What Size Is Your Band Book?

[WashburnGuy]

Between 40 and 45 songs in our regular rotation and we can cover 3 one hour sets with them. We prefer hour long sets instead of 40 to 45 minute sets.

 

The "back" of the book has about 50 or 60 more "backup" songs (complete with chords and lyrics) if needed.

[Perfessor]

Man, nobody plays Expressway To Your Heart. Good for you!

[DaveAronow]

I have one main band in which we curently do about 50 songs, half originals, and then I rotate in about four other bands for an agent that keeps me very busy, and I know about 100 or so songs for those bands as most of them play the same stuff, and then I have been sitting in with this other band one night a week in which they are a live karaoke band. People come up and sing, request songs by the band, and we pretty much pull ANYTHING out of our asses. We pride ourselfs on never turning anyone down and "claim" to know every song ever written. Everyone in that band are seasoned pros and can pretty much fake anything with suprising accuracey, as long as they have at least heard the song before. This sounds like a nightmare, but it is actually one of the funnest gigs I have ever done. I still remember all the songs I have known from growing up and playing in rock, hardrock, hairband, hair metal, and metal bands as a younger dude too, so literally, I could probably play as many as ten thousand songs right now if I had to. Some would be spot on and some would be loose interpetations, but they would all at least be recognised as the song I am attempting.

 

I keep a few hundred songs between all these bands absolutely tight and current though.

 

These days, most of the bands are country and modern country, so it is not like they are intense or anytyhing.

[Dthraco]

I'm in a cover band, we play 49 covers in a typical evening. Four sets with short breaks and we usually play from 9:30pm to 1:30am. 4 guys, $100 minimum per person per gig.

[kaiser_sosea]

Set One

Character Zero Phish 4

Run Around Blues Traveler 5

Love to Burn Neil Young 4

Ohio C,S,N,Y 6

Along Comes Mary The Association 4

Interlude Mr. Mike Dunn 4

Satellite Brian Jonestown Massacre 4

She's Not There The Zombies 3

Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan Phish 5

Devils Sidewalk Neil Young 7

Mustang Sally Wilson Pickett 4

You Wreck Me Tom Petty 6

Down With Disease Phish 5

Hey Bulldog The Beatles 5

T-Bone Neil Young 8

I Know You Rider The Grateful Dead 6

Backdoor Man The Doors 4

Time of Set One (hours) 1.4

Set Two

Minnasoter The Dandy Warhols 3

Paint it Black The Rolling Stones 5

On the Road Again Canned Heat 3

Heard it Through the Grapevine CCR 8

First Tube Phish 4

Psycho Killer Talking Heads 4

Rivers of Babylon Sublime 3.5

Stuck In The Middle Stealers Wheel 3

Minnesoter The Dandy Warhols 3

Suzie Q CCR 5

Can't Always Get What You Want The Rolling Stones 5

Dark Period Mr. Mike Dunn 4

Revolution The Beatles 4

Squeeze Box The Who 3

Go Down Mr. Mike Dunn 4

For What It's Worth Buffalo Springfield 7

Pokin Around Mr. Mike Dunn 5

All Along the Watchtower Bob Dylan 6

Why Don't We Do it in the Road The Beatles 4

Cortez The Killer Neil Young 6

Independence Day Mr. Mike Dunn 5

Time of Set Two (hours) 1.441666667

Set Three

Heavy Things Phish 5

About a Girl Nirvana 3

The Seeker The Who 5

Peace Frog The Doors 5

20th Century Man The Kinks 6

L.A. Woman The Doors 7

Mary Janes Last Dance Tom Petty 4

Lemon Song Led Zeppelin 5

I Will Survive Cake 5

Breakdown Tom Petty 3

Hard to Handle The Black Crowes 4

Are you Ready for the Country Neil Young 4

Words Neil Young 5

Found My Lady Mr. Mike Dunn 4

Like A Hurricane Neil Young 6

Up on Cripple Creek The Band 4

And it Stoned Me Van Morrison 4

God's Got It The Black Crowes 5

Let it Be The Beatles 4

Honey Bee Tom Petty 6

Casey Jones The Grateful Dead 4

Cover of the Rolling Stone Dr. Hook 4

Roadhouse Blues The Doors 4

[BottomHeavyKate]

 

What the {censored}? I thought I wrote a lot of songs. That's a {censored}-ton of originals.

 

 

8 recorded albums (one was a double)

 

Plus untold tapes and songs we never got down....

[Congoman]

About 100 songs, including 20 originals, and we've broken them into different styles for different gigs. 3 45 minute sets are not hard to throw together.

[coyote-1]

My band book, back in my pro days, was in excess of 700 songs.

[monark]

We have about 4 hours of covers in our setlist.

 

This is about what we are. We usually play small bars around the area and can go anywhere from 9pm to 2pm. We generally do about 4 sets, and each set usually has 10-12 songs, so I'd say we have a good 45-50 songs in our set and then there are others we can pull out if need be (to switch things up or if a certain band or song is requested). I'm guessing we have maybe 75-80 total, and then there always "make it up as you go" for when someone request something that only 2 of the 4 of us know, and we have to wing it.