Critique my new bands songlist

[AdamMeinerding]

Hey guys. It looks like I'm a first time poster, but I've actually been here for 6 years and I forgot my damn password and stuff to the point of just not being able to sign in! I was dingman or something I don't remember..

Anyway, I just quit my classic rock band because an old friend and I are putting a project together. He sings, plays acoustic, and also plays harmonica. Great singer with some soul. Very excited. We're playing venues from college bars, to hip ass places, to hole in the wall places in weird farm towns! I'm singing about a third of the covers and singing harmony on the majority.

1. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
2. Carole King - So far away
3. Steve Miller Band- Joker (key of C)
4. Box Tops- The Letter (F#m)
5. Temptations- My gal (G)
6. Dobie Gray- Drift (E)
7. Eric Clapton - Layla (orig. key, acoustic vers.)
8. Marvin Gaye - Grapevine (Gm)
9. Hall + Oates - Sarah Smile (Am)
10. Pure Prairie- Amie (orig key)
11. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash (E blues)
12. Brown Eyed Girl - Van More is Hand (Adam)
13. You Don't Know How it Feels - Petty orig key
14. Dust on the Bottle (Adam)
15. Come Together - Beatles (trade verses)
16. Every Rose Has its Thorn - Poison (Adam) G MAJOR (Adam)
17. The Way – Fastball (Adam)
18. Sweet Home Alabama (Adam)
19. Sweet Caroline
20. I kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
21. 867-5309 (Adam)
22. The Weight
23. Blister in the Sun (Adam)
24. My Girl
25. Hold My Hand (Adam)
26. Sweater Song (Adam)
27. Sex and candy
28. Save Tonight
29. The One I Love
30. Honky Tonk Woman
31. Tiny Dancer (Adam)
32. Your Song
33. All my Loving (in B)
34. Dangerous - Akon
35. Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Adam)
36. If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys
37. Yellow (Adam)
38. Your Body is a Wonderland
39. You and Me - DMB
40. Need You Now – Lady Antebelum (Eric and Adam love duo)

 

[Marginal Tom]

Songs 5 and 24 look suspiciously similar.

 

[jelwood]

Buh buh buh BAD RO-mayance

I like the acoustic cover of Layla. Always wanted to do that one. Come Together, too!

 

[alembicguy]

40 songs is cutting it close for a 4 set average bar gig.

 

[AdamMeinerding]

40 songs is cutting it close for a 4 set average bar gig.

We're also playing 10-15 originals.

 

[BrBss]

I'd get rid of #1 and #20

 

[countrybass007]

Lady GaGa??? Otherwise it looks like a good list.

 

[AdamMeinerding]

Songs 5 and 24 look suspiciously similar.

Oh boy... I can't believe you noticed that, but that is a very wise observation. Most of those songs are in G or closely related keys to G. Might need to think abotu that one...

 

[AdamMeinerding]

The I Kissed a Girl is a little running joke. We've played that song since it came out it a slower style with a guy with a baritone voice singing it.

Lady Gaga is just giving in to the demands of people haha. We'll make it fun.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Hey guys. It looks like I'm a first time poster, but I've actually been here for 6 years and I forgot my damn password and stuff to the point of just not being able to sign in! I was dingman or something I don't remember..

Anyway, I just quit my classic rock band because an old friend and I are putting a project together. He sings, plays acoustic, and also plays harmonica. Great singer with some soul. Very excited. We're playing venues from college bars, to hip ass places, to hole in the wall places in weird farm towns! I'm singing about a third of the covers and singing harmony on the majority.

1. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
2. Carole King - So far away
3. Steve Miller Band- Joker (key of C)
4. Box Tops- The Letter (F#m)
5. Temptations- My gal (G)
6. Dobie Gray- Drift (E)
7. Eric Clapton - Layla (orig. key, acoustic vers.)
8. Marvin Gaye - Grapevine (Gm)
9. Hall + Oates - Sarah Smile (Am)
10. Pure Prairie- Amie (orig key)
11. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash (E blues)
12. Brown Eyed Girl - Van More is Hand (Adam)
13. You Don't Know How it Feels - Petty orig key
14. Dust on the Bottle (Adam)
15. Come Together - Beatles (trade verses)
16. Every Rose Has its Thorn - Poison (Adam) G MAJOR (Adam)
17. The Way – Fastball (Adam)
18. Sweet Home Alabama (Adam)
19. Sweet Caroline
20. I kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
21. 867-5309 (Adam)
22. The Weight
23. Blister in the Sun (Adam)
24. My Girl
25. Hold My Hand (Adam)
26. Sweater Song (Adam)
27. Sex and candy
28. Save Tonight
29. The One I Love
30. Honky Tonk Woman
31. Tiny Dancer (Adam)
32. Your Song
33. All my Loving (in B)
34. Dangerous - Akon
35. Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Adam)
36. If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys
37. Yellow (Adam)
38. Your Body is a Wonderland
39. You and Me - DMB
40. Need You Now – Lady Antebelum (Eric and Adam love duo)

i'm not the guy to tell you which ones will git'em up dancin'....but if i was to pick a few,i might swap sweet home alabama for something like that smell,gimme three steps,or i know a little.....if you have a girl that sings,consider the gladys knight version of "grapevine".....solitary man (chris isaak) for sweet caroline,panama red for amie,midnight train to georgia,or rainy night in georgia (tony joe white)for drift away,and change it by stevie ray instead of every thorn,funeral for a friend/love lies bleeding for tiny dancer.....or something from tumbleweed connection for some real elton john,can't get next to you for my gal....get ready(rare earth) for the joker.....

 

[Bassdirty]

Depends on where your playin...

for college crowd gigs...you need more songs like #1 and #20.

If your playin "farm towns"...stick with classic rock.

thats what my band does...


we have songs from lady gaga/katy perry/ ke$ha...all that stuff...
and we also do Guns n Roses/ozzy/queen/godsmack..depends on the gig...you HAVE to plan your setlists accordingly...then again play off the crowd....some wanna dance...some just want hard rock....

some wanna dance to classic rock.

Overall you got a good mix, but you need more of each type...just to be prepared.

 

[hrodbert696]

I'd keep the Lady GaGa - doing something that recognizable in a different vein (as I kind of assume you are) could be a kick. I'm wondering about the katy perry, though -- "I kissed a girl" doesn't have the same impact sung by a guy.

Looks like a very eclectic mix, which means either "something for everybody" or "everybody hates half the list." Best of luck!

 

[newwavefrank]

Hey guys. It looks like I'm a first time poster, but I've actually been here for 6 years and I forgot my damn password and stuff to the point of just not being able to sign in! I was dingman or something I don't remember..

Anyway, I just quit my classic rock band because an old friend and I are putting a project together. He sings, plays acoustic, and also plays harmonica. Great singer with some soul. Very excited. We're playing venues from college bars, to hip ass places, to hole in the wall places in weird farm towns! I'm singing about a third of the covers and singing harmony on the majority.

1. Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
2. Carole King - So far away
3. Steve Miller Band- Joker (key of C)
4. Box Tops- The Letter (F#m)
5. Temptations- My gal (G)
6. Dobie Gray- Drift (E)
7. Eric Clapton - Layla (orig. key, acoustic vers.)
8. Marvin Gaye - Grapevine (Gm)
9. Hall + Oates - Sarah Smile (Am)
10. Pure Prairie- Amie (orig key)
11. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash (E blues)
12. Brown Eyed Girl - Van More is Hand (Adam)
13. You Don't Know How it Feels - Petty orig key
14. Dust on the Bottle (Adam)
15. Come Together - Beatles (trade verses)
16. Every Rose Has its Thorn - Poison (Adam) G MAJOR (Adam)
17. The Way – Fastball (Adam)
18. Sweet Home Alabama (Adam)
19. Sweet Caroline
20. I kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
21. 867-5309 (Adam)
22. The Weight
23. Blister in the Sun (Adam)
24. My Girl
25. Hold My Hand (Adam)
26. Sweater Song (Adam)
27. Sex and candy
28. Save Tonight
29. The One I Love
30. Honky Tonk Woman
31. Tiny Dancer (Adam)
32. Your Song
33. All my Loving (in B)
34. Dangerous - Akon
35. Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Adam)
36. If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys
37. Yellow (Adam)
38. Your Body is a Wonderland
39. You and Me - DMB
40. Need You Now – Lady Antebelum (Eric and Adam love duo)

I regularly go through my own set list and rank all the songs on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is "guaranteed to get people up dancing". 2 is "usually gets more people on the floor". 3 "keeps people on the dance floor" 4 "Not everyone will sit" 5 "clears the floor". In my opinion, i can find more 5's than 1's on your list. I would be hard pressed to find 4 or 5 1's, and I would have to be in a generous mood. I also have a hard time figuring out what kind of band you are. Of course, I have never subscribed to the "something for everyone" method of designing a set list. At BEST, it makes for a mediocre band. I like a band to have a style.

 

[ric stave]

The best thing to do is not just ask here, but play em out and pay attention to the reactions - if it don't go over, axe it. Not after just one show, but in a couple different places/types of shows.

When my drummer and I started our disco/dance band, we put together a list of songs, and then did some research - went out to see other bands playing similar stuff. There were certain songs that we might've THOUGHT were cool, but after seeing other bands play the same song and people leaving the dance floor, we knew to chop it.

Then after you're out playing, when you start getting requests for the same song (that you don't do) over and over, it's probably time to put that one in.