I just watched the Bob Marley movie, no setlist! Jimi Hendrix, Guns N Roses.. many others, just walk out and someone(?) calls the shots. I prefer a setlist to see how the flow of the show will go and what effects I need to get set for the next song; know to grab a different guitar.. etc.. not to accidentally repeat a song (if ur playing 2+ hrs).. make sure you finish on time… how have you seen the pros handle it? Any quirks? I dread the dead air of “what should we play?!” potential moments 😬😬
Touring musicians: how do some artists just go on with no setlist?
Jam band and improvisatory music is much different to more structured performances like mainstream rock and pop. There's a whole component of free-flowing presence of mind and acute listening by the band members that allows a flexibility to mesh songs into one another and make up transitions on the fly.
If you ever watch a Phish or Grateful Dead concert, you will see this in action immediately and frequently. There's a whole laundry list of nonverbal commmunication happening at all times that lets them fly by the seat of their pants and shift dynamics and set list direction on a moment's notice. Including tons of musical cues that can indicate when they stop/start, go to a certain section of the song, and come back in from an extended jam.
By comparison, most mainstream artists have a rigorously planned and choreographed routine that goes along with the set list, so not very much room for improvisation or sudden changes. Most of the show is timed and rehearsed.
Yeah I wonder if any newer mainstream acts go without a setlist. I could see it in the 60s/70s, things seemed a little more free form then.. and I suppose when you’re the headliner you have a TON more grace with time between songs.
Tho, Jimi at Monterey was a blistering 45mins on he nose.. that man had an agenda!
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard seems like they would fit the bill.
I’m pretty sure they usually use setlists. I’ve definitely seen pictures of their typed out setlists before. They are jam oriented band though that improvs and will shift things around in the moment.
I'm sure they do use setlists, as do the jam bands I mentioned. But they remain free to veer off course at any time and I'm sure KG would have no issue with that.
Yeah, for sure. The dead actually didn’t use setlists ever afaik. In the later years they would have an idea of the first few songs and some others throughout the set though. All the various dead bands use them these days though. I know phish uses setlists these days, but idk if they did back in the day.
Phish doesn't use setlists unless something changed very recently. Last I heard, Trey has a list of about 50 songs or so that they haven't played in the past few shows and picks from there.
Yea they still don’t. It’s been said by multiple ppl that Trey will think of a general list of songs for a given run of shows. I think he even has some ppl ask around their general camp to get an idea of what songs the crew/friends are craving. But at showtime it all gets thrown away
They are awesome and jam a bit but definitely plan their sets each night.