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50th class reunion gig. What to play?


chord123

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  • Our classic rock band started a year ago got booked for 50th class reunion--play list would be heavy on 60's and 70's tunes Any suggestions on tunes. Anybody play a class reunion before?
  • Number of guests:
    100 guests
  • Requested:
    Classic Rock Band

 

Equipment Needed:

 

 

 

  • Sound/PA System
  • Lighting
  • Microphones
  • Backline (instruments)

 

Expenses Covered:

 

 

 

  • Yes, but it depends on the budget

 

Age Range of Audience:

 

 

 

  • 45-64
  • 65+

 

Performance Loc

 

 

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Done it [10 years ago for 40th...]

For that crowd, heavy on Beatles Pre-White Album, Beach Boys, Jefferson Airplane [pre-Volunteers], Buffalo Springfield, Herman's Hermits, Tommy James, Stones, Rascals, Lovin' Spoonful, Monkees...and some good MoTown and Stax material like the Four Tops, Temptations, Marvin Gay, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, Sam and Dave...this is the poprock/late Brit Invasion/soul crowd, so keep the stoner rock to a minimum [Hendrix, Cream, Zep, etc., but you will get requests for it]. If you have a female vocalist, then there is also Aretha and the Supremes material...

 

Take a look at the Billboard Hot 100 for 1966 to 1968...

http://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1966/hot-100

http://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1967/hot-100

http://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1968/hot-100

 

 

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The first band I ever played in was comprised of students in Ms. Butts 4th period Junior English class. We graduated HS in 1965 and have played for two reunions (although not the 50th). The set list was all hits from those two years. Like riding a bicycle . . . .

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This our songlist. for the 50th reunion. We want to add 10 more easy songs. The Beatles,The Beach Boys and Jefferson Airplane are out of our league. We don't do vocal harmonies. We have a keyboard player. Any easy song suggestions. Anybody ever do Twist and shout. The vocals sound tough. Wild Thing sounds like it might work.

 

1 American Band

2 Green River

3 Mississippi Queen

4 Who'l stop the rain

5 All Right Now

6 Carol

7 Cocaine

8 Got a Line on You

9 Tush

10 Johnnie B Goode

 

Set 2

1 Ridin the Storm Out

2 Born to be Wild

3 Bang a Gong

4 Jumpin Jack Flash

5 Gloria

6 WonderfulTonight

7 Suzie Q

8 Long Cool Woman

9 Takin Care of Business

10 Sweet Home Alabama

11.Satisfaction

12 Paint it Black

13 For Whats its worth

14 Roll Over Beethoven

 

Set 3

1 Ramblin' Gamblin' Man

2 Smoke on the Water

3 Brown Sugar

4 Simple Man

5 Saturday Night Special

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Check out Billboard top 40 lists for specific years. If we're talking about the class of '67, most of your songs were released a few years later. Not that they all stopped listening to music after graduation, but if it's about shared high school experiences, you might want to go back a few years to fill out your list. The tricky thing is that I gather you're all younger than they are and music changed dramatically from the early to the late 60s.

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I already gave them links to the Billboard top 100...they are not the right band for this gig...no harmonies? Brit Invasion era...I'm a bit younger than the celebrants, but I was alive when that was all happening...:wave:

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okay, easy, with keys? From The Appropriate Era [your list does not cover their HS years...!!]

No harmonies? Gee, Twist and Shout sounds hard? You guys should give up, seriously, this is not the right gig for your band...

Garage rock then:

96 Tears

Louis Louie

Wild Thing

Shout

Lighter Shade of Pale

Green Onions

Like a Rolling Stone

Ain't Too Proud To Beg

Wooly Bully

Hang on Sloopy

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Yeah. It's a HS reunion gig. Play songs from the years they were in HS. Figuring out setlists doesn't get any easier than this.

 

They are there for the HS memories. Give them those. Not songs that came out as they were going through the first divorce.

 

Daddymacks suggestions are all great

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How many of you would take this gig? Learn thirty-five songs, nearly all a fair amount older than what you are currently playing? Near as I can tell, your pay is as yet undetermined. Whose bright idea was this? The only reunion gig I've ever done and would ever do, would be my own with my old bandmates.

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I did my 50th, and when I was in school, I played for the same people. Oh my did they get old ;)

 

I just played songs that were popular when we were in school together plus 3 or 4 years before and after. I also threw in some newer songs that I know that age group likes, but since it was a reunion, I kept most of the show full of oldies.

 

Notes

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How many of you would take this gig? Learn thirty-five songs' date=' nearly all a fair amount older than what you are currently playing? Near as I can tell, your pay is as yet undetermined. Whose bright idea was this? The only reunion gig I've ever done and would ever do, would be my own with my old bandmates.[/quote']

 

I wouldn't take such a gig. The idea is to hire the right band in the first place and if you're the wrong band, to not take it.

 

Nothing sucks more than playing for 3 hours when you know you're the wrong band for the event.

 

Having said that, it isn't imperitive that your entire set list be from the 4 years these people were in HS. But hit the high notes. 10 of them should be? The rest should lean more towards older songs than more recent. Most of these people would feel more nostalgic about hearing 50s rather than 70s I would think?

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^yeah, now you're getting it... but remember Good Lovin' has a call and response...

Other songs requiring no harmony or can be done sans harmony effectively, from that Era..

Summer in the City

Mr. Soul

Eight Days a Week

Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter

Over Under Sideways Down

Well Respected Man

You Really Got me

The Last Time

Sweet Little 16

Roll Over Beethoven

Hail Hail Rock and Roll

Memphis

Secret Agent Man

For Your Love

I'm Looking Through You

When A Man Loves A Woman

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay

Sunshine Superman

Mellow Yellow

Penny Lane

Light My Fire

Roadhouse Blues

Riders on the Storm

The Letter

Hello, I Love You

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

 

Keep these ones from your original list, add in the one's I suggested and you have the right show!

2 Green River

4 Who'll stop the rain

6 Carol

8 Got a Line on You

10 Johnnie B Goode

2 Born to be Wild

3 Bang a Gong

4 Jumpin Jack Flash

5 Gloria

7 Suzie Q

11.Satisfaction

12 Paint it Black

13 For What Its worth

14 Roll Over Beethoven

 

This is your closer...a nice slow song with a sentimental touch...

6 WonderfulTonight

 

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How about Chuck Berry " School Days" the song that describes the high school experience. Up in the mornin' and out to school

The teacher is teachin' the Golden Rule

American history and practical math

You studyin' hard and hopin' to pass

Workin' your fingers right down to the bone

And the guy behind you won't leave you alone

Ring, ring goes the bell

 

 

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How about Chuck Berry " School Days" the song that describes the high school experience. Up in the mornin' and out to school

The teacher is teachin' the Golden Rule

American history and practical math

You studyin' hard and hopin' to pass

Workin' your fingers right down to the bone

And the guy behind you won't leave you alone

Ring, ring goes the bell

 

 

​I think many classic 50s songs would work fine. These are songs that are from grade school for these people, so they'll have fond memories of them as well.

 

​However, I wouldn't fall into the trap of thinking the specifics of the lyric is going to make a difference. Nobody is listening to or paying attention to the lyrics. They are drinking and dancing and singing along rather involuntarily from memory-response.

 

The Berry tunes Daddymack mentioned will all work better because they are better known songs. But "School Days" is probably fine too if you'd rather play that one than something else.

 

​As a general rule, it can be easy as a musician to overthink the songs in the setlist. We've all made this mistake at one time or another, I'm sure. Always remember that the audience response to songs is rather primal and instinctive. They aren't there to think. They are there to move and be moved. 3 people out of 100 at this gig might like "School Days" better than "Roll over Beethoven" because of the lyrics. But "Beethoven" will be more likely to fill the dance floor.

 

​IMO.

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Also our singer is a baritone and higher pitched songs are out of his range. So were looking for lower pitched vocals. Although our bass player has higher pitched voice you could call maybe a tenor.

 

 

Just play some of those songs in lower keys. Easy. And in some cases, better.

 

If we played a 50th reunion, all we'd have to do is play what we played 50 years ago. Gak! Although we had a female vocalist who's voice was every bit as good as Grace Slick's... so those always got everyone's attention.

 

Back then, it was important to be able to intersperse enough slow songs throughout the evening. Can't tell whether that would apply to a 50th reunion crowd, but it was mandatory at the time.

 

I'd imagine a few songs especially selected for audience sing-along might get some love. Even have some pre-printed lyric sheets to hand out... We've done something like that more recently, and mostly the (ahem: older) crowd seemed to enjoy that. We even got audience members to come up and do lead vocals on a few songs; some of that was semi-ghastly but the crowd went wild.

 

-D44

 

 

 

 

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We even got audience members to come up and do lead vocals on a few songs; some of that was semi-ghastly but the crowd went wild.

 

 

 

 

 

 

​Turning into somewhat of a karaoke night is always a good option. Especially if that band's singers aren't all that great. People would much rather watch the Football Hero and the Prom Queen make fools of themselves on stage trying to sing "Heard It Through The Grapevine" than listen to the band do a mediocre-at-best version of it.

 

 

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