Oddest song request yet for my 1950s rock and roll band

[Joefish]

… excuse the interruption, but I dig Kings of Leon

[Short Circuit]

Originally Posted by mlove3

"Good bands get requests.
Professionals should learn how to deal with them respectfully."

True. And some people cross the line by getting indignant and disrespectful if they're not hearing exactly what they want when they want it. Even the greatest cover band in the world CAN be stumped, and even if they play something from the same artist that often isn't enough to appease drunken a$$@#^&%s who just can't be pleased. Any professional knows that, so ya deal with it and move on.

No snarky, just commenting on how it's all part of the gig.

Where's the "Like" button when you need it

Mark

[Open G Tele]

Originally Posted by mlove3

"Good bands get requests.
Professionals should learn how to deal with them respectfully."

True. And some people cross the line by getting indignant and disrespectful if they're not hearing exactly what they want when they want it. Even the greatest cover band in the world CAN be stumped, and even if they play something from the same artist that often isn't enough to appease drunken a$$@#^&%s who just can't be pleased. Any professional knows that, so ya deal with it and move on.

No snarky, just commenting on how it's all part of the gig.

A snarky response to a request is unprofessional.
100% of the time.
There are moments when persistent requests turns into heckling.
Hecklers should be handled by security.
100% of the time.

[WaylonFan76]

Originally Posted by PinewoodRo

Don't you play any Abba? We get asked almost everytime

Play this next time :

[WaylonFan76]

My answer is always "Oh, I'm sorry, we don't know that one... Great song, though !" even if I can't stand the song... with the biggest smile I can muster. No need to get douchy...

[Texas Picker]

The request that stands out as most memorable for me is VOLARE.

[R. Stratenstein]

Originally Posted by WaylonFan76

Play this next time :

Love It! Imagine the dropped jaws! Maybe have your bass player-backup singer come out in a blonde wig or something!

[thinling]

In 1977 or '78 my punk band were weirdly booked at a mental institution. We thought we were going to play a fund-raising benefit gig for it, not actually for the elderly long-term patients, which was a bit of a surprise. It didn't look like we would be able to play them our usual songs, like "Suicide (give it a try)" or "Just Want To Be Sane Again (crawl back in my brain again)". So we took a request for "Michael Rows the Boat Ashore".
We played that about three times in different ways eventually - as a waltz, once - and anything else we could think of, while they danced with our roadie and had a great time. Eventually we did play our usual punk songs heavily disguised as ballads or the twist, no-one seemed to notice the lyrics. One gentleman joined us center-stage with an acoustic guitar and took over the band as his backing group, which went OK once his mike was turned off and our guitarist had shown him how to do the Pete Townshend arm-swirl.
Afterwards I signed someone's autograph book in between Napoleon and Kendo Nagasaki. It's good to please the punters!

[OlRedNeckHippy]

Originally Posted by McGlamRock

We use to hack our way through that one when ever someone had the nerve to request it. Our defense to our inevitabley poor performance was always, "Hey- you asked for it!"

That great!
I played for a few year with just me on accoustic and a bass player. We worked up a 12 bar version of Freebird. 4 bars of intro, sing the first lyric, then 4 bangin bars of the jam and out. Got a great response and a lot of laughs, and satisfied the "Freebird" screamers. There's one in every croud.

[Paul in Colorado]

Somebody once yelled out "Whipping Post" at a Frank Zappa concert. The band didn't know it, but they soon learned it, just in case it happened again.

[PennyCentury]

WHIPPING POST!!!!!!!

[mlove3]

"There are moments when persistent requests turns into heckling.
Hecklers should be handled by security.
100% of the time."

Key word: should.

[dlb1001]

Originally Posted by Paul in Colorado

Somebody once yelled out "Whipping Post" at a Frank Zappa concert. The band didn't know it, but they soon learned it, just in case it happened again.

A bandmate went to a Dweezil Zappa show in Santa Cruz a few weeks ago and they did a killer version of "Whipping Post". I guess some years ago, someone kept yelling for the song and finally, the band decided to add it to their list, just in case.
I think there is a Youtube video of the song, with Dweezil's band.

[bargoedboy]

We used to play a place in Weymouth Dorset, where the entertainments secretary asked us to do "Taking it easy" every gig we played there.
We used to actually sing it like that for him

[src9000]

Originally Posted by thinling

In 1977 or '78 my punk band were weirdly booked at a mental institution. We thought we were going to play a fund-raising benefit gig for it, not actually for the elderly long-term patients, which was a bit of a surprise. It didn't look like we would be able to play them our usual songs, like "Suicide (give it a try)" or "Just Want To Be Sane Again (crawl back in my brain again)". So we took a request for "Michael Rows the Boat Ashore".
We played that about three times in different ways eventually - as a waltz, once - and anything else we could think of, while they danced with our roadie and had a great time. Eventually we did play our usual punk songs heavily disguised as ballads or the twist, no-one seemed to notice the lyrics. One gentleman joined us center-stage with an acoustic guitar and took over the band as his backing group, which went OK once his mike was turned off and our guitarist had shown him how to do the Pete Townshend arm-swirl.
Afterwards I signed someone's autograph book in between Napoleon and Kendo Nagasaki. It's good to please the punters!

Great story, how were you guys dressed?

[AJBaker]

I sometimes get people try to show me a song on an ipod during a gig, thinking hearing it once means I can play it...

[umasstele]

I usually just smile and say we'll learn that one for next time

On the topic of whipping post...if you listen to live at the fillmore, right before they play whipping post you can hear someone in the audience loudly demanding they play that song...whoever it is who answers for the band chuckles and says "yea....uh...you guessed it" and they play it.

[rickym]

We get the same thing. Being in a classic rock band, we always get far-out requests. I usually introduce the band as a "classic rock" band. The requests for Nirvana or foo fighters usually crack me up. I'm always honest & tell 'em "Sorry. We're a classic rock band. Those songs won't be classic to us in another 20 years"! They usually laugh it off.

"Good bands get requests.
Professionals should learn how to deal with them respectfully."

Very true. But how many of the BIG bands - y'know the ones whose songs we cover take requests? Out of all my 40 years of going to concerts only 1 - James Taylor listened to people make requests. And he told them he didn't take requests..

[GigsbyBoyUK]

Springsteen takes requests at every show nowadays, and sometimes they play songs they've never done before. But they do have someone to download the lyrics and get them up on the teleprompters while they figure out the key and chords.

Last night we had our first gig since the 'Sex on Fire' incident and I told the audience about it - it was quite a good anecdote and everyone got a laugh out of it, so all in all it's turned in our favour.

[Fenderfiend]

Originally Posted by AJBaker

I sometimes get people try to show me a song on an ipod during a gig, thinking hearing it once means I can play it...

My sister frequents a piano bar near her house and she invited me out there one evening.

The guy is blind and plays soft "lounge" music, but he solicits requests. Oops!

He IS a person that can play ANYTHING after hearing it once.
(Must be a blind person thing)

Ok, you want a challenge?

"Enter Sandman" by Metallica.

We found it on the ol' smart phone and let him listen to -he made several hilarious faces while listening to it -
but he played the COOLEST version of it EVER!!

The next time I go out there I'm going to see if he'll play it again.
If I do and he does, I'm going to video it and post it to youtube -it really is that cool.

Enter Sandman on lounge piano -most excellent!
We ALL enjoyed ourselves!

(I think I tipped him $20 for the song... gave it to his wife(?)/manager/handler.)