Do You Hate Your Playlist?

[basscapes]

Some songs I LOVE to play. Other songs, I would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Rehearsal Dungeon to even get the chances down.

When the gig calls though, you gotta suffer. After all, some in the band might have the some of the songs you (or I) might have on that list too!

 

[RichardW]

After 10 years in the band, I've only put my foot down one time about a song that I simply did not want to spend two seconds learning to play. Otherwise, I love our repertoire, which is now over 300 songs. Some are more interesting/fun than others, but as long as the audience digs it who cares? Each gig we try to add about 1/3 new tunes, with 1/3 in heavy rotation, and 1/3 older stuff we haven't played in a while. It keeps things fresh. I also have a voice in selecting new material, though our BL is the generally the final arbiter.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

We really need to start tracking what hits where and build our set lists around response at certain venues - something I'll start doing soon.

Bingo. We don't have a huge book--generally about 60 tunes in rotation--but our BL does tailor sets to fit the venue/audience. Works!

In general: I'll play any damn thing if it gets people on the dance floor. As mentioned elsewhere, it's not about what I like. It's about what they like.

 

[mikeyjm2]

I can't really add anything which hasn't already been said, but it is good to read that a lot of you are feeling the same way as me regarding set lists. Yeah, I think ours are getting stale. Regardless, I do enjoy being in band(s) and try to focus on that aspect.

 

[TheLowDown33]

I currently play in a top 40 cover band that is growing exponentially fast...like within a year we're already getting booked at casinos in Atlantic City. Our set is rock solid in terms of audience approval. There's not a single song on there that people don't know. To pick songs, we essentially go on spotify and see if it's in the top 5 most played, and if it's not it doesnt even make the cut. After that, we'll make a schedule to learn them and pick gigs to introduce them. The following practice after a gig, we take a minute to talk about which songs did/didnt do well and why. If a song gets brought up twice, its put into retirement right then and there.

 

[NathOBX]

I don't love all of the tunes we play, but the couple that I truly hate are good crowd pleasers so I suck it up. Playing fun stuff like Brandy and I Want You Back make up for 500 Miles by the Proclaimers.

F yeah Brandy and I want you back!!! Back to the OP, the three hour setup would have been a dealbreaker from the get go. The band I play in can do it in 15-20min when pressed.

 

[lbbc]

I am the Bassist, BL, own the PA and book gigs. There are some songs on our list I hate to play, but the crowds love them so, I suck it up and perform like they're my favorite songs. It's the same for the other 2 members of my band but we know we're getting paid to perform and do so.
There have been other songs I love but get no response...they are off rotation on our set list. We are a classic rock, motown, pop country band (which seems to fit best for our geographic location)

 

[lbbc]

I am the Bassist, BL, own the PA and book gigs. There are some songs on our list I hate to play, but the crowds love them so, I suck it up and perform like they're my favorite songs. It's the same for the other 2 members of my band but we know we're getting paid to perform and do so.
There have been other songs I love but get no response...they are off rotation on our set list. We are a classic rock, motown, pop country band (which seems to fit best for our geographic location)

AND we decided a long time ago to play to the crowd...but we've picked our crowd (wineries, breweries, distilleries, happy hour crowds and private events that primarily cater to 40+ year old patrons)

 

[FerK]

Love how the_home put it: "Been there... quit that.".

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I currently play in a top 40 cover band that is growing exponentially fast...like within a year we're already getting booked at casinos in Atlantic City. Our set is rock solid in terms of audience approval. There's not a single song on there that people don't know. To pick songs, we essentially go on spotify and see if it's in the top 5 most played, and if it's not it doesnt even make the cut. After that, we'll make a schedule to learn them and pick gigs to introduce them. The following practice after a gig, we take a minute to talk about which songs did/didnt do well and why. If a song gets brought up twice, its put into retirement right then and there.

That's the way ya do it! As an aside--we've been offered casino gigs (Foxwoods, Mohican Sun) but our friends who play those places say it's a very strange vibe. I'd be happy to take their money anyway, but our BL says we need a crowd that is there for us, not the gaming. I don't really have an opinion, just an observation.

 

[JRA]

Do You Hate Your Playlist?

event band:
maybe some, just because everything is generally 'predictable'.

jazz band:
yes, sometimes, because it's 'too comfortable'.
no, because the audience likes it and we get to jam on a bunch of the tunes.

as it turns out: i've loved/hated just about every tune i've ever played equally. and that includes a fairly large book of my own tunes!

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

This is precisely why I play originals. If I’m going to play self indulgent music nobody wants to hear, it will be my own, dammit.

 

[delta7fred]

Most of our setlist is songs I wouldn't sit down and listen to (except for when I was learning them), some I hate listening to but are crowd pleasers so I play them and enjoy it.

When my current band started our singer picked quite a few slower songs for us to learn, when the drummer and I protested he would say "but they are good songs and everybody knows them". While this was generally true most were not songs that you could dance to so cleared the dance floor, they very soon got dropped and over time he has suggested less and less of them.

One good thing about our band is that if we have a lull in gigs we learn new material and regularly rotate songs so they don't get stale.

 

[LBS-bass]

One of my secondary projects involves a group of musicians who all have other bands in town. The goal of this group is to do nothing but silly, crowd pleasing songs that will get us booked into every beer joint within a 40 mile radius. We are deliberately loading up the setlist with a bunch of stuff that most musicians don't want to play but we know the audience will love. But we're doing it all acoustic, with an Americana feel.

There are lots of songs that have been done to death. I have zero interest in ever playing Brown-Eyed Girl again. But I might not mind doing a bluegrass version of it, if it brings audience energy out and gets people dancing and singing along. Because when the audience is engaged, all that other stuff doesn't matter. When you're playing covers, that's when it's fun.

 

[mrcbass]

If you want to play the music that will appeal to your own demographic, you'll join a legion of bands that are playing stuff audiences don't really care about anymore, and you won't have much work. There are more ads for non working "southern or classic" rock bands on Craigslist than you can imagine. Some of them are trying to find work, so you're competing with all of that, and vying for an audience that doesn't go out anymore. Full disclosure: I will be 60 in April.

What your band is doing is trying to find a way to give a randomly thrown together audience a little bit of everything, which is not a bad strategy if you're doing weddings, private parties, festivals and other functions where your audience is likely to be diverse in age and background. That's actually a pretty good way to go if you want to be able to charge a premium for your services.

So I'm going to suggest that maybe you look at this from a purely technical viewpoint. If there are songs the singer can't sing, or songs that sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks when they're capo'ed up to the singer's range, those might need to go. But other than that, this seems more like a decision for you to make as to whether you'll be happier doing a classic rock band that probably won't work very much or sticking with this mix that's more likely to be called in for a situation where diverse music is appropriate.

I'm the opposite of you, I think. I am completely sick of bands doing the music I grew up with. But I also don't want to play a lot of newer music, so I play in an originals band that writes really poppy and accessible tunes, and I do a few other odd projects on the side that are purely for fun, playing standards and stuff. I'm not expecting to make much money with it, but it keeps me happy, musically speaking.

Thanks for your insight. I'm new to the bar scene, so anything I say about what "they" want to hear is purely speculative right now with just four gigs under my belt. I haven't frequented the night life in nearly 30 years as a consumer. My concept isn't necessarily to play what appeals to me - I'm in an originals jazz fusion band for that. 3/4 of our playlist wouldn't be on my personal mp3 playlist if not for being in bands. I get that a lot of music from our youths (I'm a month older than you) has been played to death, but I gotta say that that seems to be the material in our playlist that gets the most obvious interest from our crowds - and I personally don't mind playing most of the 70s classic rock catalog. It's when it shifts into the 80s stuff that I really don't care for - the soul of the music seems to disappear (at least for me) as we cross into that end of classic rock (steady running eighth notes will do that to a song). I don't mind playing stuff I don't care for if the crowd digs it, but so far I haven't seen more than 6 people on a dance floor at one time, so not much to go by.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

F yeah Brandy and I want you back!!! Back to the OP, the three hour setup would have been a dealbreaker from the get go. The band I play in can do it in 15-20min when pressed.

Yes, those are fun as hell, and people like them so doubly-good!

I thought the same thing, 3 hour set up? I wonder if that's because they are using "older" PA gear with seperate amps and crossovers or if it's just a huge PA? The fastest I've been forced to connect our PA and get going was 25 minutes and I didn't enjoy that. We usually schedule 2 hours just to have the time to hang out after it's all done and checked.

 

[sean_on_bass]

My last two main groups(one was a spinoff of the first) had alot of trouble reinventing the song list after the initial year of the band's existence. It was like pulling teeth to get new stuff added. Also, the same lame duck tunes the band first learned just never seemed to go away even though they never got a good audience reaction. I think that would wear on anyone after awhile and is a big reason why i had to part ways with the group.

I am now essentially freelancing(jazz gigs unless something else comes along) and that tends to keep it challenging and interesting for me right now. I have 4 gigs in December and every one is with a slightly different group of people with some common threads. I gotta say, it's awesome being able to play with new people all the time and is reinvigorating my love for the craft and motivation to get better.

 

[mrcbass]

Our band has a long load in as well. We bring our own PA/subs/mixer/lights. I'm hoping we can start trimming it down, but I've helped load in 4 times and can't find any real fat to trim. These have all been new venues for me, so part of it is knowing where stuff will go on my part. We're playing a repeat venue (for me) this weekend so hoping we'll shave some time off. Another common issue - especially for places that don't have a dedicated "stage" is having to deal with stuff already in the way. We've played two new venues the last two gigs, so there's always a bit of sorting things out - especially for cramped "stages". I am helping to trim the set up time though, offering methods to reduce some of the cluster. A lot of the issues is having stuff under foot that doesn't need to be there yet, but one of the issues with packing, is that all the little stuff (that really needs to com in later, is on top of the big stuff in the van), so it just comes in as it comes off the van rather than have to handle it several times We'll get there.....

 

[TheLowDown33]

That's the way ya do it! As an aside--we've been offered casino gigs (Foxwoods, Mohican Sun) but our friends who play those places say it's a very strange vibe. I'd be happy to take their money anyway, but our BL says we need a crowd that is there for us, not the gaming. I don't really have an opinion, just an observation.

Oh for sure! It's a weird place, but if you play in the "clubs" rather than the floor, it tends to be a bit better. It's kind of an intermediate step and a resumé booster since we're working our way up to weddings, which is the ultimate goal.

 

[richntiff]

I currently play in a top 40 cover band that is growing exponentially fast...like within a year we're already getting booked at casinos in Atlantic City. Our set is rock solid in terms of audience approval. There's not a single song on there that people don't know. To pick songs, we essentially go on spotify and see if it's in the top 5 most played, and if it's not it doesnt even make the cut. After that, we'll make a schedule to learn them and pick gigs to introduce them. The following practice after a gig, we take a minute to talk about which songs did/didnt do well and why. If a song gets brought up twice, its put into retirement right then and there.

This is how you do it! Are you playing only current top 40, or what is your general 'genre/decade/etc' range?

I have a policy that if a 'current' song is not HUGE - we are not playing it. Like 'Uptown Funk' huge. (older now, but still very very popular) We are about to add 'Girls Like You' by Maroon 5 (yes, we are a country band, but our LS can rap like Cardi B. She takes the lead vox as well and I do the backing vox - it's awesome and fun lol) Anyways.... that song has 1.2 BILLION views on YouTube. That's how big a 'current' song should be - IMO - to be added in to our setlist. And, when it's no longer popular and hasn't achieved legendary status - drop it......