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The other night, I was chatting with one of the guys in the band, and we started talking about the set list. It got me to thinking about set lists in general, their purpose and their utility.
The purpose of a set list should be fairly obvious; to have a semblance of order to a show, so that every member of the band knows what song is to be played at what time. Kind of what's on my mind right now is the fidelity to which that list must be paid.
I have played in bands were the set list was God and we all conformed to it, rehearsing the same songs in the same order over and over for weeks. On the one hand, it was a very put together show, with spot on transitions and good flow. On the other hand, we kinda had to hope that the crowd liked the order and flow of the songs; otherwise, it was going to be a long night (and there were more than a few of those).
Other times I have played, there was no set list whatsoever. The band leader would signal the key of the tune: 2 fingers up to indicate D (2 sharps), 3 fingers down for E flat (3 flats). He would flash his fingers, start a tune and all of us joined in (either we actually knew the song, or we just faked our way through it good enough). Since we were mostly playing standards and the usual workhorses, we could get by just fine.
For myself, I'm find that both of the above examples are a bit extreme. I prefer to write up the set list just before going on stage. This allows us to check out the crowd at the venue, take into account how we each are feeling and adjust the set accordingly. I think that a band should have a number of transitions and combinations worked out in advance that can be plugged in where they're appropriate and dropped when they're not.
One of the shows that I played recently is kind of a case in point. We had a written out set list for three sets. The first set we played as written, since the crowd was completely ignoring us (basically a paid practice). The second set, though, had people up and dancing, with a good energy to them. That energy fed us as well. So we stripped tunes from all over the place, trying to keep them in the groove. It worked, but it meant completely throwing out the written list. All things being equal, that's a good trade.
Posted by Casper at May 12, 2004 06:30 PM