Setlists...Rotating, Revising, ect ect

[Mackovyak]

I don't think this topic was hit on...

I played my first show in South Carolina last night...not bad, went over well for being the 'new guy.'

I took about 6 months off from playing before that and when I was working on my set I began to wonder.....'I'm only doing 2 or shows or so a month anymore, b/c I'm concentrating on working as an engineer more."

Realistically, how often do you revamp a setlist. For a while I just did the request thing, and would learn new songs each week to keep up with requests, but I was playing every week at the same venue.

I have a songlist of 200 songs, some of which honestly I don't even know if I remember the whole thing....

But I'm starting over in a new area again and I'm trying to figure out exactly how to approach this one and be taken seriously.

The 'Human Jukebox' is a hard position b/c obviously everyone can't possibly sing everything well and the common crowd doesn't realise that.

So what I'm getting at is

Do I just stick it out try requests, butcher some not others? Do I go through, find the songs I do best and stick with that set since it's only twice a week? How often do you add new songs? When do you feel it's time to 'retire' a song?

[songsmith]

Solo-wise, I play what the Book of the Dog says to. (The Book of the Dog is my lyric book, with pictures of my dogs on the cover. ) I seldom change the order those songs are in, because I never really play them in order anyway. I also fake a verse and chorus of a song if it looks like a tip, and don't need to see lyrics to every song, so I throw those in as well.
Band-wise, I get in trouble for staying with a setlist too long... the band gets bored. I like to find a good formula, that allows nice flow and isn't hard to sing, and stick with that, but I'm not the only cat in the band, so it changes periodically.------>JMS

[bassist_25]

Rob creates a new setlist before every gig. Different things determine how it's structured, usually the venue we're playing. It's all about understanding demographics. Nothing about the setlist is written in stone. Often times, if it looks like a slow song will clear the dance floor, we'll skip it or do it during another part of the show. We'll do the opposite if it looks like the people want a slow number. Also, if an 80's tune does really well, we may launch into another 80's tune to keep people on the floor. It's also important to note that while Rob doesn't play an instrument, he has to be conscious of what tuning each song is in. old sKool brings four guitars to every show, each in a different tuning (and two of them have Floyd Rose systems, so he can't just retune on the fly). The setlist has to take all of the tunings into account. I play a five string, so it doesn't matter, but old sKool has to switch instruments. The setlist can't have one song in standard, then one in drop D, then one in drop C#; they have to be clumped together.

We've went and learned songs that have been constantly requested. We learned Killin' in the Name by RATM. Every band out there seems to cover it. There's probaly polka bands out there covering Killin' in the Name, but we took the hint and learned it. Generally, we learn songs on our own and put them together on stage. We all live in four different counties, so rehearsal doesn't happen very often. I think our last rehearsal was in February. We usually cut the weaker songs and keep the strong ones. It's up to Rob to let us know if a song's in his range or not, but I'm pretty objective on other things such as if a song has too much harmony work or if the song would be difficult to replicate with a single guitar.

[HurricaneBob]

Whats this setlist you all talk of ?

[Ron]

ROFL

[facingwest]

There are songs in this world that no matter how much you try to bury them, they seem to come back and haunt you. I have nightmares about Alabama, yet I've never been there. Caroline isn't so sweet anymore. The girls brown eye is about to become black.

[Mackovyak]

How often do you all practice some of the older songs in your reptiore (sp?) if you're not playing them every week?

[RobTheDrummer]

Whats this setlist you all talk of ?

Otherwise known as Felix......oh wait, you guys don't need a setlist becuase it's always the same.

When I was with IN, we arranged the set to the venue like paul was sayin. But most of the time it was the same stuff over and over, just in a different order. Sometimes the poppier stuff early and rock later, heavy at the end of the night, it all depends on if people are gonna be dancing early or not. Some songs are simply filler at times, just to take up space i guess...at least it seemed that way at times.

[ZappasXWife]

Hey Hurricane, wonder what they mean by 'practice' too?