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I'm trying to put together a set list for an hour's worth or so. I've never put one together before, and am hoping you might have some ideas that people of the classic rock persuasion would enjoy - song ideas that would be fun listening / dancing to?

I know there's a thread with some ideas lingering in the past on this board, but typing in "set, song list", etc, brings up a few thousand entries and I thought it would be a better topic to engage in than politics! What have you had success with in terms of fun for the audience?

Thanks!

Rock band?
Country band?
Folk singer?

Each song about 3 to 4 min's.

10 to 15 second break between songs

about 12 to 15 songs.

RGMixProject wrote:Rock band?
Country band?
Folk singer?

Each song about 3 to 4 min's.

10 to 15 second break between songs

about 12 to 15 songs.

Rock band
thanks!

My old standby's are "Margaritaville" and "Stuck in the Middle".

Is that the kind of thing you are talking about?

6 Days On The Road (Taj Mahal version)
Back In The USSR (Beatles)
What I Like About You (Romantics)
Simply Irresistible (Robt Palmer)
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Elton John)
Blister In The Sun (Violent Femmes)
Young Americans
Suffragette City
The Jean Genie
Golden Years (you can NEVER go wrong with David Bowie!)
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (Bob Seger)
Rock Me
Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf)
Time Won't Let Me (The Outsiders)
Nobody But Me (The Human Beinz)
One Way Out (Allman Bros)
The Letter
Cry Like A Baby (The Box Tops)
Judy In Disguise (John Fred & His Playboy Band)
Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group)

These are pretty easy to sing, for the most part, & are HOT tunes for most audiences I've played for.

Addendum: This song is an absolute MUST!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diiL9bqvalo

Oooh. I'm likin some of these. I'm gonna have to spend some time listening to em on tubers to see what makes my feet tap!

Thanks Phil!

philbymon wrote:6 Days On The Road (Taj Mahal version)
Back In The USSR (Beatles)
What I Like About You (Romantics)
Simply Irresistible (Robt Palmer)
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Elton John)
Blister In The Sun (Violent Femmes)
Young Americans
Suffragette City
The Jean Genie
Golden Years (you can NEVER go wrong with David Bowie!)
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (Bob Seger)
Rock Me
Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf)
Time Won't Let Me (The Outsiders)
Nobody But Me (The Human Beinz)
One Way Out (Allman Bros)
The Letter
Cry Like A Baby (The Box Tops)
Judy In Disguise (John Fred & His Playboy Band)
Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group)

These are pretty easy to sing, for the most part, & are HOT tunes for most audiences I've played for.

Addendum: This song is an absolute MUST!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diiL9bqvalo

philbymon wrote:Addendum: This song is an absolute MUST!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diiL9bqvalo

LOL! Okay Phil, tell you what - if you come out to Cali to sing it, I'll play it!

So how's your project coming along. Jam?

Boogie Oogie Oogie (A Taste Of Honey)
Car Wash (Rose Royce)
Pee Wee's Dance (Joeski Love)
Rappin' Duke (Shawn Brown)
Who Stole the Keeshka? (Frankie Yankovic)
Beer Barrel Polka (Jaromír Vejvoda)
Tiny Bubbles (Don Ho)
Ave Maria (Ellens dritter Gesang) (Franz Schubert)
Bubbles In the Wine (Lawrence Welk)
Brahms's Lullaby (Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht, Op. 49, No. 4) (Johannes Brahms)
Like Rats (Godflesh)
I Became a Counselor So I Could Tell Rape Victims They Asked for It (Anal Cunt)

Some of the songs on our list from a year ago or so.

I Got A Line On You - Spirit
You Wreck Me - Tom Petty
Premonition - John Fogerty
Givin It Up - Delbert McClinton
Sookie Sookie - Steppenwolf
I Need You Tonight - ZZ Top
Melissa - Allman Brothers
Leave Your Hat On - Joe Cocker
Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones
Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood
I Need to Know - Tom Petty
Super Love - ???
TV Dinners - ZZ Top
After Midnight - Eric Clapton
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
Knockin on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan
Hot, Blue and Righteous - ZZ Top

On the list but not ready for public consumption -
Run To You - Bryan Adams
Ramblin Man - Allman Brothers
Midnight Rider - Allman Brothers
My Head's in Mississippi - ZZ Top
Are You Ready - Grand Funk Railroad
Time Machine - Grand Funk Railroad
Stuck in the Middle With You - Steelers Wheel
Lunatic Fringe - Red Rider
Burnin For You - Blue Oyster Cult
Breakdown - Tom Petty
Good Clean Fun - Allman Brothers

All the ones on the playlist proved to get people on the dance floor, most of those on the back burner were very good possibilities, since we knew what would get people going already.

You might also go see a few bands in your area, and pay attention to what gets people dancing and what they just sit there and listen to, or just talk...pay attention to what they request too.

Paleo hit on the right way to approach this.

Go see bands that are playing to the target audience you want and copy them.

These threads come ever few monthes and people try to put the perfect setlist together. I dont think there is one, but the biggest mistake I see in cover bands trying to be paid is they put all their pet songs in there thinking that thru thier musical brillance that people will connect to them.

If you want to be paid to play cover songs, play what the audience wants to hear. Plain and simple!

If you want to show how great you are as a muscian then write your own songs and go that route.

In my own band I really dont care to play half the stuff we do anymore, but when people call out for a song other than Freebird, what are you gonna do? Tell them to go f**k themselves! I think bands need to develop the attitude in the cover area that we are going to play what works and gets the crowd involved. When we play we have a few pet songs that we love to play. I can play the hell out of them but noone gets up and dances, no applause and it doesnt matter how well we play them. Because an audience that pays wants to hear the samo samo samo.

If you dont believe me then learn 40 songs that noone really knows go out and play them and see how satisfied you are with the response! Ive doen it over and over again thru the years in various groups. If I get asked to set in with groups today and they dont have a set list that i think will get a crowd into it. I just pass, unless they offer me enough money, then I will play Freebird and Stairway! LOL

jw123 wrote:In my own band I really dont care to play half the stuff we do anymore, but when people call out for a song other than Freebird, what are you gonna do? Tell them to go f**k themselves!

That's what I do. ESPECIALLY if they call out Freebird.

jw123 wrote: I think bands need to develop the attitude in the cover area that we are going to play what works and gets the crowd involved.

What works for one band may not work for another. You can try to copy someone. But, a musician's individuality shows through anyway, if they are any good.

I loathe playing covers.

JW said it better than I did, and he's right. we didn't have to go out and check the crowds, we already knew what would work. We had both been plaing around here for a while, we know what the set list has to look like.

That said, we do also drop in a few favorites to play for US, but even then sometimes we get lucky and the crowds like those. I Got A Line On You and Premonition are two of those. But both are good rockers, and people get up and dance, sometimes they even request one of them.

Anyway, JW is right. If you play covers, you have to play what the audience wants to hear and that's that. We draw the line at Freebird, but we're not above playing Cocaine, Johnny B Goode, and a few others we would rather not play, after several requests for them.

Otherwise we wouldn't have an audience...

We're in the planning stages of a New Years Eve gig, my first time onstage in a while, and we'll have most of those songs on the list, plus some new ones, and a few WE want to play. The main thing though, we like to do more of a show. I don't just stand there looking bored, I run out on the dance floor for leads on long songs, wear hats, wigs and use other stage props, and NEVER stand there looking like...OK let's get this over with so I can get paid and go home...

So I must repeat myself. Go check out the local venues, find out what bands are playing and what the crowds like. Base your songlist mostly on those observations.

I always try to find great tunes that other bands or solo acts DON'T play.

It works for me...