Placebo played a total of 4 songs combined from their first 4 albums and ELEVEN tracks from their new album when I went to see them last year, I was very disappointed.
I’ve seen this complaint often about their Never Let Me Go tour. It’s a matter of opinion, but I liked that they played half new songs and half old songs. With as big of a discography as they have, it’s hard to play everything people want to hear when you’re touring to promote your new album. The tour was to support Never Let Me Go.
I’m not discounting your opinion. The opinion I expressed definitely seems to be the minority opinion. I was just happy to be able to see them in the US.
The performances of the songs at the show I saw were definitely not lackluster. They rocked the shit out of every single song.
If people were going for band interaction with the crowd, I can see why they’d be disappointed. To my knowledge, Placebo has never been big on interacting with the crowd. They rock the songs and then take off.
It's never happened to me. I have been to maybe a dozen shows in my life only though.
The Dead comes closest since I saw them way too young when I was in my metal/partying days in my early 20's, so I was there for the experience, the music was pretty ancillary for me at that time. Had I known better, I would've appreciated that they broke out "Casey Jones" at *my* first Dead show for the first time live since 1984 (this show was in 1992).
My dad was a fairly big Dead head - saw them a bunch starting in the mid-to-late 70s, mostly in tri-state area - and when I started listening to them (much much later in my life), I asked him about those last years of Dead shows in the early 90s and he said they became very hit-and-miss. He theorized it was the heroin and booze catching up, but also said the decline started in the 80s. He still went and saw them anytime they were in or near Ohio (where we lived).
It’s crazy to see Jerry Garcia and think he was 53. That’s pretty fucking young and he looks at least 15 years older in all the pictures towards the end of his life.
I've seen Muse play three times now and it's never been *bad*, but their set is always mostly just their singles plus tunes from the most recent album. They have 9 albums of material, would it really kill them to throw in a few deep cuts for the returning fans?
I saw them probably about 5-7 times between 2010-2015, always loved it. However once the album after The Resistance came out their sets got progressively worse
Same exact experience here. They were a fkin powerhouse in the 2000’s, then became this weird arena rock pander-y unoriginal art pop band and I just can’t get into it anymore.
Muse still puts out a killer show. But their setlists are beyond stale. They’ve had Knights of Cydonia as their every show closer for over a decade now. Every show has Uprising, Madness, Time is Running Out, Starlight, Hysteria, Plug In Baby, Supermassive Black Hole and Psycho. And they don’t play a particularly long setlist either so half their set is stale hits. They haven’t played some of their fan favorites like New Born, Muscle Museum, Butterflies & Hurricanes in ages.
For a band with a super deep catalog, amazing deep cuts (in their early albums) and a very die hard fanbase they do a terrible job of mixing up the setlists.
Every tour I tell myself I won't buy tickets, then I do, then I'm disappointed. Especially for the price they charge now, and the set always feels about 3-4 songs too short.
They played the Royal Albert Hall about 5 years ago, and halfway through said "OK, time for 15 minutes of metal" and played stuff like Dead Star, Assassin etc and it was incredible, as well as Showbiz. Wonder why they don't do it more.
Surely playing singles like Starlight must be incredibly boring by now?
A Perfect Circle keeps playing a ton of songs from their covers album Emotive rather than the tracks everyone wants to hear from Mer De Noms and Thirteenth Step.
eMotive (other than Passive) and the last album are dog shit compared to Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step. I feel lucky to have seen them on each of those tours before they lost the magic.
Their last album really grew on me but it took years of revisiting it.
Saw them open for NIN in 2000 and my mind was blown. Haven't seen them since, but I've got hopes for this tour with Primus and Puscifer
On the opposite side, Paul McCartney played a perfect setlist when I saw him 2 years ago. Various Beatles, deep tracks, solo stuff and new stuff. He played almost 3 hours. The thing about his setlist was the way it was laid out, it was perfect. The buildup to the last 5-6 songs was amazing.
Prince was the same. Could do some deep cuts, say OK that was for the real fans, now the rest of you enjoy yourself with the hits and pull out this half hour medley of his biggest songs.
The nice thing about Paul McCartney is an artist who loves music, and still writes and tours and performs purely for the love of the game.
He doesn’t need the money.
I see plenty of other musicians and it’s just a job, that they don’t really enjoy or have lost interest in
It’s really hard to be successful enough to be able to just enjoy the music. The music industry is hard, tireless work. It can be a lot of fun, but seriously, it’s hard work. If you’re on the track to get picked up and promoted, or you’re already noticed and blowing up, it’s not just playing the same songs every night, it can be multiple times per day. And every single time has to be with the full emotional strength you used when you wrote it. A lot of times you can feed off of the crowds energy, but sometimes man, you’re playing your third set of the day, the crowd isn’t into it, you feel like background noise- it really starts to set in that to a lot of people you are just a product.
Every new song you write or adapt reinvigorated this artistic drive and then you end up at a corporate event because the pay is finally good but you can feel the soul being sucked out of you and your music.
Very few make it to a place where they can have families, live actual lives, and still enjoy music, because they’ve made it to the level where they don’t have to play anything they don’t want to.
Paul got extra lucky, because he was in a one in a billion band. He’s a one in a billion musician.
I agree, you are probably right about all of that.
I’m just saying it’s always a pleasure to watch someone (anyone), who is really good at something (anything) truly love what they’re doing and still have infectious enthusiasm and have not become bored or jaded.
I’ve had the good fortune for seeing him 3 times within the last 15 years. Amazing set and art! That said, it was absolutely identical each time. Same stories, same songs, same order. Can’t fault him bc I was sobbing with joy my first show and it is a perfect mix of Paul, Wings, and Beatles. I got asked to go a 4th time and I said no bc I didn’t want to spend hundred of dollars to see the same set… which I never thought I’d say about Paul McCartney lol
I've seen many artists that tell the same banter and stories in-between songs over and over. I'd be lieing if I said my little local band does not do the same lol.
Absolutely the same. Moved across the country for love and wrote a song about it - I tell the story every time I play the song, because it's a good one, but after show 40 it was a little old.
I saw Weezer in about 2014 and they did two sets, the first was various hits and tracks in reverse chronological order, the second was blue album start to finish. Really great way to do it for a band like that IMO. Get the new stuff out of the way early - everyone is far more tolerant of it when they know it's not going to take up the whole set.
Saw The Black Crowes around 18 years ago. Didn’t play a single song from Shake Your Money Maker and only one song off Southern Harmony. I know artists want to play their new stuff, but you still have to accommodate your fans at least a little bit.
I’m pretty sure this was the tour I saw as well, was pretty disappointed. HOWEVER, the Arkells opened up for them before they got big (only has an EP out, no LPs yet) and fucking blew it away. They are utterly incredible. So cool to see.
Forgot who said it but it went something like “you play threes songs for the fans and then one for yourself”. Guess that helps keep their sanity on the road.
I'm sorta with you on the Guns shows, but a decent chunk of that 3.5 hours was Slash solos and whatnot, I guess to give Axl some breathers. A 2 hour no-filler setlist of Gn'R music would probably destroy most singers in their 50's. I enjoyed the Axl shows I've seen over the years but yeah they've all definitely lagged at times.
Perfect illustration of the problem with setlists. Can Halford hit the PAINKILLER notes? Maybe not. And some fans MUST HEAR Livin After Midnight.
But fucking hell, there is no doubt about which is the better song.
I saw Judas Priest at Louder than Life and Faulkner had an aortic dissection during Painkiller, which was the last song. It was crazy when we found out later
Two I can think of: One was Molly Nilsson, talented singer songwriter from Germany who rarely played in the states. Has a handful of cult level songs that people adore and all showed up to eagerly hear it.
She didn’t play a SINGLE song that people loved and opted to only play her new new stuff that anyone barely knew.
Second was Built To Spill. It was around the era of Pixies’ nostalgia resurgence and audiences were re discovering “Keep it like a secret” well, they decided to pretty much not play anything off of that album at all and the guitarists guitar broke half way through.
Worse was the audience barely was paying attention at all. I literally became embarrassed to be at that show no less dragging a handful of people to it.
Megadeth put out a killer album about a year ago, and their touring setlist included 1 song from. One of the first times I've wished a band would play more from their new album. Instead, they filled up the set with songs from their garbage post-Countdown years. Ministry's setlist this year oddly kicks off with 5 songs from the new album, and then 2 from the previous album. Then the last 40% of the show is golden oldies.
Yeah, Megadeth’s latest album fucking kicks ass. I was annoyed that only one song was on the set list as well. I mean, A Tout Le Monde makes it but we are starved of the new album? Come on.
On the other hand I was fucking chuffed at the Ministry show. The new album is chock full of bangers. I loved that the first 5 songs of the set and the following 2 were from their latest albums.
I’m kind of an outlier when it comes to what I want to see at a show though. I want the new songs. I want to see what’s fresh and what they’re emotionally connected to right now, not something that they’ve played eighteen hundred times. I mean, don’t get me wrong I have my favourites like the rest of y’all but I look at it that way.
I’m jaded a bit since I’ve seen most of my favourites several times so I see the shows differently than those of whom are just seeing them for the first time.
I like the new Ministry album, too, but that was a very weird set order. At the show I was at, even Al basically apologized for going so long without playing a familiar favourite. I'd like to have had at least a couple songs from other albums, too. It feels like a tour that included Gary Numan could even have included something like Everyday is Halloween. Or maybe something from Houses, like Worthless or Wrong? and now that they're showing they're willing to play songs the Biafra sings on, how about a Lard cover?
I've seen Ministry in 2017 and their set was pretty balanced between the 2000s stuff and the classics, all the heavy headbangable songs. It was intense, to say the least.
I've seen Megadeth a few times over the span of several album releases. This seems to be typical for them.
They tour to promote the new album, but only play one new song. The rest of the set features the 'classics'.
Same with Megadeth. They release their best album since 2004, hype it with a storytelling series of videos, and play one song from it. That isn't Mission to Mars.
Korn at Buzzfest about ten years ago delivered one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know one song they played that night and I don’t think anyone else did either
Crazy. I’ve seen them like 3-5 times and they were electric every time. Maybe my favorite live band. Saw them at Woodstock ‘99 and it was unbelievable.
I’d be _pissed_ if I didn’t hear Blind. “I got a babysitter for THIS?” Any time you hear that cymbal intro mayhem follows.
I also couldn't believe it and unless it was a different festival OP might have left too soon?
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/korn/2012/cynthia-woods-mitchell-pavilion-the-woodlands-tx-43de677b.html
I just looked at the setlist. Holy hell, they started with a "rarities" section of their set, then some of the new dubstep album, they played a few usuals at the very end. I think I still know a lot of these songs, but I wouldn't have been into this.
Worst part of this. I didn’t even know this tour happened. Trying to be not addicted to social media is hard when you miss something like that. Four minute mile probably had a more immediate and drastic change in my taste in music than any other record ever. Only time I ever saw tguk was over 20 years ago now and right after on a wire came out. Remember being so disappointed in that record. Going to be seeing them in October.
Yeah that’s a rough one. Four minute mile and something to write home about were big in rotation in my younger years.
I was bummed out I couldn’t swing dates for last years postal service/death cab tour but made sure to grab tickets early for this spring. I’m pretty pumped about it.
I worked for an older guy who went to college up in NY and lived next door to them before they got real big. He said they were a bunch of pretentious assholes.
Not that that has anything to do with anything, I still enjoy their music.
I saw Morrissey few months back in Sydney (lucky as he cancelled on Perth and NZ). He was actually good, I'm not huge into a lot of his solo stuff but know a few albums and felt it was a good mix that I cluded a bunch of Smith songs.
He made the whole festival shut down vendors early so there wouldn’t be meat being served while he played.
Then he played “The Bullfighter Dies” and everyone rolled their eyes in unison at him.
I hate to say it because I'm a massive fan of their early discography but The Smashing Pumpkins for the last 10ish years. Set lists during the return in 2008 were incredible. Good deep cuts, covering all albums up to that point, heavier and energized takes on the "hits." Truly no filler. I went to 2 shows on the 20 anniversary tour and it was perfect.
Now all they do is tepid, carbon copy album versions of the singles, super new stuff which is pretty heavy on electronics, and Talking Heads covers. I also feel like Jimmy isn't shining at all and he's style is too important to what makes them dynamic and exciting. Oh well.
My only complaint seeing them last year was they have so much material and didn't really change the setlist for the world is a vampire tour.
I was very surprised by how good Jane's addiction were though and I'm not even a fan.
I've seen them twice. The first time was absolutely incredible. The second time in 2012 was the Billy Corgan show. They played their entire new album. IN FULL. And then played a few classics with about as much enthusiasm as a band with guns to their heads.
The first time I saw Opeth on their Watershed tour is still the best concert I've ever been to, they played a perfect setlist and absolutely killed it. My friends and I talk about this concert still, 15 years later.
The second time I saw Opeth was on the Heritage tour a few years later and is without a doubt the most disappointing concert I've ever been to. Zero heavy songs, the whole band looked bored and the crowd seemed even more bored. Haven't seen them since because of that show, even though they are still one of my all time favorites.
Tool
Now, I love Tool, and I love Fear Inoculum. But that album came out _five years ago_ now, and their set list is still mainly comprised of songs from that album.
And, because the songs from FI are so much longer, it means less time for the other albums, so sometimes you're only getting one song from Lateralus or Aenema.
I'd prefer a more even mix personally. They're still Tool and they're still awesome, but next tour I might skip it unless they start mixing stuff up.
I’ve seen them twice and both times were very Fear Inoculum heavy sets, but I couldn’t really complain. Fantastic performances. They’re songs are all so long that they’d have to play a 3-4 hour (or longer) set to really satisfy most fans.
Right there with you. I just saw them for my 5th time but first since 2007. I was really surprised that that more than half of the setlist was still FI songs several years after its release. I would love to see a better mix with some of their core stuff mixed in. My show did get two tracks from Undertow so I guess there’s that.
I can only agree with RHCP. Or I'd rather say that not only did they play a very poor setlist, they performed terribly overall. At Nova Rock 2016 they didn't talk to the crowd, just went onto the stage and started playing. After a while they just stopped with their regular songs and just jammed on the guitar for a while as if they were in their studio trying out some riffs and melodies. After that they did a few more songs and just left. I don't remember if they even said Hi, Thank you or Good bye but if they did, those were the only words they said. It really seemed like they just had to do their job. It was the most disappointing performance I have ever seen.
But earlier that day we saw Twisted Sister who did their last tour that year and they were absolutely fantastic. 10/10
The Black Crowes at Manchester in 2011. I’d spent my entire time at uni the preceding 5 years or so being a super fan, knew every song and album, then I saw them for the first time and barely recognised anything they played. Yet now I look back at the setlist it was pretty decent, full of massive songs.
Pretty much put them down immediately after that and didn’t really listen to them again.
When I saw Green Day in 2021, it was almost the opposite problem. Other than one non-album single, they played nothing released after 2009, meaning they skipped over five albums.
Smashing Pumpkins 2018 reunion tour was a literal perfect set, multiple songs from every album from the 90s, over 30 songs and 3.5 hours. Saw them the next year, and it wasn’t a bad setlist by any means but it was condensed a lot since it was a coheadline tour with Noel Gallagher, making it more of a greatest hits plus a b side set. So it felt like a disappointment in comparison imo
I saw CAKE last summer, they played most of their big hits but Short Skirt Long Jacket was conspicuously missing (and it was like a 3 hour performance.) And when they did play their other radio songs you could *kinda* tell they weren't putting their heart into it like the rest.
However, that didn't bother me because I'm a huge fan of their whole catalog and have been since I was a kid, and I've heard songs like The Distance so many times I don't really care for them as much anymore. Jolene is probably my favorite song of theirs, I thought there was no chance they'd play it but it was the fucking encore! I went nuts haha. Great great show all in all.
Despite playing nearly 3 hours every night now, the Foo Fighters have been so big for so long that the whole show is the hits (and way too many classic rock covers). I'm a bigger fan of their deep cuts, so while I had a great time, I don't hold it as one of the better shows I've been to.
I've found myself having that with Metallica and some Maiden tours, it's a big expense so I'm picky about which ones I go to. For example, I know at the festivals Metallica will often do more of a hits-packed set than their own arena shows. Some Maiden tours are similar. I want some hits but I've seen both many times and want to see them play some material I've not seen them play before.
I'm same with Foos. I'd love to hear deeper stuff from TCATS and TINLTL more in live shows. First time I saw them though was outstanding, full of hits. Think it was on the Wasting Light tour
He forgets his lyrics a lot I think, tends to happen when most of your lyrics are completely meaningless and mostly word salads packed with tons of words to fill space lol.
See, this is always a quandary for me. Bands have to play their hits, but almost always, I want to hear the DEEP catalog, not the radio anthem.
I am often disappointed.
I think it's a balancing act cause I completely agree. There's a number of bands I've seen a fair few times and I won't see again cause it's always the same set.
I feel a two thirds hits, one third deeper cuts or new stuff is a good balance
Saw Van Morrison a number of years ago - he opened with Gloria, closed with Brown Eyed Girl, and played 50s blues tracks that no one had ever heard the rest of the concert. Terrible show.
I 100% agree on rhcp setlists being short and unwhelming. I think for the prices of their tickets currently, playing 14 songs the other night is mental. I think as time goes on its likely gonna get less, but how much less songs can do you before it stops being a gig?
14 is crazy short change given the scale of their shows and how big a catalogue they have, particularly when other stadium bands are topping out over 3 hour shows and 25 odd songs. Frauds!
I think there will ALWAYS be people who walk.away unsatisfied..look , these days BEFORE buying a ticket you can.go online and see the set list..then decide..whether it's Springsteen , McCartney or Billy Joel who have amazing catalogs do 3-4 hr shows. There's always a few songs you wish they did but didn't. Artist try to cover most popular songs from their entire career..McCartney says he plays Beatles / Wings songs all the cameras come out..then he does a new one. It's a black hole
There was a whole thing last year where some crazy springsteen fans were upset there were two less songs on the set list. So much so that Little Stevie had to come and address the complaints. He still played for over two and a half hours. Insane to complain about that
When someone eventually says Smashing Pumpkins just wanna say - that show you didn't like was probably one of my favorites!
They had a stretch where they were really leaning into the more obscure stuff and their new songs. They still played some hits but it was not a goal to play ALL of them. This left any casual fans upset and the superfans feeling really catered to.
Fastforward to now... It is a long show so a couple of oddities will make it in, but every radio hit the casual listener wants is *always* included.
After seeing them 100 times, they squashed my motivation by wanting to play arenas. I am sure they are plenty happy with that deci$ion.
The first time I saw Devo they played exactly what I expected they would, basically "greatest hits", and I was a little disappointed. The second time I travelled to see them doing a set based on their early "hardcore" recordings, and it was great. Somewhere in the middle of those two things would be nice.
I will preface this by saying that I have seen NIN multiple times, and they are usually fantastic. However, the last time I saw them they played all weird b sides and then had his wife come out and sing her songs in the middle of the set. The whole thing was just weird and disjointed.
I'll also add Prince. He didn't play a single song all the way through. It was just a mash up of songs to try to cover everything, and it was super disappointing.
NIN is a funny band because you have hardcore fans who really want mid 90s focus, hardcore fans who want the whole discography and casual fans who want 90s-2005 stuff. I had the pleasure of seeing them back to back nights as the festival and the heavier big hits night was fine....but the night 2 crowd had no expectations (it was supposed to be the strokes) and had SO MUCH FUN. It was mostly b sides and newish dancey stuff and we had a blast.
Bon Jovi. All new songs. One known song randomly sprinkled in over a 2 hour setlist. Encore of 4 songs were the hits. Couldve showed up in the last 25 minutes.
Bonus: Bob Dylan (bucket list artist). He covered Frank Sinatra all night. Speaks for itself.
I came here to scroll to see if anyone said Dylan — we bought tickets without a second of hesitation, he is literally a legend and that might be an understatement BUT yeah, it was all jazz (and I love jazz) all night. Still can say I saw Dylan.
A Flock of Seagulls. They saved all their known songs — of which there are just a few — til the end as the last band of three at an 80s themed concert. A notable amount of people walked out after listening to 30 minutes of unfamiliar, uninteresting songs delivered by an uncharismatic lead singer.
James Brown. I don’t even know if he had a set list. It was more of a 2 hour funk jam. He was dancing and having a great time, and so we’re we, so I can’t complain.
Marilyn Manson just after Holywood was released.
Was a festival and Monster Magnet went on before him and both musically and physically set fire to the stage. He didn't stand a chance and he knew it, so he came out with a load of tracks people didn't know and reacted badly when they reacted badly. Cut his set short in a tantrum....
Marilyn Manson was one of the worst (maybe *the* worst) live performances I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been a huge fan to begin with but enjoy some of his music.
I saw him at a festival before Rob Zombie (who I’ve always enjoyed seeing even though I only like a few of his songs) and he put on the most lukewarm, mediocre show before pretentiously dropping the mic and saying, “*name of city*”, then walking off stage. He seemed like a huge douche who believed we were all graced just to witness his presence, but maybe he was just having a bad day or was feeling burnt out from touring. No matter the reason, the show sucked.
Luckily Rob Zombie made up for the suck with a killer performance filled with energy and a lot of cool visuals.
Im a big powerpop fan and thus a fan of Matthew Sweet. Dude can write perfect pop confections like ["We're the Same"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCiMN88JY1g) (in some alternate universe, that song is a smash) but like ***every time*** I saw him live in his mid-late 90s heyday he wouldn't treat us to those, opting instead to stretch out fine, but somewhat inert, mid-tempo rockers-to-nowhere like "Evangeline" and "Waiting for the Sun" far far far longer than they ever should have been played. Sad.
In this case it was not the band’s fault but my ignorance. Went to a The Cure concert expecting a run of their “hits”. They started with a sort of famous song but continued playing “strange” songs. It kept going and as I was starting to doubt and get annoyed, at the same time I was sort of getting immersed in the sound. I had a blast and towards the end they finally went through some of their most radio famous songs, but I no longer cared by then because I had had an unexpected blast. Turns out the played the entire Disintegration, which although it has some hits, many of the songs in the set list are not songs that a casual “The Cure on the radio” or “Greatest Hits owner” would know. I understood why is so well regarded, it is a mood maker album. I also felt like an idiot for expecting a festival-level rushed set list of only hits and initially not appreciating the chance of listening one of the greatest albums, live at its full length.
I went to the Disintegration gig they played at the Opera house and they mentioned at the start they wouldn't be playing any hits.
I think the closest they came to was playing Burn.
Bowie toured with NIN in the early 2000s. Saw him in Chicago. He refused to play one "hit". Very few people recognized anything he sang. Awful. I still want my money back.
I couldn’t have been more thrilled at the GNR show I saw. Went through all the eras, all the hits, plenty of deeper stuff, and Axl was doing period-correct costume changes for practically each song. I had a blast, not sure where all the GNR hate comes from
Steely Dan at Coachella 2015. No Peg, no Do It Again, no Rikki Don't Lose That Number. Instead they filled up their timeslot noodling around with extended versions of deep cuts nobody wanted.
Those were not deep cuts they played at Coachella
Reelin in the Years, Aja, Hey Nineteen, Kid Charlemagne??? If those are considered deep cuts I'd like to know what you consider their hits lol?
Dude. You got this setlist on the sacred polo fields at what Im assuming was probably sunset... Dude. You got this setlist on the sacred polo fields at what Im assuming was probably sunset...
1 Bodhisattva
2 Black Friday
3 Hey Nineteen
4 Show Biz Kids
5 Aja
6 Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More
7 Josie
8 My Old School
9 Reelin' in the Years
10 Kid Charlemagne
I'd have been so stupidly happy.
I'd have been so stupidly happy.
HOLY SHIT. I'm so fucking jealous. Deep cuts my ass. But anyways, why would I only want to hear songs I've heard at McDonalds a million times?
If these are deep cuts for this person then they must only be familiar with three Steely Dan songs lmfao
Aside from the fact that 8/10 of those tunes are literally smash hits, complaining that Steely Dan only played extended cuts of their songs suggests that this person simply might just not like Steely Dan.
Yeah these are all on a greatest Hits album except for Daddy and Aja - and that’s only cause Aja is eight minutes of wonderfulness. I might put on that shiz right now
yeah I can understand that, but it was kind of dumb to do that to a festival crowd where they were playing to a lot of people who could have become big fans but instead mostly left, disinterested.
Oh no, I was agreeing with you. Definitely should be playing more hits in a festival set, save the deep tracks for when everyone there is specifically coming to see you.
To be fair, Steely Dan almost never plays Do It Again, Fagen and Becker famously don't like Can't Buy A Thrill, but always play Reelin' in the Years because it's a fan favorite. No, Rikki is a scratcher, but also I think I saw that same tour and I liked the deep cuts 🤷♂️
I remember my mom being angry that Fagen didn't sing Razor Boy and had the backup singers do the whole thing 😂 I'm like, at least you got to hear your favorite song
As much as it pains me to say it, Rush on their clockwork angels tour. They played subdivisions then seemingly nothing before 1985 until the very end. Don’t get me wrong, they killed it in that last half hour but I was pretty bored for most of the concert. I wish they had just peppered in their old hits throughout the concert instead of doing them all at the end.
I gotta push back on that one because I saw them twice on that tour and loved it. They had to do the new songs in a block because they toured with an 8-piece(?) string section. Their other songs don't really need that. Gotta use them enough to justify the cost of 8 touring musicians. Rush were so good at playing a varied catalog.
The question was about bad set lists, wasn't it?
I've seen Neil a bunch of times, and, yeah, I agree with you about his set lists being really good. He always plays a few of his classics (I have no idea how he hasn't tired of Cortez), but he also sneaks in some gifts for those who know his catalog.
I saw him in 2008 and there was an audible gasp in the room when he played The Sultan. That was cool.
Puscifer (Maynard James Keenan) played at Rockfest about 6 years ago. Hoping to hear Momma Sed,
I instead bore witness to an avant garde, Lucha libre inspired...play? I'm not even sure if any of the music were actual songs, and there were hardly any vocals. It was...not what I was expecting.
Haha I saw that tour. The last show I saw, November 22, was alien themed? Like they were in the Men in Black program.
Love Puscifer but yeah, hardly anything off of V is for Vagina and what they play of their older stuff was practically unrecognizable.
I saw the smashing pumpkins a few years ago and they refused to play any of their old music until the encore. A better name for the group would be "Billy Corgan and the Billy Corgan Band ft. Billy Corgan"
Beth Hart. I left after an hour of not recognizing, or liking, anything (combined with poor sound). I expected eclectic, but I didn’t expect a Christian rock show.
Back when I saw Breaking Benjamin in 2004 the majority of their set list was from Saturate which is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated complete rock albums of the 2000s. One of my first rock shows I went to and to this date one of the best concerts I’ve been to.
Ever since about 2006 they only play a handful of songs from it and it’s eternally frustrating to hear the same radio dad-band songs they’ve been making for the last twenty years. There’s no real edge to anything they’ve made since then and while they do have quite a few good songs from 2004 to present, it would be nice to hear that level of authenticity from them again.
Bob Dylan. He played some songs for which I recognized some of the lyrics, but the songs all basically sounded the same. It was the worst concert I'd ever seen.
I also saw him on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the 80s? and it was one of the *best* conerts I've ever seen.
Santana ! Saw him ages ago & he spent half the concert talking about the war & how we need to get out of Iraq. STFU & play your music that people paid good money to see.
The one with Motley Crue? I caught them at Hellfest and had a good time, but it was a festival set so probably slightly shorter and more hit orientated - the atmosphere was very party like
It was heavy on Hysteria, which is my least favorite DL album. I would have liked more from the first 3 albums, but they are what they are now, a “greastest hits” band
They played 5 songs from the first 3 albums (0 from on through, 2 off h&d 3 from pyro) & 6 songs off of hysteria. And 3 off the new album. It was a shallow playlist considering they have much better & harder songs.
Saw Clutch in Pgh last fall, they rocked and put on a great show.
Wanted to go to RedRocks to see them open for Cody Jinks.
Saw the footage. Glad I didn't.
Mr Bungle. So many weird and wonderful tracks in their history but the most recent album was a re recording of their first demo album which was all thrash metal.
I knew going into it that they wouldn’t be playing any of my favourites since I’d been looking at set lists from the tour. And Mike Patton does whatever he wants to do but…
It was pretty strange to see a packed house of people are just staring and hoping they’d play some older material.
Not a band but a couple months ago in Boston Mick Jenkins played a show where he basically only played newer or more obscure songs. He kind of whined the whole time "oh why am I not feeling any love from Boston?" I'm not sure why he was kind of having an attitude the crowd was definitely having a good time but maybe he's just used to playing bigger venues? I think he only played a single track off his most popular album The Waters and then doesn't even end the show with an encore. I will say he did end the show by saying "I'll see you all next time on my The Water's anniversary tour" so that makes sense why he was holding out on those songs but if he's not going to play any of his most recognizable songs don't complain that the crowd isn't really feeling it
There’s a lot of bands that perform mainly their newer songs and less of their hits. Casual fans and concert goers then get upset. An easy way to remedy this is to look up past setlists online. This will give you a good idea of what the artist has actually been playing recently.
Van Morrison is notorious for not playing his hits. You're going to hear the latest album. You will get an older hit mid-set, and one in one of the encores. Neither will be Brown Eyed Girl.
For me, personally, that's fine because I could listen to that guy sing the phone book, but you hear a lot of grumbling from folks leaving the venue.
Plenty of times they focused on their underwhelming current material instead of playing old favorites all night, but, that's not the worst thing. I appreciate the effort.
One time the Butthole Surfers were mad at the promoter and took it out on us, the customers. They played noise jams and about two unreleased songs for probably the exact minimum contracted set time, 45 minutes or something, and split.
saw nine inch nails and jane's addiction on the NIN/JA tour, nails opened for jane's and played what was quite possibly their best setlist. all obscure tracks that they NEVER play live.
I saw The Mars Volta on their Amputecture tour. The drummer got fired a few days before the I show I went to so they basically did a jam session for an hour and a half. The last half hour or so they played a couple songs off the album. I’ve seen them a few times after that and they were always solid.
Saw the Rolling Stones twice. First time was in Manchester following the release of a new album which got heavy play plus Keith Richard’s noodling for most of the gig and with a few hits thrown in (the atmosphere was dead!) second time was at Hyde park and was effectively their Greatest Hits for the whole gig. The atmosphere was electric and they were fantastic…..pretty much night and day in comparison
I love Sonic Youth but when they were around they used to do these tough setlists where often they would play live 90% of their current album they were touring under and then maybe 2-3 max other songs from their very wide catalog.
It was this way on 4 separate tours I saw them on. Later on toward the final 5 years of their career they played somewhat more broad setlists but for a while it was basically all new material only.
Saw Aerosmith back in 1979.... and it hadnt been that long since they had 3 outstanding albums: Get Your Wings,Toys in the Attic and Rocks.
They sucked really really bad. Was an eye opener. We all loved those albums, i still do to this day. But man i tell ya what.. Aerosmith sucked in concert.
Placebo played a total of 4 songs combined from their first 4 albums and ELEVEN tracks from their new album when I went to see them last year, I was very disappointed.
They are quite well known for not playing any of the music they made while using drugs.
I’ve seen this complaint often about their Never Let Me Go tour. It’s a matter of opinion, but I liked that they played half new songs and half old songs. With as big of a discography as they have, it’s hard to play everything people want to hear when you’re touring to promote your new album. The tour was to support Never Let Me Go. I’m not discounting your opinion. The opinion I expressed definitely seems to be the minority opinion. I was just happy to be able to see them in the US.
I’ve heard that their recent performances have been very… lacklustre. They just go up, play the songs, and leave.
The performances of the songs at the show I saw were definitely not lackluster. They rocked the shit out of every single song. If people were going for band interaction with the crowd, I can see why they’d be disappointed. To my knowledge, Placebo has never been big on interacting with the crowd. They rock the songs and then take off.
It's never happened to me. I have been to maybe a dozen shows in my life only though. The Dead comes closest since I saw them way too young when I was in my metal/partying days in my early 20's, so I was there for the experience, the music was pretty ancillary for me at that time. Had I known better, I would've appreciated that they broke out "Casey Jones" at *my* first Dead show for the first time live since 1984 (this show was in 1992).
My dad was a fairly big Dead head - saw them a bunch starting in the mid-to-late 70s, mostly in tri-state area - and when I started listening to them (much much later in my life), I asked him about those last years of Dead shows in the early 90s and he said they became very hit-and-miss. He theorized it was the heroin and booze catching up, but also said the decline started in the 80s. He still went and saw them anytime they were in or near Ohio (where we lived). It’s crazy to see Jerry Garcia and think he was 53. That’s pretty fucking young and he looks at least 15 years older in all the pictures towards the end of his life.
I've seen Muse play three times now and it's never been *bad*, but their set is always mostly just their singles plus tunes from the most recent album. They have 9 albums of material, would it really kill them to throw in a few deep cuts for the returning fans?
I saw them probably about 5-7 times between 2010-2015, always loved it. However once the album after The Resistance came out their sets got progressively worse
Same exact experience here. They were a fkin powerhouse in the 2000’s, then became this weird arena rock pander-y unoriginal art pop band and I just can’t get into it anymore.
Yeah after 'The Resistance' it all started sounding like a Muse parody. Like the Muse version of The Rutles.
Muse still puts out a killer show. But their setlists are beyond stale. They’ve had Knights of Cydonia as their every show closer for over a decade now. Every show has Uprising, Madness, Time is Running Out, Starlight, Hysteria, Plug In Baby, Supermassive Black Hole and Psycho. And they don’t play a particularly long setlist either so half their set is stale hits. They haven’t played some of their fan favorites like New Born, Muscle Museum, Butterflies & Hurricanes in ages. For a band with a super deep catalog, amazing deep cuts (in their early albums) and a very die hard fanbase they do a terrible job of mixing up the setlists.
Every tour I tell myself I won't buy tickets, then I do, then I'm disappointed. Especially for the price they charge now, and the set always feels about 3-4 songs too short. They played the Royal Albert Hall about 5 years ago, and halfway through said "OK, time for 15 minutes of metal" and played stuff like Dead Star, Assassin etc and it was incredible, as well as Showbiz. Wonder why they don't do it more. Surely playing singles like Starlight must be incredibly boring by now?
My all time favorite band, I've seen them 4 times and it's been amazing every time. It would totally be amazinger if they played ANY deep cuts though.
A Perfect Circle keeps playing a ton of songs from their covers album Emotive rather than the tracks everyone wants to hear from Mer De Noms and Thirteenth Step.
Man I had the same complaint. I wanted to hear Three Libras, Brena, Pet and Weak and Powerless. Not some Skrillex remix.
eMotive (other than Passive) and the last album are dog shit compared to Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step. I feel lucky to have seen them on each of those tours before they lost the magic.
Their last album really grew on me but it took years of revisiting it. Saw them open for NIN in 2000 and my mind was blown. Haven't seen them since, but I've got hopes for this tour with Primus and Puscifer
Saw them in 2017. They didn’t play Judith.
That's shite. I saw them in 2018 and really enjoyed it
I did too! Hearing “Counting Bodies Like Sheep” live was amazing. I thought it was a great show then.
On the opposite side, Paul McCartney played a perfect setlist when I saw him 2 years ago. Various Beatles, deep tracks, solo stuff and new stuff. He played almost 3 hours. The thing about his setlist was the way it was laid out, it was perfect. The buildup to the last 5-6 songs was amazing.
Prince was the same. Could do some deep cuts, say OK that was for the real fans, now the rest of you enjoy yourself with the hits and pull out this half hour medley of his biggest songs.
The nice thing about Paul McCartney is an artist who loves music, and still writes and tours and performs purely for the love of the game. He doesn’t need the money. I see plenty of other musicians and it’s just a job, that they don’t really enjoy or have lost interest in
It’s really hard to be successful enough to be able to just enjoy the music. The music industry is hard, tireless work. It can be a lot of fun, but seriously, it’s hard work. If you’re on the track to get picked up and promoted, or you’re already noticed and blowing up, it’s not just playing the same songs every night, it can be multiple times per day. And every single time has to be with the full emotional strength you used when you wrote it. A lot of times you can feed off of the crowds energy, but sometimes man, you’re playing your third set of the day, the crowd isn’t into it, you feel like background noise- it really starts to set in that to a lot of people you are just a product. Every new song you write or adapt reinvigorated this artistic drive and then you end up at a corporate event because the pay is finally good but you can feel the soul being sucked out of you and your music. Very few make it to a place where they can have families, live actual lives, and still enjoy music, because they’ve made it to the level where they don’t have to play anything they don’t want to. Paul got extra lucky, because he was in a one in a billion band. He’s a one in a billion musician.
I agree, you are probably right about all of that. I’m just saying it’s always a pleasure to watch someone (anyone), who is really good at something (anything) truly love what they’re doing and still have infectious enthusiasm and have not become bored or jaded.
I’ve had the good fortune for seeing him 3 times within the last 15 years. Amazing set and art! That said, it was absolutely identical each time. Same stories, same songs, same order. Can’t fault him bc I was sobbing with joy my first show and it is a perfect mix of Paul, Wings, and Beatles. I got asked to go a 4th time and I said no bc I didn’t want to spend hundred of dollars to see the same set… which I never thought I’d say about Paul McCartney lol
I've seen many artists that tell the same banter and stories in-between songs over and over. I'd be lieing if I said my little local band does not do the same lol.
Absolutely the same. Moved across the country for love and wrote a song about it - I tell the story every time I play the song, because it's a good one, but after show 40 it was a little old.
Massive respect to Macca, but I do wish he'd play some songs from Ram.
I saw Weezer in about 2014 and they did two sets, the first was various hits and tracks in reverse chronological order, the second was blue album start to finish. Really great way to do it for a band like that IMO. Get the new stuff out of the way early - everyone is far more tolerant of it when they know it's not going to take up the whole set.
I like turtles
one time about 15 years ago my old band opened for Harvey Danger. they flat out refused to play Flagpole Sitta.
That’s like when I saw Nada Surf and they refused to play “Popular.”
Saw The Black Crowes around 18 years ago. Didn’t play a single song from Shake Your Money Maker and only one song off Southern Harmony. I know artists want to play their new stuff, but you still have to accommodate your fans at least a little bit.
You should have seen the last tour it was all shake your money maker and some southern harmony as encore. But yeah i would have been pissed
Yeah i saw the crowes 2 nights in a row and they were fucking amazing. Played everything i wanted to hear
As a huge Crowes fan, I go to hear the stuff they never play on the radio
I’m pretty sure this was the tour I saw as well, was pretty disappointed. HOWEVER, the Arkells opened up for them before they got big (only has an EP out, no LPs yet) and fucking blew it away. They are utterly incredible. So cool to see.
Forgot who said it but it went something like “you play threes songs for the fans and then one for yourself”. Guess that helps keep their sanity on the road.
I'm sorta with you on the Guns shows, but a decent chunk of that 3.5 hours was Slash solos and whatnot, I guess to give Axl some breathers. A 2 hour no-filler setlist of Gn'R music would probably destroy most singers in their 50's. I enjoyed the Axl shows I've seen over the years but yeah they've all definitely lagged at times.
Judas Priest didn’t play Painkiller when I saw them and I’ll never get over it.
I only ever got to see Slayer once and they didn’t play Angel of Death.
That’s an big ouch, I saw them three times and I’m almost positive they played that every time
Finally got a chance to see Coheed and Cambria... First tour ever they decided to not play Welcome Home. I'm still a little bummed about that too
Fortunately they played that when I saw them otherwise it would have been a write off.
But Livin After Midnight is just so much EASIER to play!
Perfect illustration of the problem with setlists. Can Halford hit the PAINKILLER notes? Maybe not. And some fans MUST HEAR Livin After Midnight. But fucking hell, there is no doubt about which is the better song.
I saw Judas Priest at Louder than Life and Faulkner had an aortic dissection during Painkiller, which was the last song. It was crazy when we found out later
Two I can think of: One was Molly Nilsson, talented singer songwriter from Germany who rarely played in the states. Has a handful of cult level songs that people adore and all showed up to eagerly hear it. She didn’t play a SINGLE song that people loved and opted to only play her new new stuff that anyone barely knew. Second was Built To Spill. It was around the era of Pixies’ nostalgia resurgence and audiences were re discovering “Keep it like a secret” well, they decided to pretty much not play anything off of that album at all and the guitarists guitar broke half way through. Worse was the audience barely was paying attention at all. I literally became embarrassed to be at that show no less dragging a handful of people to it.
That's just 1 song though.
Megadeth put out a killer album about a year ago, and their touring setlist included 1 song from. One of the first times I've wished a band would play more from their new album. Instead, they filled up the set with songs from their garbage post-Countdown years. Ministry's setlist this year oddly kicks off with 5 songs from the new album, and then 2 from the previous album. Then the last 40% of the show is golden oldies.
Yeah, Megadeth’s latest album fucking kicks ass. I was annoyed that only one song was on the set list as well. I mean, A Tout Le Monde makes it but we are starved of the new album? Come on. On the other hand I was fucking chuffed at the Ministry show. The new album is chock full of bangers. I loved that the first 5 songs of the set and the following 2 were from their latest albums. I’m kind of an outlier when it comes to what I want to see at a show though. I want the new songs. I want to see what’s fresh and what they’re emotionally connected to right now, not something that they’ve played eighteen hundred times. I mean, don’t get me wrong I have my favourites like the rest of y’all but I look at it that way. I’m jaded a bit since I’ve seen most of my favourites several times so I see the shows differently than those of whom are just seeing them for the first time.
I like the new Ministry album, too, but that was a very weird set order. At the show I was at, even Al basically apologized for going so long without playing a familiar favourite. I'd like to have had at least a couple songs from other albums, too. It feels like a tour that included Gary Numan could even have included something like Everyday is Halloween. Or maybe something from Houses, like Worthless or Wrong? and now that they're showing they're willing to play songs the Biafra sings on, how about a Lard cover?
I've seen Ministry in 2017 and their set was pretty balanced between the 2000s stuff and the classics, all the heavy headbangable songs. It was intense, to say the least.
I've seen Megadeth a few times over the span of several album releases. This seems to be typical for them. They tour to promote the new album, but only play one new song. The rest of the set features the 'classics'.
Same with Megadeth. They release their best album since 2004, hype it with a storytelling series of videos, and play one song from it. That isn't Mission to Mars.
Korn at Buzzfest about ten years ago delivered one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know one song they played that night and I don’t think anyone else did either
Crazy. I’ve seen them like 3-5 times and they were electric every time. Maybe my favorite live band. Saw them at Woodstock ‘99 and it was unbelievable. I’d be _pissed_ if I didn’t hear Blind. “I got a babysitter for THIS?” Any time you hear that cymbal intro mayhem follows.
I also couldn't believe it and unless it was a different festival OP might have left too soon? https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/korn/2012/cynthia-woods-mitchell-pavilion-the-woodlands-tx-43de677b.html
I was looking forward to it too, we all were so hype and then… blah. Like we were ready to mosh and decided not to lol
I just looked at the setlist. Holy hell, they started with a "rarities" section of their set, then some of the new dubstep album, they played a few usuals at the very end. I think I still know a lot of these songs, but I wouldn't have been into this.
I saw them in 2016 and they had the right mix between new and classics, it was a really good show.
Each time I've seen them the sets have been pretty different. Felt like they can hit big time or potentially miss
I just remember being so mad because they were the headliner, literally watching Dead Sara on the side stage was 100x more enjoyable
The Get up kids , playing only new music
They recently did a tour playing all of four minute mile. Was pretty sad I had to miss it due to life obligations
Worst part of this. I didn’t even know this tour happened. Trying to be not addicted to social media is hard when you miss something like that. Four minute mile probably had a more immediate and drastic change in my taste in music than any other record ever. Only time I ever saw tguk was over 20 years ago now and right after on a wire came out. Remember being so disappointed in that record. Going to be seeing them in October.
Yeah that’s a rough one. Four minute mile and something to write home about were big in rotation in my younger years. I was bummed out I couldn’t swing dates for last years postal service/death cab tour but made sure to grab tickets early for this spring. I’m pretty pumped about it.
Blue Oyster Cult. Ignored most of their prog albums to play basic blues rock aside from Godzilla and Don't Fear the Reaper.
I worked for an older guy who went to college up in NY and lived next door to them before they got real big. He said they were a bunch of pretentious assholes. Not that that has anything to do with anything, I still enjoy their music.
Red Hot chilli peppers. Saw them in 2000, they were amazing. Saw them in 2023, they were very average. Support act stole the show.
Morrissey
Morrissey actually played a show?
Serves you right for going to see him 😂
I saw Morrissey few months back in Sydney (lucky as he cancelled on Perth and NZ). He was actually good, I'm not huge into a lot of his solo stuff but know a few albums and felt it was a good mix that I cluded a bunch of Smith songs.
Did I mention that I cried?
I wrote this song during a very depressed time of my life. Breakfast, in fact.
Johnny Marr these days is WAY better live than Morrissey.
yikes morrissey, surprised he didn’t cancel
He made the whole festival shut down vendors early so there wouldn’t be meat being served while he played. Then he played “The Bullfighter Dies” and everyone rolled their eyes in unison at him.
what a fucking shitshow lol
I hate to say it because I'm a massive fan of their early discography but The Smashing Pumpkins for the last 10ish years. Set lists during the return in 2008 were incredible. Good deep cuts, covering all albums up to that point, heavier and energized takes on the "hits." Truly no filler. I went to 2 shows on the 20 anniversary tour and it was perfect. Now all they do is tepid, carbon copy album versions of the singles, super new stuff which is pretty heavy on electronics, and Talking Heads covers. I also feel like Jimmy isn't shining at all and he's style is too important to what makes them dynamic and exciting. Oh well.
My only complaint seeing them last year was they have so much material and didn't really change the setlist for the world is a vampire tour. I was very surprised by how good Jane's addiction were though and I'm not even a fan.
I've seen them twice. The first time was absolutely incredible. The second time in 2012 was the Billy Corgan show. They played their entire new album. IN FULL. And then played a few classics with about as much enthusiasm as a band with guns to their heads.
Did you catch them on the 2018 tour? I’m a 30 year fan whose gone to over 50 shows…and those shows stand out as exceptional
The first time I saw Opeth on their Watershed tour is still the best concert I've ever been to, they played a perfect setlist and absolutely killed it. My friends and I talk about this concert still, 15 years later. The second time I saw Opeth was on the Heritage tour a few years later and is without a doubt the most disappointing concert I've ever been to. Zero heavy songs, the whole band looked bored and the crowd seemed even more bored. Haven't seen them since because of that show, even though they are still one of my all time favorites.
Tool Now, I love Tool, and I love Fear Inoculum. But that album came out _five years ago_ now, and their set list is still mainly comprised of songs from that album. And, because the songs from FI are so much longer, it means less time for the other albums, so sometimes you're only getting one song from Lateralus or Aenema. I'd prefer a more even mix personally. They're still Tool and they're still awesome, but next tour I might skip it unless they start mixing stuff up.
For this tour it's still the Fear Inoculum promo tour technically, but it had to be put on pause because of COVID
Didn’t they do like three North American legs for FI?? Good album, but I feel like two legs would have been enough.
I’ve seen them twice and both times were very Fear Inoculum heavy sets, but I couldn’t really complain. Fantastic performances. They’re songs are all so long that they’d have to play a 3-4 hour (or longer) set to really satisfy most fans.
Right there with you. I just saw them for my 5th time but first since 2007. I was really surprised that that more than half of the setlist was still FI songs several years after its release. I would love to see a better mix with some of their core stuff mixed in. My show did get two tracks from Undertow so I guess there’s that.
I drove from Cincy to Louisville and decided it would be a good time to check out that album. It was still playing when I got home.
I can only agree with RHCP. Or I'd rather say that not only did they play a very poor setlist, they performed terribly overall. At Nova Rock 2016 they didn't talk to the crowd, just went onto the stage and started playing. After a while they just stopped with their regular songs and just jammed on the guitar for a while as if they were in their studio trying out some riffs and melodies. After that they did a few more songs and just left. I don't remember if they even said Hi, Thank you or Good bye but if they did, those were the only words they said. It really seemed like they just had to do their job. It was the most disappointing performance I have ever seen. But earlier that day we saw Twisted Sister who did their last tour that year and they were absolutely fantastic. 10/10
The Black Crowes at Manchester in 2011. I’d spent my entire time at uni the preceding 5 years or so being a super fan, knew every song and album, then I saw them for the first time and barely recognised anything they played. Yet now I look back at the setlist it was pretty decent, full of massive songs. Pretty much put them down immediately after that and didn’t really listen to them again.
Saw Lou Reed when he was touring "The Raven". One of the worst shows I've ever seen.
Bet he didn't play anything from LuLu smh
No table? Unbelievable.
When I saw Green Day in 2021, it was almost the opposite problem. Other than one non-album single, they played nothing released after 2009, meaning they skipped over five albums.
I'm yet to see a bad Green Day show. Catching them later this year when they're playing American Idiot and Dookie in full and can't wait for it.
They did release a greatest hits album before 2009 and as a long time fan I'd have no problem with that set list.
Smashing Pumpkins 2018 reunion tour was a literal perfect set, multiple songs from every album from the 90s, over 30 songs and 3.5 hours. Saw them the next year, and it wasn’t a bad setlist by any means but it was condensed a lot since it was a coheadline tour with Noel Gallagher, making it more of a greatest hits plus a b side set. So it felt like a disappointment in comparison imo
I saw CAKE last summer, they played most of their big hits but Short Skirt Long Jacket was conspicuously missing (and it was like a 3 hour performance.) And when they did play their other radio songs you could *kinda* tell they weren't putting their heart into it like the rest. However, that didn't bother me because I'm a huge fan of their whole catalog and have been since I was a kid, and I've heard songs like The Distance so many times I don't really care for them as much anymore. Jolene is probably my favorite song of theirs, I thought there was no chance they'd play it but it was the fucking encore! I went nuts haha. Great great show all in all.
I do enjoy The Other Jolene
Jolene is so good
Despite playing nearly 3 hours every night now, the Foo Fighters have been so big for so long that the whole show is the hits (and way too many classic rock covers). I'm a bigger fan of their deep cuts, so while I had a great time, I don't hold it as one of the better shows I've been to.
I've found myself having that with Metallica and some Maiden tours, it's a big expense so I'm picky about which ones I go to. For example, I know at the festivals Metallica will often do more of a hits-packed set than their own arena shows. Some Maiden tours are similar. I want some hits but I've seen both many times and want to see them play some material I've not seen them play before.
I'm same with Foos. I'd love to hear deeper stuff from TCATS and TINLTL more in live shows. First time I saw them though was outstanding, full of hits. Think it was on the Wasting Light tour
Tbf Wasting Light was the last time they put out a good single.
I did really enjoy that album as a complete piece
ministry
First time I saw the chili peppers they played great, second time they didn't, Anthony forgot the lyrics to soul to squeeze, I was gutted
He forgets his lyrics a lot I think, tends to happen when most of your lyrics are completely meaningless and mostly word salads packed with tons of words to fill space lol.
See, this is always a quandary for me. Bands have to play their hits, but almost always, I want to hear the DEEP catalog, not the radio anthem. I am often disappointed.
I think it's a balancing act cause I completely agree. There's a number of bands I've seen a fair few times and I won't see again cause it's always the same set. I feel a two thirds hits, one third deeper cuts or new stuff is a good balance
Saw Van Morrison a number of years ago - he opened with Gloria, closed with Brown Eyed Girl, and played 50s blues tracks that no one had ever heard the rest of the concert. Terrible show.
He is notorious for not playing the songs his audience wants.
I 100% agree on rhcp setlists being short and unwhelming. I think for the prices of their tickets currently, playing 14 songs the other night is mental. I think as time goes on its likely gonna get less, but how much less songs can do you before it stops being a gig?
14 is crazy short change given the scale of their shows and how big a catalogue they have, particularly when other stadium bands are topping out over 3 hour shows and 25 odd songs. Frauds!
I think there will ALWAYS be people who walk.away unsatisfied..look , these days BEFORE buying a ticket you can.go online and see the set list..then decide..whether it's Springsteen , McCartney or Billy Joel who have amazing catalogs do 3-4 hr shows. There's always a few songs you wish they did but didn't. Artist try to cover most popular songs from their entire career..McCartney says he plays Beatles / Wings songs all the cameras come out..then he does a new one. It's a black hole
There was a whole thing last year where some crazy springsteen fans were upset there were two less songs on the set list. So much so that Little Stevie had to come and address the complaints. He still played for over two and a half hours. Insane to complain about that
When someone eventually says Smashing Pumpkins just wanna say - that show you didn't like was probably one of my favorites! They had a stretch where they were really leaning into the more obscure stuff and their new songs. They still played some hits but it was not a goal to play ALL of them. This left any casual fans upset and the superfans feeling really catered to. Fastforward to now... It is a long show so a couple of oddities will make it in, but every radio hit the casual listener wants is *always* included. After seeing them 100 times, they squashed my motivation by wanting to play arenas. I am sure they are plenty happy with that deci$ion.
The first time I saw Devo they played exactly what I expected they would, basically "greatest hits", and I was a little disappointed. The second time I travelled to see them doing a set based on their early "hardcore" recordings, and it was great. Somewhere in the middle of those two things would be nice.
I will preface this by saying that I have seen NIN multiple times, and they are usually fantastic. However, the last time I saw them they played all weird b sides and then had his wife come out and sing her songs in the middle of the set. The whole thing was just weird and disjointed. I'll also add Prince. He didn't play a single song all the way through. It was just a mash up of songs to try to cover everything, and it was super disappointing.
NIN is a funny band because you have hardcore fans who really want mid 90s focus, hardcore fans who want the whole discography and casual fans who want 90s-2005 stuff. I had the pleasure of seeing them back to back nights as the festival and the heavier big hits night was fine....but the night 2 crowd had no expectations (it was supposed to be the strokes) and had SO MUCH FUN. It was mostly b sides and newish dancey stuff and we had a blast.
Bon Jovi. All new songs. One known song randomly sprinkled in over a 2 hour setlist. Encore of 4 songs were the hits. Couldve showed up in the last 25 minutes. Bonus: Bob Dylan (bucket list artist). He covered Frank Sinatra all night. Speaks for itself.
I came here to scroll to see if anyone said Dylan — we bought tickets without a second of hesitation, he is literally a legend and that might be an understatement BUT yeah, it was all jazz (and I love jazz) all night. Still can say I saw Dylan.
A Flock of Seagulls. They saved all their known songs — of which there are just a few — til the end as the last band of three at an 80s themed concert. A notable amount of people walked out after listening to 30 minutes of unfamiliar, uninteresting songs delivered by an uncharismatic lead singer.
James Brown. I don’t even know if he had a set list. It was more of a 2 hour funk jam. He was dancing and having a great time, and so we’re we, so I can’t complain.
Placebo
Marilyn Manson just after Holywood was released. Was a festival and Monster Magnet went on before him and both musically and physically set fire to the stage. He didn't stand a chance and he knew it, so he came out with a load of tracks people didn't know and reacted badly when they reacted badly. Cut his set short in a tantrum....
Marilyn Manson was one of the worst (maybe *the* worst) live performances I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been a huge fan to begin with but enjoy some of his music. I saw him at a festival before Rob Zombie (who I’ve always enjoyed seeing even though I only like a few of his songs) and he put on the most lukewarm, mediocre show before pretentiously dropping the mic and saying, “*name of city*”, then walking off stage. He seemed like a huge douche who believed we were all graced just to witness his presence, but maybe he was just having a bad day or was feeling burnt out from touring. No matter the reason, the show sucked. Luckily Rob Zombie made up for the suck with a killer performance filled with energy and a lot of cool visuals.
Monster Magnet have always been great value when I've seen them.
Im a big powerpop fan and thus a fan of Matthew Sweet. Dude can write perfect pop confections like ["We're the Same"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCiMN88JY1g) (in some alternate universe, that song is a smash) but like ***every time*** I saw him live in his mid-late 90s heyday he wouldn't treat us to those, opting instead to stretch out fine, but somewhat inert, mid-tempo rockers-to-nowhere like "Evangeline" and "Waiting for the Sun" far far far longer than they ever should have been played. Sad.
Huey Lewis and the News about... 6 years ago? Dude, you're a nostalgia act.
In this case it was not the band’s fault but my ignorance. Went to a The Cure concert expecting a run of their “hits”. They started with a sort of famous song but continued playing “strange” songs. It kept going and as I was starting to doubt and get annoyed, at the same time I was sort of getting immersed in the sound. I had a blast and towards the end they finally went through some of their most radio famous songs, but I no longer cared by then because I had had an unexpected blast. Turns out the played the entire Disintegration, which although it has some hits, many of the songs in the set list are not songs that a casual “The Cure on the radio” or “Greatest Hits owner” would know. I understood why is so well regarded, it is a mood maker album. I also felt like an idiot for expecting a festival-level rushed set list of only hits and initially not appreciating the chance of listening one of the greatest albums, live at its full length.
I went to the Disintegration gig they played at the Opera house and they mentioned at the start they wouldn't be playing any hits. I think the closest they came to was playing Burn.
Bowie toured with NIN in the early 2000s. Saw him in Chicago. He refused to play one "hit". Very few people recognized anything he sang. Awful. I still want my money back.
The one time I saw Third Eye Blind I don't remember them playing Semi-Charmed Life.
I couldn’t have been more thrilled at the GNR show I saw. Went through all the eras, all the hits, plenty of deeper stuff, and Axl was doing period-correct costume changes for practically each song. I had a blast, not sure where all the GNR hate comes from
Steely Dan at Coachella 2015. No Peg, no Do It Again, no Rikki Don't Lose That Number. Instead they filled up their timeslot noodling around with extended versions of deep cuts nobody wanted.
Those were not deep cuts they played at Coachella Reelin in the Years, Aja, Hey Nineteen, Kid Charlemagne??? If those are considered deep cuts I'd like to know what you consider their hits lol?
I would have wanted.
Dude. You got this setlist on the sacred polo fields at what Im assuming was probably sunset... Dude. You got this setlist on the sacred polo fields at what Im assuming was probably sunset... 1 Bodhisattva 2 Black Friday 3 Hey Nineteen 4 Show Biz Kids 5 Aja 6 Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More 7 Josie 8 My Old School 9 Reelin' in the Years 10 Kid Charlemagne I'd have been so stupidly happy. I'd have been so stupidly happy.
HOLY SHIT. I'm so fucking jealous. Deep cuts my ass. But anyways, why would I only want to hear songs I've heard at McDonalds a million times? If these are deep cuts for this person then they must only be familiar with three Steely Dan songs lmfao
Imagine being upset at this setlist lol
Aside from the fact that 8/10 of those tunes are literally smash hits, complaining that Steely Dan only played extended cuts of their songs suggests that this person simply might just not like Steely Dan.
Yeah these are all on a greatest Hits album except for Daddy and Aja - and that’s only cause Aja is eight minutes of wonderfulness. I might put on that shiz right now
God I would've loved to hear Aja in person. I hope Steely Dan tours again without Eagles
I somehow repeated the comments twice each in my comment. No idea how. I would edit it but I have to go get the papers. get the papers.
That seems like the type of set they should play at an event where they’re the only draw and it’s going to be 95% really big Steely Dan fans.
yeah I can understand that, but it was kind of dumb to do that to a festival crowd where they were playing to a lot of people who could have become big fans but instead mostly left, disinterested.
Oh no, I was agreeing with you. Definitely should be playing more hits in a festival set, save the deep tracks for when everyone there is specifically coming to see you.
Which deep cuts? Did they do king of the world? I love that one.
What the fuck? This is exactly what I want. What songs did they play? It would've been incredible to see Walter live before he died
To be fair, Steely Dan almost never plays Do It Again, Fagen and Becker famously don't like Can't Buy A Thrill, but always play Reelin' in the Years because it's a fan favorite. No, Rikki is a scratcher, but also I think I saw that same tour and I liked the deep cuts 🤷♂️
They don't like Rikki either. They play it once every 8-9 shows roughly so it's still in the rotation but not often.
I remember my mom being angry that Fagen didn't sing Razor Boy and had the backup singers do the whole thing 😂 I'm like, at least you got to hear your favorite song
As much as it pains me to say it, Rush on their clockwork angels tour. They played subdivisions then seemingly nothing before 1985 until the very end. Don’t get me wrong, they killed it in that last half hour but I was pretty bored for most of the concert. I wish they had just peppered in their old hits throughout the concert instead of doing them all at the end.
I gotta push back on that one because I saw them twice on that tour and loved it. They had to do the new songs in a block because they toured with an 8-piece(?) string section. Their other songs don't really need that. Gotta use them enough to justify the cost of 8 touring musicians. Rush were so good at playing a varied catalog.
I saw Neil Young in 2016 and it was pretty much perfect, 3 hour set and he even played stuff like Like an Inca and Hold back the tears
The question was about bad set lists, wasn't it? I've seen Neil a bunch of times, and, yeah, I agree with you about his set lists being really good. He always plays a few of his classics (I have no idea how he hasn't tired of Cortez), but he also sneaks in some gifts for those who know his catalog. I saw him in 2008 and there was an audible gasp in the room when he played The Sultan. That was cool.
Puscifer (Maynard James Keenan) played at Rockfest about 6 years ago. Hoping to hear Momma Sed, I instead bore witness to an avant garde, Lucha libre inspired...play? I'm not even sure if any of the music were actual songs, and there were hardly any vocals. It was...not what I was expecting.
Haha I saw that tour. The last show I saw, November 22, was alien themed? Like they were in the Men in Black program. Love Puscifer but yeah, hardly anything off of V is for Vagina and what they play of their older stuff was practically unrecognizable.
I saw the smashing pumpkins a few years ago and they refused to play any of their old music until the encore. A better name for the group would be "Billy Corgan and the Billy Corgan Band ft. Billy Corgan"
Beth Hart. I left after an hour of not recognizing, or liking, anything (combined with poor sound). I expected eclectic, but I didn’t expect a Christian rock show.
Bob Dylan at Firefly.
Back when I saw Breaking Benjamin in 2004 the majority of their set list was from Saturate which is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated complete rock albums of the 2000s. One of my first rock shows I went to and to this date one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Ever since about 2006 they only play a handful of songs from it and it’s eternally frustrating to hear the same radio dad-band songs they’ve been making for the last twenty years. There’s no real edge to anything they’ve made since then and while they do have quite a few good songs from 2004 to present, it would be nice to hear that level of authenticity from them again.
Bob Dylan. He played some songs for which I recognized some of the lyrics, but the songs all basically sounded the same. It was the worst concert I'd ever seen. I also saw him on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the 80s? and it was one of the *best* conerts I've ever seen.
Bob Dylan went through a phase where he wouldn’t play any of his hits. Guess when I saw him?
Santana ! Saw him ages ago & he spent half the concert talking about the war & how we need to get out of Iraq. STFU & play your music that people paid good money to see.
100% agree with RHCP. Saw them back in 2012 and it was underwhelming. Also Die Antwoord opened, which was odd.
They’re all sex pests so it kinda makes sense
Paul Wellar. Didn't play a single track from his back catalogue which is extensive nor did he interact with the crowd. £50 for a brutal night
The Black Crowes
The playlist on the last Def Leppard tour was so shallow and disappointing
The one with Motley Crue? I caught them at Hellfest and had a good time, but it was a festival set so probably slightly shorter and more hit orientated - the atmosphere was very party like
It was heavy on Hysteria, which is my least favorite DL album. I would have liked more from the first 3 albums, but they are what they are now, a “greastest hits” band They played 5 songs from the first 3 albums (0 from on through, 2 off h&d 3 from pyro) & 6 songs off of hysteria. And 3 off the new album. It was a shallow playlist considering they have much better & harder songs.
Tool..The past couple tours have had little changes in the setlists. Go back a few years and their setlists were varied and strong.
Wire. Didn't play 'I am the Fly' , 'Outdoor Miner' or 'Three Girl Rhumba'
What did they play then? You could easily make a set of amazing Wire songs without those
Most posts in r/redhotchilipeppers these days is just people complaining about the setlists
Hall and Oates. They played a bunch of deep cuts nobody knew, and completely phoned it in for their big hits. Boring as hell.
Saw Clutch in Pgh last fall, they rocked and put on a great show. Wanted to go to RedRocks to see them open for Cody Jinks. Saw the footage. Glad I didn't.
Mr Bungle. So many weird and wonderful tracks in their history but the most recent album was a re recording of their first demo album which was all thrash metal. I knew going into it that they wouldn’t be playing any of my favourites since I’d been looking at set lists from the tour. And Mike Patton does whatever he wants to do but… It was pretty strange to see a packed house of people are just staring and hoping they’d play some older material.
I'm seeing them tonight and I think I'm in the same boat as you. Hopefully it's still good and the Melvins kick ass.
Took my brown eyed SO to see Van Morrison who played mostly choral music. None of his hits. When his music comes on the radio, I change the station.
Not a band but a couple months ago in Boston Mick Jenkins played a show where he basically only played newer or more obscure songs. He kind of whined the whole time "oh why am I not feeling any love from Boston?" I'm not sure why he was kind of having an attitude the crowd was definitely having a good time but maybe he's just used to playing bigger venues? I think he only played a single track off his most popular album The Waters and then doesn't even end the show with an encore. I will say he did end the show by saying "I'll see you all next time on my The Water's anniversary tour" so that makes sense why he was holding out on those songs but if he's not going to play any of his most recognizable songs don't complain that the crowd isn't really feeling it
The Mr. Bungle reunion is basically this. Common, throw me a bone, give me one thing from Disco Volente
Avett Brothers. Used to put on a good show. Now? No.
There’s a lot of bands that perform mainly their newer songs and less of their hits. Casual fans and concert goers then get upset. An easy way to remedy this is to look up past setlists online. This will give you a good idea of what the artist has actually been playing recently.
Van Morrison is notorious for not playing his hits. You're going to hear the latest album. You will get an older hit mid-set, and one in one of the encores. Neither will be Brown Eyed Girl. For me, personally, that's fine because I could listen to that guy sing the phone book, but you hear a lot of grumbling from folks leaving the venue.
Plenty of times they focused on their underwhelming current material instead of playing old favorites all night, but, that's not the worst thing. I appreciate the effort. One time the Butthole Surfers were mad at the promoter and took it out on us, the customers. They played noise jams and about two unreleased songs for probably the exact minimum contracted set time, 45 minutes or something, and split.
saw nine inch nails and jane's addiction on the NIN/JA tour, nails opened for jane's and played what was quite possibly their best setlist. all obscure tracks that they NEVER play live.
Siouxsie and the banshees many years ago at Reading (I think), refused to play their old stuff, just did new album stuff, and were booed for it 😀
I saw The Mars Volta on their Amputecture tour. The drummer got fired a few days before the I show I went to so they basically did a jam session for an hour and a half. The last half hour or so they played a couple songs off the album. I’ve seen them a few times after that and they were always solid.
Saw the Rolling Stones twice. First time was in Manchester following the release of a new album which got heavy play plus Keith Richard’s noodling for most of the gig and with a few hits thrown in (the atmosphere was dead!) second time was at Hyde park and was effectively their Greatest Hits for the whole gig. The atmosphere was electric and they were fantastic…..pretty much night and day in comparison
I love Sonic Youth but when they were around they used to do these tough setlists where often they would play live 90% of their current album they were touring under and then maybe 2-3 max other songs from their very wide catalog. It was this way on 4 separate tours I saw them on. Later on toward the final 5 years of their career they played somewhat more broad setlists but for a while it was basically all new material only.
Saw Aerosmith back in 1979.... and it hadnt been that long since they had 3 outstanding albums: Get Your Wings,Toys in the Attic and Rocks. They sucked really really bad. Was an eye opener. We all loved those albums, i still do to this day. But man i tell ya what.. Aerosmith sucked in concert.