Setlists

[Hell Patrol]

So, me and my "band" are finally getting our acts together and are planning to start gigging sometime this year. So... How do you compose a setlist, and how often, if ever, do you repeat the same setlist?

EDIT: Oh and how do you come up with a decent setlist? We're trying to spread the numbers evenly between crowd-pleasing covers and some originals and covers of more obscure bands.

 

[Mack Addy]

Oh, the argument of set lists..this can bring many many headaches!

There are a lot of variables to consider, such as:

- the venue you are playing in
- what exactly you play
- how many songs you have available to play
- the general crowd or demographic of the venue (who you will be playing for)
- how long each set will be and how long you play for the night
- what drink specials are available that particular night (if any)
etc etc..

For example, a biker bar would be great to pull out your Skynyrd, ZZ Top, all the classic favorites. Try to leave originals out of the equation whenever possible until a following has been built. A club downtown that supports local music would most likely want original music almost exclusively. Talk to the club owners/managers and see what they want and expect. Work around that.

Also consider the pace of the audience. A set full of fast and crazy songs might wear them out too quickly and a set of nothing but ballads won't keep them on the floor. Either way the crowd would get bored FAST. Moderation is the key! Start off high energy, drop back a little, bring it back up, give them a breather, so and on so forth.

I could go on and on about this. I'll leave the rest to you. Any other questions?

 

[Hell Patrol]

Thanks heaps! That information will be really useful once we get around to playing gigs, assuming we do get to the stage of playing gigs...