Your bar band's setlist

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Tulpa Girl

Tulpa Girl

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Just for fun...

The local watering hole in your area has had a last-minute cancellation from a music group they had scheduled to play as an opening act tomorrow night, and they've asked the band that you - yes, YOU! - and your friends play in to step in for the night. Now, you don't have any original songs yet to play, 'cause writing original music is hard, so you'll need to play various cover tunes that you've gotten pretty good at. If can pull it off, you may wind up getting more gigs here, so it's probably best to show a range of what you're good at within your particular musical genre, so don't play more than one song by the same original artist. Not counting time for introductions and a bit of small talk between songs, you've got about 45 minutes to work with, give or take a minute or two.

So what's your band name, and your setlist for the night?
 
Playing tonight... Sandbox Shenanigans

Blue Orchid (White Stripes)
Quavers (Shonen Knife)
Self Esteem (The Offspring)
Rebel Rebel (David Bowie)
Pepper (Butthole Surfers)
Questioning My Sanity (L7)
War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
The Soapmakers (Clutch)
The Passenger (Iggy Pop)
Life During Wartime (Talking Heads)
Blitzkreig Bop (Ramones)
 
My band is called The Dead Hobos

Setlist:
1. Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)
2. Blow at High Dough (Tragically Hip)
3. Tweeter and the Monkey Man (Travelling Wilburys)
4. Running to Stand Still (U2)
5. Bound for Glory (Tedeschi Trucks Band)
6. Red Right Hand (Nick Cave)
7. Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)
8. New Orleans is Sinking (Tragically Hip)
9. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns N' Roses)
10. Baba O'Reily (The Who)
Encore - Alive (Pearl Jam)
 
The Kitty Kats
“Friday, I’m in Love” The Cure
“Rock ‘N Roll All Nite” KISS
“Come Dancing” The Kinks
“All The Small Things” Blink-182
“Dancing With Myself” Generation X
“Sheena is a Punk Rocker” Ramones
“Jamie’s Cryin’” Van Halen
“You Might Think” The Cars
“Do You Wanna Dance?” The Beach Boys
“Today” The Smashing Pumpkins

Encore:
“I Won’t Back Down” Tom Petty
“The End” The Beatles
 
For the purpose of this exercise, I will be calling my band Six for Sure:

Skin O' My Teeth (Megadeth)
Blackened (Metallica)
Am I Evil (Diamond Head)
Streets of Laredo
Hot Rod Lincoln
Seven Spanish Angels
Breaking the Law (Judas Priest)
The Gods Made Heavy Metal (Manowar)

We get to do an encore?

The Unforgiven (Metallica again, bite me)
Don't Fear the Reaper
Carry on Wayward Son

Carry on Wayward Son is always the last song of the night. Take your drunk ass home.
 
Band name Grandpa's 8-Track Hootenanny

1) Bang Bang (Nancy Sinatra)
2) On the Road Again (Canned Heat)
3) Driver's Seat (Sniff 'n The Tears)
4) Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)
5) I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges)
7) Venus In Furs (The Velvet Underground)
8) Ain't Gonna Bump No More (Joe Tex)
9) Lay Down / Candles In the Rain (Melanie)
10) Pretty Polly (traditional)
11) Dr. Octopus Part 2 - (John Palumbo, from Spider-man: Rock Reflections Of A Superhero)
12) Ave Satani - (Jerry Goldsmith, from "The Omen")

Edit: Now with handy-dandy 21st century links! Très moderne!
 
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This is for your standard "aging rocker/indie kid" bar. I might do a honky tonk cowboy bar band tomorrow.

Band Name: Grim Post Irony

Setlist

1. Life on Mars (David Bowie)
2. All the Young Dudes (Mott the Hoople)
3. I'm not like Everyone Else (The Kinks)
4. Thick as Thieves (The Jam)
5. London's Calling (The Clash)
6. I'm Alright Jack (Tom Robinson Band)
7. 125 MPH (New Model Army)
8. Dance Commander (Electric Six)
9. Glam Rock Cops (Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine)
10.It's a Sin (Pet Shop Boy)
11. Common People (Pulp)
12. I Still Believe (Frank Turner)

Encore

Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen)
When Do I get to Sing "My Way"? (Sparks)

 
My Duran Duran cover band, The Wild Boys


Rio (Duran Duran)
Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs)
I Ran (A Flock of Seagulls)
London Calling (The Clash)
Once In A Lifetime (Talking Heads)
Living on Video (Trans-X)
Pale Shelter (Tears for Fears)
Africa (Toto)
Major Tom (Peter Schilling)
The Killing Moon (Echo and the Bunnymen)
In the Air Tonight (Phil Collins)
 
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Undercover Lover

Six Years Gone (Georgia Satellites)
Break (Gin Blossoms)
Odds Are (Barenaked Ladies)
We Are The People (John Mellencamp)
Somewhere In My Heart (Aztec Camera)
Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Satellite (Hooters)
Runaway Train (Soul Asylum)
Nothing Ever Happens (Del Amitri)
A Murder Of One (Counting Crows)
Rockin' In The Free World (Neil Young)
 
Best performed somewhere about Earl's Court.
  1. Toccata (Sky)
  2. Our House (Madness)
  3. Total Control (Motels)
  4. Putting on the Ritz (Irving Berlin/Taco)
  5. Killer Queen (Queen)
  6. Crazy About You (Modal Nodes)
  7. Whisky in the Jar (Trad)
  8. Walk Like an Egyptian (Bangles)
  9. Variations (Andrew Lloyd-Webber) - Appreciably shorter than the original and Hilary Hahn wasn't available.
  10. Kashmir (Led Zepplin)
  11. Doesn't Matter To Me (Redgum)
  12. Duelling Banjos (Smith)
  13. Room that Echoes (Peking Man)
  14. Oxygene Pt. 4 (Jarre)
  15. Without Me (Eminem)
  16. Down Under (Men At Work) - The Ozzies should be pissed by now so it's really a sing-along.
  17. Itsumo Nando Demo (Youmi Kimura)
As to what sort of band you'd put together to pull off that lot - well, that wasn't part of the question. I did consider Rach 3 as a 45 minute filler.
 
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Now my Honky Tonk Bar Band

Band Name: The Snakeskin Romeos

Setlist

For Milton Mapes (The Broken Family Band)
I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash)
The Bottomless Pit (The Handsome Family)
Pancho & Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
U Don't Dans 2 Tekno Anymore (Alabama 3)
The Industry (Okervill River)
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (John Prine)
Take this Job and Shove it (Johnny Paycheck)
Don't you think this Outlaw Bit's done got out of Hand (Waylon Jennings)
Alright Guy (Todd Snider)
Lost Highway (Hank Williams)
All My Rowdy friends [have settled down] (Hank Williams Jr)
The Grand Ole Opry [ain't so grand) (Hank Williams III)
If you don't like Hank Williams (Kris Kristofferson)

Encore

Assholes (Drive-By Truckers)
Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother (Ray Wylie Hubbard)

And after that last song, I think we should probably make a swift exit.

 
My band is designed to get people to sing and drink, so there would be calls for toasts/drinks (please tip the waitstaff!) between every song .This would be optimally successful in a Memphis, Tennessee dive bar with a 50-60 year old regulars. I have seen this done with a fake Irish band from Knoxville.

The Eclectic Joes

As Good As I Once Was (Toby Keith)
The Night Paddy Murphy Died (The Great Big Sea)
Safety Dance (Men Without Hats)
Family Tradition (Hank Williams Jr)
Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
Take on Me (A-Ha)
What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor (Irish Rovers)
El Paso (Marty Robbins)
et cetera

Wrap up with Friends in Low Places (Garth Brooks)
 
Picaroon Jack said:
My band is designed to get people to sing and drink, so there would be calls for toasts/drinks (please tip the waitstaff!) between every song .This would be optimally successful in a Memphis, Tennessee dive bar with a 50-60 year old regulars. I have seen this done with a fake Irish band from Knoxville.

The Eclectic Joes

As Good As I Once Was (Toby Keith)
The Night Paddy Murphy Died (The Great Big Sea)
Safety Dance (Men Without Hats)
Family Tradition (Hank Williams Jr)
Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
Take on Me (A-Ha)
What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor (Irish Rovers)
El Paso (Marty Robbins)
et cetera

Wrap up with Friends in Low Places (Garth Brooks)
Click to expand...
Amusingly, my best friend's name is indeed Dave, and we do indeed play a lot of pool together. I laughed my ass off the first time I heard the song, many moons ago.
 
Eclectic Sounds

What Makes a Good Man ( The Heavy )
Come Together (Gary Clark, Jr)
Killing in the Name of (Rage against the Machine)
Monkey Wrench (Foo Fighters)
Fortunate Son (Credence Clearwater Revival)

(switch to acoustic for closing songs)

I am the Highway (Audioslave)
Blow up the Outside World (Soundgarden)
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Temple of the Dog)
Down in a Hole (Alice in Chains)
You Never Knew My Mind (Johnny Cash)
Long Gone Day (Mad Season)
 
Rather thank cherry pick favourites from every genre, I'd mostly stick to the new wave/synthwave/college rock stuff I prat around with when I'm bored.

#1 "Heroes" (David Bowie)
#2 Psycho Killer (Talking Heads)
#3 Always on My Mind (Pet Shop Boys)
#4 Love Like Blood (Killing Joke)
#5 Inbetween Days (The Cure)
#6 You Spin Me Round (Dead or Alive)
#7 The Killing Moon (Echo and the Bunnymen)
#8 Walking on the Moon (The Police)
#9 Ordinary World (Duran Duran)
#10 Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode)

That all clocks in at about 43 minutes, and I'd keep playing Just Can't Get Enough until everyone got sick of it and threw us out.

EDIT: Oh yeah, the band name is "Propaganda for Flamingos".
 
Last edited:
Chaotic Wooster said:
#10 Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode)

That all clocks in at about 43 minutes, and I'd keep playing Just Can't Get Enough until everyone got sick of it and threw us out.
Click to expand...
There's the danger that could be 40 minutes into the set. :grin::grin::grin:
 
Okay, assuming this is a hipster bar, about the only ones that still feature live music:

Name - The Narcoleptics

Setlist:

- Needles in the Camel's Eye (Eno)
- I'm Stranded (The Saints)
- Why Can't I Touch It (Buzzcocks)
- Three Girl Rhumba (Wire)
- Romeo (The Wipers)
- Fanatics (Minutemen)
- Shark Fin Blues (The Drones)
- Ghostrider (Suicide)
- Sister Ray (Velvet Underground)

End the set to clear out the room.
 
Okay! Good fun.

1) Privacy Invasion - The Exploited.
2) Commando - The Ramones
3) Decontrol - Discharge
4) California Gold - The Smut Peddlars
5) Milk and Alcohol - Dr. Feelgood
6) So Pissed Offf - The Nips
7) Get a Dog - The Gobs
8) Dirty Punk - Oxymoron
9) Already Hate Your Next BF - N8NOFACE
10) Vuur - Crapulius Caesar
11) Silent Panic - Violent Minds
12) What about a future - Chaos UK

13) Bonus Track! - Don't Fear - The Reaper Blue Oyster Cult
 
Ooh, this is fun! I'll play!

My cover band would be called Jon's Radio, in memory of my brother, who listened to a little bit (sometimes a lot) of almost everything.

1. The Hanging Garden- The Cure, ~4 minutes
2. Prison Bound- Social Distortion, ~5 minutes
3. Posse on Broady- Sir Mix-a-Lot, ~5 minutes
4. Nightrain- Guns N' Roses, ~4 minutes
5. Coming Home- Cinderella, ~5 minutes
6. Crazed Country Rebel- Hank Williams III, ~3 minutes
7. Hungry Like the Wolf- Duran Duran, ~4 minutes
8. Rhymin' & Stealin'- Beastie Boys, ~4 minutes
9. Forgot about Dre- Dr. Dre & Eminem, ~4 minutes
10. The Boys are Back in Town- Thin Lizzy, ~4 minutes

and for the grand finale,

11. Rock You Like a Hurrican- Scorpions, ~4 minutes
 
Band name is "The Goslings"

My whole set is Brown Eyed Girl repeated 13 times but in a different musical style each time. Metal, Bop, Smooth Jazz, Samba, y'know, that sort of thing.

And for the encore we just play Van Morrison's version as we flee the stage under a hail of beer bottles, mulched fries, and rotten fruit.
 
My next cover band would be called Double Coverage, because our schtick would be that we only play covers of covers. Here’s our set list:

  1. All Along the Watchtower- Bob Dylan via Jimi Hendrix
  2. Take Me Home Country Roads- John Denver via Toots & the Maytalls.
  3. Whiskey in the Jar- traditional via Thin Lizzy
  4. Hurt- Nine Inch Nails via Johnny Cash
  5. Just Like Heaven- The Cure via Dinosaur Jr
  6. Bizarre Love Triangle- New Order via Frente!
  7. Cum on Feel the Noize- Slade via Quiet Riot
  8. Greenland Whale Fisheries- traditional via Peter, Paul and Mary
  9. House of the Rising Sun- traditional via The Animals
  10. Johnny Come Lately- Steve Earle via Street Dogs
  11. I Put a Spell on You- Screamin’ Jay Hawkins via Marilyn Manson
  12. Royals- Lorde via Bruce Springsteen
  13. Rock Lobster- B-52s via Botch, for when we need to get the stragglers to leave the bar

 
My bands name would be Steel Pergola - no reason other than I suck at name and this is one that stuck in my head when, years ago, we were joking around at work about what another colleague should call his band.
Setlist would be :

Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin
Tie your Mother Down - Queen
Stare it Cold - The Black Crowes
Shoot to Thrill - ACDC
I Beleive in the Thing called Love - The Darkness
Heroes - Motorhead (cover of the Bowie track)
Heavens Trail (No way Out) - Tesla
Travellers Tune - Ocean Colour Scene
Long Cool Woman - The Hollies
Take Me Home - The Quireboys

Encore, if any, would be Robert Johnson's Tombstone - Thunder
 
I've dredged this thread up from earlier in the year because I actually have a real playlist! Back in May of this year, I bought a Yahama keyboard and started learning to play for the first time in my life. A friend of mine already had a band, and they really wanted a keyboardist to join, so he gave me this playlist (actually, there were about 5 other songs that got switched out during the process) and said, "Let's see what you can do." So I learned a bunch of the songs and they let me join the band.

In the summer of 2020 and 2021, they did these street concerts for their neighbourhood to get people together outdoors during COVID to see some live music. This year, we had planned to do another concert at the end of August, but everyone except the drummer managed to catch COVID from our lead guitarist during the practice less than one week before the show. So it ended up being pushed back to September. But this was my first show, which took place 5 months and 5 days after I first bought the keyboard.

Anyway, I learned all of these songs, and we played live in front of about 50-60 people in the neighbourhood (plus a bunch of friends from farther afield) who had gathered to hear us play.

So our bar band ("dad band") setlist was as follows:
  • Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • The Bandit - Kings of Leon
  • Won't Go Home Without You - Maroon 5
  • Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
  • Wonderwall - Oasis
  • Valerie - The Zutons
  • Mercy - Shawn Mendes
  • Creep - Radiohead
  • Clocks - Coldplay
  • Perfect - Ed Sheeran
  • Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • As It Was - Harry Styles
  • Long Train Runnin' - The Doobie Brothers
  • Fever - The Black Keys
  • Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
  • Just Like Heaven - The Cure

[Break]

  • Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
  • Last Nite - The Stroke
  • One - U2
  • Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
  • Basket Case - Green Day
  • Little Bones - The Tragically Hip
  • Bobcaygeon - The Tragically Hip
  • Fifty Mission Cap - The Tragically Hip
  • Blow At High Dough - The Tragically Hip
  • Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
  • Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
  • Hang Ups - Scott Helman
  • Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
  • When You Were Young - The Killers
  • Don't Kill the Magic - MAGIC!
  • My Hero - Foo Fighters

I've uploaded the edited footage to YouTube, in case anyone is interested. The sound is shitty, as we live-streamed it on Twitch for a bunch of friends who couldn't travel in to see it, so the sound comes from a webcam. But my son also recorded bits with his DSLR, and the sound for that is better, so most of the songs kind of "kick in" partway through with better sound.

Anyway, I'm in the guy in the Hawaiian shirt (that I actually bought in Okinawa in 2019) playing the keyboards. The other electric piano was lent to me by the second guitarist (and singer).

Video Part 1
Video Part 2
 
Andrew J. Luther said:
I've dredged this thread up from earlier in the year because I actually have a real playlist! Back in May of this year, I bought a Yahama keyboard and started learning to play for the first time in my life. A friend of mine already had a band, and they really wanted a keyboardist to join, so he gave me this playlist (actually, there were about 5 other songs that got switched out during the process) and said, "Let's see what you can do." So I learned a bunch of the songs and they let me join the band.

In the summer of 2020 and 2021, they did these street concerts for their neighbourhood to get people together outdoors during COVID to see some live music. This year, we had planned to do another concert at the end of August, but everyone except the drummer managed to catch COVID from our lead guitarist during the practice less than one week before the show. So it ended up being pushed back to September. But this was my first show, which took place 5 months and 5 days after I first bought the keyboard.

Anyway, I learned all of these songs, and we played live in front of about 50-60 people in the neighbourhood (plus a bunch of friends from farther afield) who had gathered to hear us play.

So our bar band ("dad band") setlist was as follows:
  • Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • The Bandit - Kings of Leon
  • Won't Go Home Without You - Maroon 5
  • Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
  • Wonderwall - Oasis
  • Valerie - The Zutons
  • Mercy - Shawn Mendes
  • Creep - Radiohead
  • Clocks - Coldplay
  • Perfect - Ed Sheeran
  • Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • As It Was - Harry Styles
  • Long Train Runnin' - The Doobie Brothers
  • Fever - The Black Keys
  • Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
  • Just Like Heaven - The Cure

[Break]

  • Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
  • Last Nite - The Stroke
  • One - U2
  • Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
  • Basket Case - Green Day
  • Little Bones - The Tragically Hip
  • Bobcaygeon - The Tragically Hip
  • Fifty Mission Cap - The Tragically Hip
  • Blow At High Dough - The Tragically Hip
  • Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
  • Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
  • Hang Ups - Scott Helman
  • Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
  • When You Were Young - The Killers
  • Don't Kill the Magic - MAGIC!
  • My Hero - Foo Fighters

I've uploaded the edited footage to YouTube, in case anyone is interested. The sound is shitty, as we live-streamed it on Twitch for a bunch of friends who couldn't travel in to see it, so the sound comes from a webcam. But my son also recorded bits with his DSLR, and the sound for that is better, so most of the songs kind of "kick in" partway through with better sound.

Anyway, I'm in the guy in the Hawaiian shirt (that I actually bought in Okinawa in 2019) playing the keyboards. The other electric piano was lent to me by the second guitarist (and singer).

Video Part 1
Video Part 2
Click to expand...

Damn, nicely done! That's a huge set list to learn for someone who literally just picked up the instrument. I've been playing the guitar for about 10 years, and I guaran-damn-tee you I could not learn all those songs in 5 months. Maybe 5 years lol.
 
bleys21 said:
Damn, nicely done! That's a huge set list to learn for someone who literally just picked up the instrument. I've been playing the guitar for about 10 years, and I guaran-damn-tee you I could not learn all those songs in 5 months. Maybe 5 years lol.
Click to expand...
I learned guitar in my teens, and it’s way harder of an instrument to learn than keyboards are. At least in my admittedly limited experience.
 
(don't tell any of my punk friends that I'm playing in a rock/metal band on the side, 'kay?)

Your opening act for tonight... Trace Elements

"Bastille Day" - Rush
"Amen" - Halestorm
"Ace Of Spades" - Motorhead
"Transmaniacon MC" - Blue Oyster Cult
"Heaven Knows" - Pretty Reckless
"Master Of Puppets" - Metallica
"Spoonman" - Soundgarden
"Evolve" - The Warning
"Peace Sells" - Megadeth
"Phantom Of The Opera" - Iron Maiden
 
Currently working on a real-life variant. It's not a bar band, per se, just two dudes with voices and acoustic guitars, by my bartender-turned-buddy Joe and I have been working up a set to play. It's not complete yet, but here's what we've got so far (in no particular order):

House of the Rising Sun- Traditional
Not Fade Away- Buddy Holly
Badlands- Bruce Springsteen
Knockin' on Heaven's Doors- Bob Dylan
I Wanna be in the Cavalry- Corb Lund
Folsom Prison Blues- Johnny Cash
Streets of Bakersfield- Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam
Big Legs, Tight Skirt- John Lee Hooker
 
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