New Setlist Songs . recent songs to the setlist that worked or didn't..

[wheresgrant3]

 

I'll add something to what Grant said. 75% of our set is the tried and classics. but it's that 25% that makes you stand out. You don't know how often I get... "You're so original... You play all the songs that no one else plays..." Our set list containsDon't Stop Believing and Living on a Prayer and I Want You TO Want Me and ..... But it's that 25% of unexpected stuff that makes all the difference.

 

 

Ditto. I'd say the majority of songs we play are setlist standards from the last 50 years. But you aren't going to increase or gain audience engagement by playing a B-side cover from 20 years ago. The trick to that engagement is covering what charting today... getting ahead of it even (if you can anticipate it) so you can squeeze as much juice from it as possible. Miss a song like Thrift Shop when it was hot 8 months ago... do not bother adding it now. You will just look late to the party.

 

Three years ago it was not like this... you could draft 6 months behind Billboard Top 40 and still get plenty of mileage from current songs. But these days you really need to strike when the iron is hot. Now there will always be songs that have legs beyond that 3-6 months window. That delporable song 'Dynamite" is this generations Blister In the Sun... I'm sure they will still be playing it in 2050. No matter how old that song gets people still throw their hands up in the air sometimes saying AYO! LOL It's like a living nightmare sometimes.

 

I'd say 25% of our setlist is 20-40 years old.... 25% is current Top 40 (in the last 6 months. And 50% covers the last 10-15 years.

[Rocketking]

I wanna try Counting Stars even though I think it's quite boring. Also up for trying are American Authors - Best Day Of My Life, Clean Bandit - Rather Be, Imagine Dragons - It's Time, Chris Cab - Liar Liar, Armin van Buren - This Is What It Feels Like. Those songs get loads of airplay around here and aren't that hard to cover. Maybe Katy Perry - Dark Horse too but we don't have a 'rapper' in the band.

[musicmanmu]

Part of it is definitely approach and presentation... the other part is seriously market.

 

This. The market is super important. In WV, pop country stuff tends to always go over well, and Top 40 songs I think have a longer life than perhaps in a larger market. Not exactly sure why that is, but part of it could be that the major cities tend to pick up on songs first, and then they filter into smaller markets.

 

As someone who grew up in the Boston area, you can pretty much guarantee any Dropkick Murphy's song is going to kill it. But yeah, if we played that here, it'd be crickets.

 

Perhaps because of our relative proximity to Ohio (the ass end is 10 minutes away...Akron about 4 hours), The Black Keys are popular. We picked this up about a year ago and it's still very popular (although in this vid it was our first song of the night, and no one was there yet):

 

[video=youtube;aj5u2w7eg1g]

[wheresgrant3]

S

 

This. The market is super important. In WV, pop country stuff tends to always go over well, and Top 40 songs I think have a longer life than perhaps in a larger market. Not exactly sure why that is, but part of it could be that the major cities tend to pick up on songs first, and then they filter into smaller markets.

 

As someone who grew up in the Boston area, you can pretty much guarantee any Dropkick Murphy's song is going to kill it. But yeah, if we played that here, it'd be crickets.

 

Perhaps because of our relative proximity to Ohio (the ass end is 10 minutes away...Akron about 4 hours), The Black Keys are popular. We picked this up about a year ago and it's still very popular (although in this vid it was our first song of the night, and no one was there yet):

 

[video=youtube;aj5u2w7eg1g]

 

Sounds good as a 3-piece man! I'm not a fan of The Black Keys at all but you guys carry it... and fill it out. The chorus sounds exceptionally full with guitar. Are you using some chorus or effect to fill it out? If so it works.

 

We're 4 months into this so we are still solidifying our line up. The goal is to replace as much NUTS material as we can without killing the crossover favorites.

 

Here's a good example of songs old and new in the setlist... Shout, and Marvin Gaye... Usher and Macklemore.

 

 

 

[video=youtube;75NFL2vCTYw]

U3jXHFwXwaZjg&index=4

 

[Opus Antics]

I've never heard Shipping Up To Boston. Just googled it. Yeah' date=' that would go over like a lead turd down here.[/quote']

Hahahaha. Yeah it goes great in Massachusetts. As does Dirty Water. Whole room singing along. I imagine anywhere else both songs would tank.

[jeff42]

shipping up to boston does pretty well in PA too.

[musicmanmu]

S

 

Sounds good as a 3-piece man! I'm not a fan of The Black Keys at all but you guys carry it... and fill it out. The chorus sounds exceptionally full with guitar. Are you using some chorus or effect to fill it out? If so it works.

 

We're 4 months into this so we are still solidifying our line up. The goal is to replace as much NUTS material as we can without killing the crossover favorites.

 

Here's a good example of songs old and new in the setlist... Shout, and Marvin Gaye... Usher and Macklemore.

 

 

 

[video=youtube;75NFL2vCTYw]

U3jXHFwXwaZjg&index=4

 

Thank ya! No, not using any effects in the chorus. I have some slapback delay in the verses that I actually take off for the chorus. Just hitting power chords and singing the high part while my bass player sings the lower part. But I do rely a lot on my Line 6 M9 and expression pedal to add lots of 'flavor' to tunes. As a 3-piece, we need all the help we can filling out the mix and that helps immensely. I'd have to say that M9 is the cornerstone of my rig.

 

Yeah, you guys have definitely added a lot of R&B/pop/Top 40 stuff to the lineup to great success, but can still belt out the staples. I think it's a great mix and it takes full advantage of the new lineup!

[wheresgrant3]

shipping up to boston does pretty well in PA too.

 

 

OK... the funny thing about this song. We played it once or twice St. Patty's Day a few years ago to a so-so response. As a semi-joke our singer said it would be great if Grant could sing this song b/c I'm always doing fake parody accents of irish bar owners (and their scheming ways). So I said sure I'll try it out. LOL It was awkward, we were sloppy, it was novelty. Never played it again. Fast forward two years later and our singer leaves, we're working with multiple substitute singers and we need to stretch the setlist. Someone says Grant can sing "Shipping Up To Boston" and to bring it back. I don't know whether it was the time of day or the weather, or maybe The Departed was on burn cycle on HBO that week... but the place goes ape****************. Like it's the best song of the night. We add it the next show... same reaction... we add it three more times. Certified hit. So then after we found JD our current singer I suggested we pull it back... it's a novelty song and it really doesn't fit well with all the dance and hip hop.... we'll just break it out for St. Patty's Day. We tried it one show and shortly before the last song people were screaming from the front of stage "DROPKICK MURPHEYS". I sang it again... place goes ballistic.

 

So now it's not only a setlist staple, it's a set piece. We decided to host a beer chugging contest during the middle of the song... I know juvenile... but hey... I don't drink at shows... on a good day I can down a pint of Guiness in under 4 seconds and people like spectacle. So now we pull up a birthday girl or bachelorette or anyone looking for attention and a challenge. St. Patty's day in the Northeast is equal to Mardi Gras in the Gulf or Cinco De Mayo in the Southwest. It's really an excuse to drink. So we bring a little of St, Patty's Day with us every show.

 

There are clips of it buried in this video:

 

[video=youtube;Ddkyu5_3jcs]

U3jXHFwXwaZjg

[Vito Corleone]

My buddy who runs a 7 million dollar a year entertainment production company that does high end corporate stuff says the same thing. I don't know' date=' maybe i'm missing something....[/quote']

 

This is definitely one of the advantages (if that's how one feels about it) about doing private events. You rarely see the same crowd twice. I lament sometimes that we don't learn more new stuff, but a lot of that is just for our own entertainment. Our songlist is 'fresh' to everyone who hears it. But in the club scene? Yeah, you gotta keep stuff fresh. Certainly that was the case back when I was doing Top 40/rock in the clubs 25 years ago. We were adding new songs every week. There were a small handful of songs that never left the songlist for years and years, but most rotated out after 6-9 months. Seems like that is one thing that hasn't changed too much?

 

[mstreck]

 

This is definitely one of the advantages (if that's how one feels about it) about doing private events. You rarely see the same crowd twice. I lament sometimes that we don't learn more new stuff, but a lot of that is just for our own entertainment. Our songlist is 'fresh' to everyone who hears it. But in the club scene? Yeah, you gotta keep stuff fresh. Certainly that was the case back when I was doing Top 40/rock in the clubs 25 years ago. We were adding new songs every week. There were a small handful of songs that never left the songlist for years and years, but most rotated out after 6-9 months. Seems like that is one thing that hasn't changed too much?

 

I wish I could get everyone in my band to understand the importance of this.

 

 

[wesg]

Jeff - what happened to the E-drums?

 

David - What about that song by ... Black Eyed Peas? "I got a feeling... Tonight we're gonna have a good time.. Tonight we're gonna have a good good time". I opened the last wedding I DJed with that to great response. Of course, that song was a chart-topper that year...

 

DJing that wedding (as a favour to a friend) was pretty weird, I must have spent 200 hours reading Billboard Hot 100 charts and listening to crap so I could spin it at the gig.

[jeff42]

Jeff - what happened to the E-drums?

 

.

 

I still use them, the kit in the video was the house kit at the casino gig. Its usually OK to play on but It was all messed up that night and parts of it were broken. including one of the toms and the hihat stand. thats why i look so uncomfortable. LOL

[Vito Corleone]

 

David - What about that song by ... Black Eyed Peas? "I got a feeling... Tonight we're gonna have a good time.. Tonight we're gonna have a good good time". I opened the last wedding I DJed with that to great response. Of course, that song was a chart-topper that year...

 

 

As a wedding opener you mean? Perhaps. The one box that song doesn't check off for us in that slot is "all ages recognizability". But as it gets older (it's 5 years old now) and still seems to be around and still generally well-received (most songs that are 5+ years old tend to fall into a "dead" area between 'hot hit' and 'classic') it gets known by more and more older folks as well.

 

Funny you should bring that song up to me and I'm glad you did. I had kind of forgotten about it. It always worked pretty well for us, but we dropped it out of the setlist a couple of years ago because Tiffany didn't like doing it. She kept saying she didn't think we sounded good on it. I thought we sounded fine, but it wasn't something worth arguing over so I took it out. But now that she's leaving the band, working it back up again might be something to reconsider.

 

When we were doing it last, we were mashing it up with "Club Can't Handle Me" which I thought was a pretty cool arrangement too of another few-years-old song that still works well. I think we need to bring that back!

[TrickyBoy]

I Gotta Feeling is a song that I'm always apprehensive to call, but it really works every time. Used it with the 18-22 year old spring break crowd and it went over great. Played it at a casino to 40-60 somethings with the same result. It's one of those songs that has almost universal appeal. Everyone seems to like it.

[wesg]

Yeah. I really don't like rap or modern pop and I like that song. I think it's the message.

[mstreck]

I just found out that we're adding "Talk Dirty" and "Happy" for rehearsal this week. I'm not optimistic about the outcome.

[wesg]

Maybe you should learn "Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison instead ... "by accident".

 

Wes

[Vito Corleone]

Yeah. I really don't like rap or modern pop and I like that song. I think it's the message.

 

Yeah, it's a pretty safe, universally appealing pop tune for sure. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it becomes the new "Celebration" over the next couple of decades. It certainly has "standard" written all over it. (Which, at some point, means it will become one of those "OMG...not THAT song AGAIN!...." tunes)

 

One thing that is kinda cool about the Black Eyed Peas is the entire purpose of the band was to be a racially-mixed, positive-message pop act in contrast to the whole 'gangsta rap' thing that was so huge at the time. So whether I personally dig all the music or not, my hat always goes off to those who at least attempt to do the 'right thing' when and where they can and have success with it.

[jeff42]

I just found out that we're adding "Talk Dirty" and "Happy" for rehearsal this week. I'm not optimistic about the outcome.

we are adding those two songs next practice... not sure when that will be though but our bassist worked up a decent rock arrangement for talk dirty

[jeff42]

Maybe you should learn "Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison instead ... "by accident".

 

Wes

we learned it by request for a private party last year and its been in our set ever since. works well for us.

[nousername]

 

This. The market is super important. In WV, pop country stuff tends to always go over well, and Top 40 songs I think have a longer life than perhaps in a larger market. Not exactly sure why that is, but part of it could be that the major cities tend to pick up on songs first, and then they filter into smaller markets.

 

As someone who grew up in the Boston area, you can pretty much guarantee any Dropkick Murphy's song is going to kill it. But yeah, if we played that here, it'd be crickets.

 

Perhaps because of our relative proximity to Ohio (the ass end is 10 minutes away...Akron about 4 hours), The Black Keys are popular. We picked this up about a year ago and it's still very popular (although in this vid it was our first song of the night, and no one was there yet):

 

[video=youtube;aj5u2w7eg1g]

 

Your balance between instruments is great. What amps do you use?

 

[nousername]

Newest songs for us:

 

I Want You to Want Me (in C for our singer's range)

Fortunate Son

Baba O'Riley

Uninvited

30 Days in the Hole

Paris (Ooh La La)

 

None have been debuted since we've been on a short hiatus due to 40% of the band being heavily involved with their kid's sports. But we hope to get out very soon and see how these are received.

 

We cover Royals in my acoustic duo. Very simple and well received. It's been discussed in the band, too. I'd like to see or hear The Tricky Dickies' version...

[wesg]

How are you playing the Baba O'Riley keyboard part?

 

Do let us know how "Want Me" goes over. We play "Surrender" with mixed results.

[musicmanmu]

 

Your balance between instruments is great. What amps do you use?

 

Thanks! Our bass player is also a great sound man, so we're fortunate because we are often hauling PA and relying on ourselves for that.

 

At this gig I am using an Egnater Rebel 30 with a pair of the Egnater 112x cabs. On the overdrive channel, gain probably around 6. It's typically my go to amp because it sounds great and is easy to carry. But I just got a Jet City 50 head that I am loving; however, it's NOT as portable...lol. Guitar is an LP 70s Tribute with a DiMarzio DLX Plus in the bridge, FYI.

[nousername]

How are you playing the Baba O'Riley keyboard part?

 

Do let us know how "Want Me" goes over. We play "Surrender" with mixed results.

 

Since we're still fine tuning BO'R, guitar two goes back and forth between a simple single picked pattern with delay and a triplet picked pattern F > A# > F > A# with no delay. It's not yet ready for prime time, sadly.

 

I'm thinking IWYtWM will be a winner based on the songs people in the area like. But I have been wrong...