Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
I probably have not followed this tour close enough, and have not attended any shows live, although I did catch the Jacksonville webcast.. I can understand both sides of this argument from a fan perspective. On the one hand it has been great to see some of these songs played acoustically and i have gained a new respect for Snow Outside.. Good Good time came back.. and Minarets is awesome to see in regular rotation. After reading through the comments here it seems like the fan unrest with the setlists is due to 3 things:
1) unpopular Songs getting played- Can't Stop, Mercy, WAYG, Y&M.. seems like tour debuts get pulled from this category, whats next "smooth Rider", "Hunger", "Angel"? (although we did get YNK too recently) instead of debuting from the next list (#2) below....
2) desired songs not getting played - 3rd verse Grey Street, Full Blue Water, Hello Again, Monkey Man, Let You Down, Beauty of Wynona, Last Stop, Dreaming Tree, Fool to Think (ok i like it), Kill the King, Black Jack, Sugar Will, Crazy Easy, SUAD, Deed is Done.. i don't know what else can they pull out of their hat?.. remove a few clunkers and replace with a few of these and we have a great tour!
3) Placement of songs.. (e.g. Shake Me, Why I am, Grey Street as Encore closers) - ok how many songs are considered great for encore closers: Last Stop, Ants, AATW, Halloween, Tripping Billies.. and how should the band add new closers from more recent albums to avoid only rotating from the above standard list? - it seems that key songs are: set opener, set closer, encore opener (soft song - dave only), encore closer (epic song with high energy).. and also important are "great runs" during the set.. good flow song to song (segues).. avoid multiple clunkers in a row..
Ok what DMB needs is a software package on their Ipads.. which has all the statistics from current and past tours but also adds in current fan opinions from social media, then it would help them formulate the best setlist for each night.. logic would be built in to avoid repeats, to play songs not previously heard at that venue.. etc.. just like many sports teams employ statisticians in their front office - DMB could employ one and take them on the road.. the position could be called "Setlist advisor" .. hmmmm any thoughts?
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