Members stratotastic Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 At our gig on Saturday night, it was mostly middle-aged folks. Everybody was dancing from the first couple songs and kept it going. Great energy, crowd involvement, we played awesome, etc. But during the 2nd set, after our rollicking Walk This Way/Ride A Cowboy medley which everyone LOVED, we tried taking it further South and played I Love This Bar. The reaction was comical--almost freakish. The dance floor completely cleared, everybody went to the bar, and literally EVERY PERSON IN THE PLACE had their backs turned to us for the whole song. We even changed some of the lyrics on the spot, mentioning the folks at the bar in front of us, slipping in the venue's name, just funny jokey stuff to try to get their attention. Nothing. All of us in the band just looked at each other and laughed as we continued playing the song. After that we picked it back up with Raise Your Glass, and they all flocked back. I'd never seen anything like it! We figured that type of song was a slam dunk for that crowd, but apparently not. We skipped over Low Places later on too, just in case. Anyway, maybe that tune will move to the 'request only' file. [Actually right now... Maybe it might not be a bad strategy to throw something like that in to get everyone to head off to the bar, throw down their cash and top off, as long as there's a strong enough tune to bring 'em back.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crustee Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 We did Folsom Prison on a whim as our "ONE MORE!" tune at the end of Saturday's show. It was a hoot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 happened to us last year when we pulled out our awesome Duran Duran medley (hungry like the wolf/ Rio) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah we did a rocked up version of "Hold Me Now" by the Thompson Twins. That went over like a lead balloon!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratotastic Posted July 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 happened to us last year when we pulled out our awesome Duran Duran medley (hungry like the wolf/ Rio) Wow--Hungry Like The Wolf is one of our strongest tunes! I guess you just never know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members musicmanmu Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah we did a rocked up version of "Hold Me Now" by the Thompson Twins. That went over like a lead balloon!!! I think the 90s are the new 80s. Don't get a lot of love from 80s tunes much anymore. Although I did an acoustic version of Warrant's "Heaven" this past Saturday that went over quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 I think the 90s are the new 80s. Don't get a lot of love from 80s tunes much anymore. Although I did an acoustic version of Warrant's "Heaven" this past Saturday that went over quite well. Yeah, there's 7 or 8 80's tunes that I don't see going away any time soon, but I'm definitely seeing that the 80's catalog as a whole is not nearly as automatic as it was a few years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah, there's 7 or 8 80's tunes that I don't see going away any time soon, but I'm definitely seeing that the 80's catalog as a whole is not nearly as automatic as it was a few years back. After getting a tepid response from a few former sure-fire classics the last few gigs, we talked about sidelining a few of those songs: "Jenny", "Let's Go" & "Walk This Way" (more 70s than 80s on that one) are getting the boot unless the crowd is primarily over 45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 After getting a tepid response from a few former sure-fire classics the last few gigs, we talked about sidelining a few of those songs: "Jenny", "Let's Go" & "Walk This Way" (more 70s than 80s on that one) are getting the boot unless the crowd is primarily over 45. Yeah. We've pretty much shelved "Jenny", though I've toyed with adding "Walk This Way", just because it mashes up perfectly with Play That Funky Music. The 80's tunes that aren't going anywhere for us right now are "Sweet Child", "Your Love and Jesse's Girl (in a medley together)", "Living on a Prayer", "Pour Some Sugar on Me", and an 80's rap medley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thy God Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah we did a rocked up version of "Hold Me Now" by the Thompson Twins. That went over like a lead balloon!!! I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE that song. Not even so much for the song itself, as much as my brain is still wired to associate it with having to wait a long-ass time for Thundercats to come on...22 years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 Yeah. We've pretty much shelved "Jenny", though I've toyed with adding "Walk This Way", just because it mashes up perfectly with Play That Funky Music. The 80's tunes that aren't going anywhere for us right now are "Sweet Child", "Your Love and Jesse's Girl (in a medley together)", "Living on a Prayer", "Pour Some Sugar on Me", and an 80's rap medley. Funny. Those are the one's that ARE still working for us. "Jessie" ain't the ol' gal she used to be, but it's still working well enough for us. And we just added "Your Love" in a medley (an idea I stole from you) and it worked GREAT at the one gig we played it. We'll see how it goes next week. But if Jessie is gone a year from now I certainly won't be surprised. The other 3 are still working great. "Walk" is bit more problematic. The opening riff doesn't pack the floor like it used to (more specifically, the dancefloor usually about half-empties from the previous song when we start playing it.) But it works as a "guy-air-guitar" song. There's always 3 or 4 guys who like to strut around the dancefloor air guitaring to it and that alone can sometimes be enough of a crowd-pleaser. It's also one of the only jam-out guitar solos our guitarist has left in the set anymore, so I hate to take it away from him. Then again (maybe because it's just about his only one left) he tends to wank-on a bit too long with it. I'd like to find something else for air-guitarist to wank with (actually Sweet Child usually covers that territory as well, but I'd like to find another) and we're probably going to replace the 80s stuff with a 80/90s rap medley. In the car on the way home yesterday we were hammering out this thing where we'd do "Bust A Move" "Funky Cold Medina" "Pump Up The Jam" "Push It" and "Babys Got Back". A mish-mash of tempos, to be sure, but it sounded good in the car anyway..... What's your 80's rap medley that isn't working for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members n9ne Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 A couple weeks ago, we played a kinda rednecky room where the first couple sets was mostly watchers and few dancers. In an effort to get some booties shakin', we fired up F*** You as a sure-fire floor-filler...... .....and nobody moved. They loved the song and people were singing along...but they did so from their seats. Every time we've ever played that song, it's never failed to pack the dance floor...but at this place, it had no effect whatsoever. Weird, right? So a couple sets later, folks finally have a few drinks in them, and we've got a respectable number of folks on the dance floor. We figure things are rolling along pretty good....seems like the right time to break out F*** You again. So we fire it up..... ....and it clears the freaking floor. Couldn't believe it. It got huge applause afterward, and healthy crowd participation....but the dance floor cleared so quick, I thought someone must have puked or something. I asked my wife about it later, wondering if maybe the song just sounded off that night. She said, "No, it sounded fine. It's just that it's an actual dance song....and the rednecks at that club only know booty-dancing, where all they do is stick one leg out and rub their asses on each other. That song isn't one of those slow-bumpin' booty-dancin' songs....and the rednecks didn't know what to do, so they all sat down." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 I asked my wife about it later, wondering if maybe the song just sounded off that night. She said, "No, it sounded fine. It's just that it's an actual dance song....and the rednecks at that club only know booty-dancing, where all they do is stick one leg out and rub their asses on each other. That song isn't one of those slow-bumpin' booty-dancin' songs....and the rednecks didn't know what to do, so they all sat down." She probably nailed it. They liked the song, but the groove wasn't in THEIR 'pocket'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 What's your 80's rap medley that isn't working for you? You misunderstood my last post. Those songs I listed are ones that are STAYING in our set for the foreseeable future (hence the "not going anywhere" comment. Sorry about the mix up. Our 80's rap medley does very well. It's Trick, Wild Thing, Push It, Baby's got back. All at the same tempo and all in the key of Emin. 80's songs that are getting phased out include:Summer of 69Boys of SummerAmerican GirlJennyTalk Dirty To Meetc..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 You misunderstood my last post. Those songs I listed are ones that are STAYING in our set for the foreseeable future (hence the "not going anywhere" comment. Sorry about the mix up. LOL....I took "not going anywhere" to mean they weren't doing anything for your setlist. As in "that song doesn't go ANYWHERE for us..." Language is a funny thing sometimes.... But glad to hear those are still working for you. We were all excited about adding "Your Love" as it absolutely KILLED at the under-30 party we played Saturday and it injected new life into the getting-tired Jessie. So I was hoping it wasn't just a fluke. Fun song for us to play because we nail the 3-part harmony on that one. I LOVE nailing good harmonies. "American Girl" is another one that has seen better days for us as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted July 11, 2011 Members Share Posted July 11, 2011 A couple of songs that die for us are:"Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" (I dropped it after just a few plays)"Soulshine" (people seem to like it and request it but WHAT a dirge!) "I" hate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 A couple of songs that die for us are:"Keep on Rockin' in the Free World" (I dropped it after just a few plays)"Soulshine" (people seem to like it and request it but WHAT a dirge!) "I" hate it!One of our most requested songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnMCA72 Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 Wow--Hungry Like The Wolf is one of our strongest tunes! I guess you just never know... I always say, the only thing I know for sure is that I don't know anything for sure! I wish I had a count of how many songs that I thought would kill, but died instead - & vice versa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackbird 13 Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 Aww, come on now. "I Love This Bar" is nothing like "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy".. it's night and day difference. Sure, they both happen to be from the same genre.. but the songs have totally different vibes. "I Love This Bar" hasn't worked that often for me since it came out, although I will sometimes do it acoustic. No way does it have the energy for the full band though. I think you'd have been fine with "Friends In Low Places". It's more well known, and an iconic sing along song. It's not the genre, it's the song, in this instance.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wardjames Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 Aww, come on now. "I Love This Bar" is nothing like "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy".. it's night and day difference. Sure, they both happen to be from the same genre.. but the songs have totally different vibes. "I Love This Bar" hasn't worked that often for me since it came out, although I will sometimes do it acoustic. No way does it have the energy for the full band though.I think you'd have been fine with "Friends In Low Places". It's more well known, and an iconic sing along song. It's not the genre, it's the song, in this instance.... Its funny, becase I Love This Bar goes over huge for us, even in beach bars, but then again we only play country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 As long as you perform it well I say keep it or something like it. I assume you were able to bring the crowd back. We usually try to throw a song or two in during the night to allow the dance floor to slow down and the beer sales to pick up. Make it a song you do well and have a plan on how to bring them back in and you are golden around here. In some areas, losing the dance floor is considered a failure. Here the bar owners a patrons seem to like the change of pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 Its funny, becase I Love This Bar goes over huge for us, even in beach bars, but then again we only play country. We play it also. it isn't a song that we do all the time but people do dance to it. With country fans alot of times the biggest dance floor fillers will be slow songs. "Silver wings" and "Amarillo by morning" ALWAYS pack the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 Wow--Hungry Like The Wolf is one of our strongest tunes! I guess you just never know... maybe we sucked at it but it made the dance floor CLEAR every time we played it. We thought it was a fluke so it was in the set for 4 shows and every show it BOMBED. One time it bombed so bad everyone that was on the floor went out side for a cigarette at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 and it injected new life into the getting-tired Jessie. I should note that in addition to having Jessie's Girl in a medley, I change the lyrics to a slightly (read extremely ) more adult content. Granted, we're generally playing to a young, drunk crowd that eats that stuff up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 12, 2011 Members Share Posted July 12, 2011 I should note that in addition to having Jessie's Girl in a medley, I change the lyrics to a slightly (read extremely ) more adult content. Granted, we're generally playing to a young, drunk crowd that eats that stuff up. Our "trick" on that song is that when we're playing weddings we get all the girls in the wedding party up on stage to sing along and we change "Jessie" to whatever-the-groom's name is. Corny as hell, but the crowd loves it every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.