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Set List Issues

mellowinman

mellowinman

Free Man
Oct 19, 2011
11,818
18,518
63
Minneapolis
#1
We've been using the same set list for a while. We don't play out that often; we've been through a few drummers; we don't practice as much as I'd like, and I was keeping it the same so we could really nail it, and keep a good flow.

Now, we have a little down time before the next show, and I was thinking of making some changes.

Here is the set list we had:

Set 1
Ain't That a Shame - Cheap Trick Budokan version
Survival of the Sickest - Saliva
Train Kept a Rollin' - Aerosmith Get Your Wings version
Rockin' in the Free World - Kind of the SNL Version with an extended "middle part" Neil Young
Yer Blues - Beatles White Album version ending more like the Dirty Mac version
I Hate Myself for Lovin' You - Joan Jett
Give me One Reason - Tracey Chapman
B*tch - Meredith Brooks
Slither - Velvet Revolver
Bad Girlfriend - Theory of a Deadman

Set 2
Piece of my Heart - Janis
Beast of Burden - Bette Midler Version
I'm the Only One - Melissa Etheridge
Ten Inch Record - Aerosmith (Live Version)
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Knockin' on Heaven's Door - GNR version
Sweet Child O'Mine - GNR
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - Jimi

Set 3
Tie Your Mother Down - Queen
I Hate my Life - Theory of a Deadman
Don't Let me Down - Beatles
Stealin' - Uriah Heep
Kiss - Prince
Peach - Prince
Always on the Run - Lenny Kravitz
Use Me - Bill Withers
Long Tall Sally/Whole Lotta Love 10 minute medley with "Young Boy Boogie Blues" segment intact from "Song Remains the Same" - Little Richard/Led Zeppelin

Set 4
Money - Pink Floyd
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd (both songs with tape sound effects!)
Ice Cream Man - Van Halen
Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi (
The Ocean - Led Zeppelin
Revolution - The Beatles
While my Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles
Freebird

We pulled "The Ocean," because our drummer, Tim, kept missing a part, and I got to thinking, the beat of this song doesn't exactly pack the dance floor, and Arthur is hit and miss on the lead vocals anyway.

So we replaced it with "Train, Train," by Blackfoot, which is a lot more exciting, and I'm doing OK on the harp part, so it's in. We did that replacement at our last show, and I was cool with it.

My wife is always complaining about "Ain't that a Shame." She says it "just isn't a strong song." She also complains about "While my Guitar Gently Weeps," (too slow,) and has always hated "Yer Blues."

I would like to keep all these songs in our practices, possibly getting back to having that "Set Five," which would basically be an "extra set," containing songs we can rotate in if we want, that we practice, but don't put on the main set list.

Our drummer was talking about a modern band (Creed? maybe) doing a cover of "Rocky Mountain Way," and he played it to us, and I thought, "well hell, that's not much different from Joe Walsh's version," so I'd be happy to do that one, as Arthur does a great job with his Talk Box, or Golden Throat, or whatever they call them these days, and I think our audience would like it.

I was messing around with singing "Whipping Post," and for some reason, that part "Like I been Tied..." is in the part of my range where if I sing it "normal," it's not great. So I BELTED it, and it was, in my opinion, PHENOMENAL. I was all proud, and I belted it at my wife, and she put her hands over her ears, and said, "what's THAT??" and I said, "you've never heard 'Whipping Post,' by the Allman Brothers?"

And she said, "I've never been a fan of the Allman Brothers," and tried to maintain that the song wouldn't go over.

Now, I'm telling you, I haven't practiced it through a mic, with the PA, and you know, being in the GROOVE, but my opinion is, I can just TEAR IT UP on that vocal. I think Greg Allman sings it GREAT, and I think I can sing it BETTER.

So that's one idea I have; losing "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" for "Rocky Mountain Way," and losing "Ain't that a Shame" for "Whipping Post."

What do you think?

And before you comment on the "well, IF you can nail the vocal..." I am a person who knows my strengths and weaknesses, and I'm telling you, if you are a fan of that song, you will LOVE my version. If you are some lame-o like my wife, who thinks Sebastian Bach is a better singer than Greg Allman, then maybe you won't, but then again, you won't like most of our show anyway!

Anyway, I'm just kind of toying with doing some tweaking on this set list, and I will probably put some other ideas in here, too.

(for the record, my wife sings all the "girl songs" on that list, as well as some of the higher pitched males, although I do the Steven Tyler and Robert Plant vocals just fine, for some reason.)

My thought is, anything we add, from here out, will be somewhat up-tempo.
 
#3
Cool list. Love survival of the sickest. I've never found pink Floyd to go well live, but I am a big fan.

The only thing you can do is try something new and replace the songs that got the least reaction.
 
#4
I'd expect some of those songs to be an easy sell in Indiana, I know that some were an easy sell circa the 1990s, and I suspect others would have (to paraphrase Spinal Tap) "a selective appeal" in your local market.

Much of that list has a real Q95 feel. Whether that's a good thing depends on your potential market. If your songbook--as you deliver it--draws crowds, gets the ladies dancing, and gets you return bookings, then it's good. If you're looking to build sets that spark a party, don't ask TB; run your sets past 20-30 local girls in their 20s and get their reactions. Or if you have time and don't mind trial and error, just gig your sets and cut the party-killers.
 
#5
Pretty diverse list. Sounds like your woman is NOT a Beatles fan. lol I dig the Saliva too. We do Your Disease and Click, Click Boom. I am friends with Paul Crosby's ( drummer) cousin. Always get back stage when Saliva comes to STL.
 
#6
My opinion. Whipping Post is a great song, should go over well in rural bars that like classic rock/southern rock/country rock. I would not think, however, that ain't that a shame needs replaced... maybe just add whipping post and leave shame in...

Yeah, I agree with replacing guitar weeps with rocky mountain way. Sounds like a good swap to me. I did guitar weeps in another band and always wondered why. If you're gong to cover Beatles there's a thousand better choices....
 
#7
It's hard to comment, because I live Australia and there are a lot of songs on that list that wouldn't fly here.
My only concern is that you don't "build" during your sets.
Janis is a great hand waving, singalong, as is Bette. Put one or both toward the end of your set for better effect.
Your fourth set sounds a bit soft to me - the crowd should be ready to party by now and (as much as it hurts your inner integrity) its time to pull out the dancing tunes. "Comfortably Numb"? Really?
Again, I don't know the crowd you entertain, but these are just my generic thougts on the question you asked.
 
#8
Its a decent list. Alot of what you have there is stuff we did in my last band (with a female singer). IMHO and experience, with a list like this, the response largely depends on the place/crowd. In our case, one place they would go over and the place would be packed/dancing and another place there would be crickets chirping between songs.
 
#9
I suggest you make some recordings of your gigs/rehearsals. Then, for each gig, note the ebb and flow of the dance floor for each tune. Based on what you hear and the data you gather, maybe that would help flush out your set list depending on which songs sounded the best vs. how they filled the dance floor. Thus you can eliminate the tunes that don't get people of their seats and improve/throw out the songs that don't meet your listening expectations.

Also, mixing up the set list and noting which songs go together better than other songs may help the flow of the gig and also keep more people on the dance floor.

In addition, since you would have the recordings, having it available for a new drummer or sub would expedite the learning process. If they can learn all the tunes quickly on their own it would mean less rehearsals to break them in. Hey, maybe even do a gig w/o rehearsals if the replacement drummer is good/confident enough.
 
#10
Ok, further to this topic, and not really aimed at the OP.

When I have worked in cover bands, I have always held the belief that we are entertainers first and foremost. To me, this means that whilst I enjoy bringing versions of songs that the band enjoys listening to and playing, we ultimately will face the "Mustang Sally Syndrome". We need to play the songs that the audience wants to hear and dance to. It's what we get paid for. I could endlessly play my favourite Rush songs, and be happy. Would we get booked again? No.
There is a place for such bands to ignore the wants of their audience, but I want to pay my bills.
If I have to endure "Sweet Caroline", I will, because you know what? The crowd love it, and they love us for playing it. The feeling you get when the crowd are all into your music is exactly why we do it. Otherwise, we can dissect the music of Pink Floyd in our own bedrooms, with our towels at the ready.
 
#11
cronker said:
If I have to endure "Sweet Caroline", I will, because you know what? The crowd love it, and they love us for playing it. The feeling you get when the crowd are all into your music is exactly why we do it. Otherwise, we can dissect the music of Pink Floyd in our own bedrooms, with our towels at the ready.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, however we do both. We cater to the "Mustang Sally Syndrome" then we spend a little time "gratifying ourselves." :p
 
#13
I would put saliva in the 4th set. Your set list is fine, the order of the songs is strange.
Set 1 and 4 should be your worst stuff and set 3 and 4 should be your dancing tunes.
My band faces similar problems, not because of lack of talent, rather we need to add songs from the last 10 years. You are catering to who ever hangs out in the places you play. Kids 25 and under don't go see cover bands, people 35 -45 are home raising kids. So your audience is 25- 35 or 45 and up...got to keep them both happy. I have seen crappy bands that had a good songs list and could entertain and I have seen great musicians who played songs only musicians wanted to hear. the crappy band will get the gigs.
 
#14
Yup! We sell ourselves on being a cover band that "you wouldn't expect". We play those songs that make our audience say "wow, haven't heard tha forever!". Most of the bands in my town play Grease, Nutbush etc.
We find songs that everyone knows, but has forgotten. Or, we take the classics and rework them. We play "Joy to the World" by 3 Dog Night, for example. Never a hit in Australia, but everyone seems to know it. Always gets em dancing.
We play a song called "Horses" by Daryl Braithwaithe. Joni Mitchell cover, no one knows except it was a hit in the late 80's. Unexpected, but it gets everyone swinging.
Our set list is fiercely magnify-glassed. We treat every gig as a chance to improve.
If we play a song three of four gigs, and it doesn't work? It's dropped as much as we may love it.
We play a song called "She Will Have Her Way" by Neil Finn. No one knows it, never a hit, a small album track from an album no one bought. Goes off.

My advice? Go with what you feel. Your audience will follow if you can connect.
 
#15
You might want to think about the grouping of the songs as far as style. Doing "Whipping Post" along with some other blues/rock songs will work better than having it before/after something stylistically different. (e.g. I think it will flow better with "Train Kept a Rollin'" than with "Survival of the Sickest".)

I have a hard time imagining some of the transitions. One in particular is "I'm the Only One" -> "Ten Inch Record". Those are different in so many ways... They're not all that way, I do get the grouping of Prince/Kravitz/Bill Withers, even though they come from different eras, they have a funky feel.

I realize that everyone doesn't listen to music the way I do, and I agree with all the comments about gauging the audience reaction and adjusting from the feedback. I tend to listen to albums more than songs when I'm at home, and have the same problem listening to the radio most of the time. So take my comments with a grain or two of salt.

BTW, I think it's cool that you're in a band with your wife and that you both sing. There are lots of great songs to cover, and finding the right balance is part of the journey. I sincerely hope that you find working through this is part of your successful partnership both on and off stage.
 
#16
INTP said:
You might want to think about the grouping of the songs as far as style. Doing "Whipping Post" along with some other blues/rock songs will work better than having it before/after something stylistically different. (e.g. I think it will flow better with "Train Kept a Rollin'" than with "Survival of the Sickest".)

I have a hard time imagining some of the transitions. One in particular is "I'm the Only One" -> "Ten Inch Record". Those are different in so many ways... They're not all that way, I do get the grouping of Prince/Kravitz/Bill Withers, even though they come from different eras, they have a funky feel.

I realize that everyone doesn't listen to music the way I do, and I agree with all the comments about gauging the audience reaction and adjusting from the feedback. I tend to listen to albums more than songs when I'm at home, and have the same problem listening to the radio most of the time. So take my comments with a grain or two of salt.

BTW, I think it's cool that you're in a band with your wife and that you both sing. There are lots of great songs to cover, and finding the right balance is part of the journey. I sincerely hope that you find working through this is part of your successful partnership both on and off stage.
Click to expand...

I've quit this band and asked for a divorce about 16 times by now.

One grouping we're doing now is:

Big Ten Inch Record
Sweet Emotion
Train, Train

This is a solid three song block, and one of the high points of the show. We do a VERY strong Sweet Emotion.

Ripping lead vocals and strong harmony vocals
Percussion Instruments (maracas and vibra slap,)
Strong talk box work by Arthur
In the seventies, Tyler made the "shoop" sound of the record's backwards cymbals into the mic on the beat, and I have taken to doing that. It's a small thing, but I feel like it shows we care.

The reason I think "Ten Inch Record" works after "I'm the Only One" is that we really do a pretty ripping version of "Only One," and the audience is pumped by it.

It's also one of the times where there is a clear break between set sections. I usually talk to the audience about doing a G Rated Song For All Ages, and say stuff about Disney right before breaking out "Ten Inch Record." It's depraved, but depraved has always worked for us.

Not sure where we're putting "Whipping Post" yet, but I want to make sure we can pull it off before I worry about that.

Not sure what we'll open with if we do decide to stop doing "Ain't That a Shame," either.

I've been starting Set Three by using an edited version of "Ride of the Valkyries," cranked up through the PA, and then having it cut to "Tie Your Mother Down."

I would like to do more stuff like that, but boy does my wife HATE it! I'd like to find a way to use "O Fortuna" in the show.
 
#20
OK, so "Rocky Mountain Way?"

Nailed it. Keyboards, vocals, talk box, bass, drums; everything sounds pitch perfect. Drummer ends up telling us, "but I wanted to do the Godsmack version." So I explain that he's the drummer, and if he wants to play it like that, then he should just do so, and he can work with Krystal to get the bass line in with what he's playing.

But we don't play tuned to D-Standard, and I can't possibly sing that way, so it should be a hybrid. Plus, the keyboards really do add a lot to the song.

"Whipping Post?"

They don't want to play it. They say there is no bar where anyone would want to hear that.

Really?

REALLY?????
 

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