Set lists...

Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe
I'm Ready - Fats Domino (Albert Lee version)
Fast As You - Dwight Yoakum
Someone Like You - Van Morrison
These Eyes - The Guess Who
Uptown Funk - Ronson/Bruno Mars
The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes - Elvis Costello
Hold The Line - Toto
Jump, Jive & Wail - Brian Setzer
Smooth - Santana/Rob Thomas

 

Don't base your set lists on what other bands are playing; base them on what YOUR band wants to play.

Your audience derives THEIR energy from YOUR energy!

 

Love Me Two Times
Locomotive Breath
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
So Far Away
Money
Poor Side of Town
Badge
Tambourine Man (yeah....crowds love it)
Wild Nights
Last Dance with Mary Jane
....and for a Dec. 7th gig, Bowie's Heroes. (lyrics are basically gibberish, nothing to do with REAL heroes, but people don't realize that.....they just think "HEROES"....and that's OK)

 

Never Call Me by my Name
La Grange
Chicken Fried
Two Tickets to Paradise
Hollywood Nights
Take it Easy

or

Sweet Home Alabama
Brown Eyed Girl
Mustang Sally
Firebird


Depends on the club and the clientele. We can shift to more country if there's a lot of two steppers, or play more harder classic rock. I think one of the main things is to play what you can really present well. If you have energy and are having fun, so will the crowd.

Cheers,
Doug

 

We mostly play for later 40's and older crowd. We cover music from many decades. Some example of the ones that seem to consistently gather great crown response are:

Copper Head Road - Mandolin & Guitar
Country Roads - Mandolin & Guitar
Saw Her Standing There - 2 Guitars
Losing My Religion - Mandolin & Guitar
Wagon Wheel - Mandolin & Guitar
Sweet Caroline - 2 Guitars
Folsom Prison - 2 Guitars
Closing Time - Mandolin & Guitar

How you make the song your own, and engage the crowd is a huge part of the crowd response you'll get. Pick songs that your band plays well. Songs that suit the singer's voice very well. What works for us, could be dead fish for you. Having more than 1 lead singer makes for a great crowd experience. Your song selection opens up greatly. Vocal harmonies come together nicely. When I bring out the mandolin to cover songs that feature the instrument, the audience really seems to soak it up. Seems mandolins are not seen around these parts very often any more.

 

1. You Don’t Know How It Feels

1. Long Haired Country Boy
   
   
2. For What It’s Worth
   
   
3. Tulsa Time
   
   
4. Learning to Fly
5. Move It On Over
   
   
6. Not Fade Away/Bo Diddley
   
7. Last Dance w.MJ
8. Folsom

 

Same thing happens when we pull out songs with harmonica features in them. Seemingly the whole bar generally reacts.

 

It is a case of going out to the clubs and observing what is being played divided by what is going over with the crowd.
As much as I hate to say it, the bands that get the most work are the ones playing what everybody else plays.

The Cover tune Audience just wants to hear their song.
Why? They LOVE that song.
They are fully aware that every band for the last ten weeks has played it. They don't care, they love it.
Now, They Want to hear YOUR version.

Change the Key if you have to, just do it in a key you can Sing.

 

Unsure what genre the OP is playing.
For reference we play beatles, stones, tom pretty, prince, queen, Oasis etc, and popular Australian stuff that may not ring too many bells for most people on here.

I don't think much of the song myself but the song we play that goes over the most is Mr Brightside by The Killers. The place goes nuts each time, I find the song grating, though I love playing the main riff.

Other big guns are

I won't back down
Under pressure
I want to break free
Sex On Fire (terrible song but it also goes off every time}
Don't look back in anger
Copperhead rd
Yellow
Dakota
Cream

 

I play in an acoustic duo, mainly as lazy Sunday afternoon background music in bars. We cover a lot of the Tom Petty stuff mentioned above - Mary Jane being a favourite - and things like Copperhead Road.

Fleetwood Macs The Chain generally goes down well, but a strange little combo we do seems to always get a reaction.

David Bowies Sorrow segued into The Who’s Squeeze Box.

 

Our newest 5 are Escape (pina colada), crazy by seal, crazy by gnarls Barkley, dreadlock holiday by 10cc and where is my mind by the pixies. Eclectic to say the least..

 

Imagine my (our) surprise tonight at a corporate gig.... we played "If I Had a Boat" by Lyle Lovett about 3 songs in.... it JAMMED the dance floor

1. Pick good songs....
2. Play them well ....
3. Take the crowd for a ride!

1 & 2 are critical to any sort of success with #3.

IMO... I don't dislike the Sweet Home Alabama, or Mustang Sally's of the song world. They are classics for a reason. But they are low hanging fruit.... try to push yourself harder if you can and be a little more unique.

 

Do a few medleys (run two or three songs together) - that seems to work well for us.

 

My band is 8 pieces with 3 horns so...
- Wild Night and Domino - Van Morrison
- Uptown Funk
- My Own Way To Rock, Burton Cummings
- Hard to Handle, Black Crowes with horns
- SOB, Nathanial Ratcliffe
- Gimme Some Lovin’, Traffic
- Feelin’ Alright - Joe Cocker
- Smooth, Santana

 

That's kinda the key maybe, play enough songs the band is "in to" for the energy that the crowd recognizes, but play enough cover tunes that the crowd really wants to hear. They WILL let you know, albeit maybe in a subtle manner, if you're not doing enough of those.

However, we are willing to lose a few gigs by not regularly playing some of the most overplayed stuff. It's a fine line for sure.
We mix a lot of unknown stuff in with these etc in the popular vein:
Blues So Bad- Maria Muldaur
Black is Black - Em Los Bravos
I Don’t Need No Doctor- Mayer/Scofield
I Only Have Eyes For You- Flamingos
Take me to The River- Al Green
Walkin Blues- traditional
Superstitous -Stevie Wonder
I Feel Good -James Brown
Chain Of Fools - Aretha
My Girl (guy)- Temptations
Givin It Up For Your Love- Del McClinton
Flip Flop Fly - Blues Bros
Damn Your Eyes - Etta James
Knock on Wood -Seal
Love Me Like a Man - Raitt
Yellow Moon -Neville Bros

 

Obviously dependent on the audience etc but, just because to some degree, they amuse us (I know, yo-ho-ho) ...

Invariably start off with - Fortunate Son (we ain't) or After midnight (we'll be long gone).
Towards the middle we'll do - Stuck in the middle with you (it's side splitting stuff isn't it)
And, unless we're just background to an event and not able to turn it up, we like to finish on - Shake your money maker, we did use to do I'm down, but that was too corny even for us.

As for the rest, mainly 60s RnB/Bluesy stuff. But, there's a load of ballad type stuff our singer writes too if needed.
(Side note - we usually like to throw in "Tweeter and the monkey man" somewhere as well - I do love a good story)

 

Pretty easy to find a Tom Petty song that will go over pretty well just about anywhere. No shortage of familiar, and easy to play songs from him.

 

Gotta play what you like, what the audience like and what will have them dancing and screaming..

For us that is...

Blondie, Pretenders, Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Killers, U2, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Bowie, T Rex, Cream, ZZ Top... we do a kinks medley that even the kids know the words to

 

My Sets anymore
( note: currently playing in a duo with bass player at brewpubs/Wineries)

are based on a mix from some of the faves songs to play ( and folks like to hear) from the Blues Band, Classic Country, and Classic Early Rock, and Jam bands I have been in- just bring this up as my strength is my variety:

A few examples:
Melissa
One Way Out
Into The Mystic
Lay Down Sally
Thrill is Gone
Good Lovin'
Susie Q
Folsom Prison ( I like to show off some picking)
Your Cheatin' Heart
Don't Think Twice
A John Prine song
Not Fade Away
The Weight
+ Bluegrass picking songs....