Choosing the Best Setlist

After a period of time, which will be different for everyone, you will eventually amass a vast and eclectic repertoire. There is a high chance that this repertoire will share a material with many other musicians, artists or bands which is fine, but there will also be a selection of more unique tunes too. This could be things that you have worked on by yourself or been requested to play at some point in time. The aim of this blog post is to help you make a sure decision when it comes to selecting your setlist for future shows.

Country

Whilst this may not be an issue for most musicians, those touring abroad or even just playing a random one-off show may need to tailor their set for various reasons. A song that you might assume is very popular and will fill a dancefloor is not guaranteed to do the same in another country – you may have grown up with a song, but it does not mean that another person has the music ingrained into them like you have. 

There might also be cultural norms that you would do well to respect, such as content relating to drug or alcohol use, sexual themes and violence – this also ties into the next section. 

One caveat that quite a few friends of mine have had to deal with is playing on a cruise ship where you travel to many different countries, or perform as part of a contract in a hotel overseas. Both of these scenarios could have a variety of customers from different parts of the world at any given moment – then you have to think about a blanket approach that tries to please everybody.

Audience

Much like when you are playing in a different country, you may have to adjust your performance based on the audience members even in your own country. If the audience is mostly children, you might want to avoid swearing or suggestive themes and if you are playing a set in a retirement home, the residents will be aged and might not know or even enjoy any modern music.

As a performer it is useful to be able to read the crowd and adjust on the fly, providing that you can communicate this to anyone else you are playing with or your equipment allows it. In a previous band I played with, we had a very cool song that I loved, but it was about eight minutes long, if the crowd were not in the right place, then we would replace or skip this song. This works even if the song is not in the set, and this has caught me off guard more than a few times!

Covers Vs Originals

If you are playing at the local bar on a Friday night, you probably will not be playing your own original tunes. You will be playing songs that the audience will know, will enjoy and that helps the venue make some extra money because everyone is having a good time. In the same vein, you might want to avoid playing your obscure Japanese punk-prog cover songs if you are playing in a bar in Croydon. 

Often there are events where the focus is on original music, where cover tunes are not allowed at all. I have played at a few events where one cover song per band was allowed, but even then, it had to be arranged in such a way that it was not an exact copy.

Energy

Just like a great guitar solo, or an epic song, there should always be a fluid feel to the energy of your set. If you start off a barrage of high intensity songs and then slowly taper off towards the end of your set, people might be left wanting more, but in a negative way. If you play your star song, the highlight of the show right at the beginning then there is nothing else to live up to from the audience perspective. 

For best results in my experience, there should be a period in the middle of the set that allows some breathing room and gives people the chance to relax before it all ramps up again. Obviously, ending on a high is a great way to go out – this could be with a big finish, or a heart-warming song that brings everyone together, though a retrospective song may not always be the best choice.

Final Thoughts

One thing is for certain – try not to be predictable. My current band has a few strong followers that come to every performance, so partly to provide them with a higher standard of entertainment, but also to keep things fresh for the band, we often include original tunes and mix in covers we have not played for a long time. There is a band in the United Kingdom that I saw play a few years apart and the set, although performed well, was exactly the same. I am sure this happens all over the world! That being said, if you are too different every time, how will people know if they like you or not?

You should avoid going through the motions and one way to do that is to carefully select your songs for every performance. Many function bands have a repertoire of over 300 songs, but they trim it down to a couple of hours with finesse, a skill learned through trial and error as well as plenty of experience. 

One final thing you should always keep in mind is the encore – will there be one? Are you even allowed one? Some venues do not allow this for time or noise curfews, or request that you adjust your show to allow for this. More than a few times I have played a show where the crowd made it very known that they wanted more, and pressured the management of the venue into allowing it. There was even one time where my band wanted to desperately leave after finishing our set, and made up all manner of excuses to leave when the owner of the bar asked us to continue playing – I will spare you the details, but that was not a fun show!

Good luck in your musical journey, and with practice you will be an expert at crafting a setlist in no time!