Yellowcard Band • Page 41

I don't know about all of that. 6 songs is half the album typically and I get that bands are usually touring to support a new album but also every show is someone's first time seeing them. Almost every band I've seen has played about 6 songs roughly of their new album plus hits, so I'd have to agree bands agree as well.

 

Story of the Year is like this too, I would love more off the other albums but it's always so Page Avenue heavy and the same songs from the other albums are always played.

 

I've always wondered about the 6 songs + hits mentality because at some point, wont your catalog be so big that you will no longer have room for the non-singles? If a band is on album 5, and they have a good 2-3 singles on each record, won't that be 10-15 songs + 5 or 6 new ones? There's no longer room for other songs and thus, their setlists become the same every tour. Bands should pick one "big single" out of each album and then another song from the record to change things up. Rotate both the "big singles" and the "other songs".

 

Yeah I like to see 3/4 of the new record incorporated into the set at least.

 

It is an admittedly difficult process, which is why I'm totally fine with the encore always being the biggest singles. But a lot of artists have the songs that they like most and then also the hits/singles/fan favorites, so setlists end up being virtually the same from tour to tour aside from a handful of new songs. This is part of the reason that I really love the "vary the setlist" approach. Even if you just have two or three different setlists that you cycle through during a tour. That keeps things more exciting for people who come to see multiple shows in a row and gives you an opportunity to keep most of the "hits" in there without giving short shrift to everything else in the catalog.

I saw them twice on the Invented tour. At the first show, they played five from Invented and five from Bleed. At the second show, they played six from Bleed and five from Invented again. Those shows were fun, but I went because I wanted to hear the Invented songs, not more than half of their sixth best LP. They also played all of their other biggest hits at both shows ("Pain," "Work," "Big Casino"), so that's like half the setlist gone.

That's honestly part of the reason I skipped the Damage tour. I was a bit short on cash when that one came around, so when I saw the setlist and only four Damage songs were getting featured regularly (and that "The Middle," "Sweetness," "Bleed," and "Praise Chorus" were still in the set every night) I decided not to get tickets.

Yes, every show is someone's first time, but every show is also someone's 5th, 10th, 15th time. It's important to please the new fans, but it's also important to please the fans who keep coming back to see you over and over again. Otherwise, they might skip your next tour. I'm fine with the setlist being a good mix of new and old, but at least mix up the old songs you're playing. Don't just play the same four songs you always play from every album and call it good.

This is exactly why "six new songs and then play the hits" is a shitty strategy. That's part of the reason I think these album tours have been such a big trend lately. Those shows provide the chance to hear songs you've never seen live. Even people who have seen artists dozens of times get songs they've never heard live out of those shows. I have a friend who's seen Springsteen like 50 times, and over half of the setlist on this past tour was songs he hadn't seen live yet because Bruce was doing The River front to back.

 

Absolutely. At the Brian Fallon show I went to a few weeks ago, he played 10 of the 12 songs off his new record, and it was fucking incredible.

 

MCS also had the issue of "play the singles and nothing else" so a lot of IATM and pretty much all of Go got ignored

 

Sucks that they ignored their best album.

 

In honor of this post, I'm spinning Go for the first time since last September.

 

I hope you love it more it's the 2nd best MCS album

 

You must mean second behind an unreleased album.

 

Nope, it's just a notch below CTTM

 

It is my second favorite most days! Some days third, but never lower than that.

 

CTTM is like .... fourth

a distant fourth, too

 

My first time seeing them was them playing, at the time, all four of their albums front to back. Was gooood.

 

Go is forth.

A distant fourth.

 

Go is a very easy first

Also, tbh, it's the only one I've had the desire to listen to in a long time

 

Go listen to the vastly superior EIIKM and have your mind changed.

 

Gdi

 

Go is more concise and cohesive

 

EIIKM has better songs though. I'd say it's more cohesive too honestly.

 

I'd say they both have a couple duds but in general I definitely prefer the songs on Go

 

pfft.

 

What have I done

 

He's just made me "pfft" in two separate threads.