start the chat between songs, why they wrote it, what it means to them - I'm off. Why do they ALL do that? It's because they have no friends, and definitely no friends who enjoy being with them and playing their music. That would make me sad too. Might be a catch 22 situatuon though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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