New songs or old?

[UndertheWire]

How do you feels about an artist's setlist? Do you want to hear the songs from the latest album or the hits from 40 years ago?

In Eagleland, most of the recent news has been about Don Henley and his tour to support the new album. He plays a lot of the new songs and some hits from his solo career, a few covers but no Eagles songs. It seems to be working for most people to write reviews and post reports but what about the rest of the audience.

Joe Walsh has also been touring. He promised some different songs but it seems he's stuck to the tried-and-tested for the most part and the audiences are ecstatic.

Meanwhile, Jackson Browne is touring, playing songs from his 2014 album and some more obscure songs from his back catalogue and finally playing a few of the old favourites. This reviewer describes the audienced as "bemused".

Next up is JD Souther who has a stripped down band (I'm not sure if it's just 3 or 4 of them). He's also playing songs from his newest (and really good) album but includes a few of the songs he wrote with and for the Eagles, singing them in his own way. Maybe he has an advantage of never being a huge star so expectations are different. There aren't many reviews but those I've seen have been positive. Here's review from a show this summer.

When Don Felder toured behind his 2012 album, he only included one or two songs from that album in a set that was very Eagles-heavy.

In his rare concerts, Glenn Frey seems to have a mix of old, new and covers.

When it comes to the Eagles setlists, I see a lot of complaints about its predictability. As the HotE tour was a retrospective, it was to be expected that they'd play old songs but they did bring back some that hadn't been played from decades - possibly as many Desperado songs as they played back in 1973. And the LROOE tour played quite a few songs from that album. Perhaps one of the issues is that the setlist doesn't change from one show to the next and with the tours being so long, that means they are playing the same songs for years.

Should audiences be expected to prepare for a concert by listening to the latest release from an artist?

After thinking about these artists, the show I'd really like to see is JD Souther with its mix of new songs, old songs with a new treatment and few covers of standards thrown in. I'm not a big Henley fan and I'm not keen on country, so Henley's show doesn't really interest me. I'm sure I'd enjoy Joe Walsh and I'd really like to see Glenn, especially if he didn't play too many Eagles songs. If Don Felder was to team up with a good singer and limit the Eagles songs to just a couple, I'd be interested but I'd rather see a tribute band than spend an "Evening at the Hotel California".

[Funk 50]

i have no interest in "Tribute Bands", it's the musicians that entertain me, not the set list.

I've attended as many Eagles solo shows as I've been able to, probably because I've invested so much money, time and energy in their careers. I trust them to put on a good show.

I probably wouldn't see a Felder or Leadon solo show though.

Out of all the shows I've attended, the best shows tend to have a a good helping of new, or maybe more accurately, unfamiliar, material included in the set list.

[Freypower]

For me Glenn's After Hours tour was a perfect mix of new & old. He did 9 new songs, which was remarkable. I would like him to acknowledge the existence of Strange Weather, but as long as he won't do that, he will have to keep playing Eagles songs, unless he makes a new album, of course, for which I desperately hope.

I think it's admirable of Don Henley not to do any Eagles songs at all; however, and be warned, I wouldn't go to see his current show because I find Cass County disappointing. This is not the topic to explain why; if we do a Survivor I will be more forthcoming.

I was disappointed with the HOTE setlist, retrospective or not. Not one of those songs they played apart from Train Leaves Here This Morning had any particular resonance with me. I am well aware of the love of the majority of people on this board for Doolin-Dalton & its reprise; those songs do nothing for me. My favourite Eagles tour was the LROOE tour, because yes, they played new songs. It was fresh & different, as was the AH tour.

From what I have read about Joe's setlist it sounds far too safe & predictable for me. I think Analog Man is still recent enough that he should be playing songs from it.

However it's probably unreasonable to expect audiences to familiarise themselves with new material. For whatever reason they may not wish to buy new material. But they should be prepared for it & not just dismiss it out of hand. Surely if they are fans of the artist that is what they want to hear? I have been to see numerous artists with enormous back catalogues & to their credit, they emphasised their new material. Robert Plant & John Fogerty are cases in point, as I know is Mark Knopfler, even though I haven't seen him for ten years.

[WalshFan88]

I'd be pretty pissed to pay good money to see an artist who is "too cool" to play their hits just to be edgy. I'd also hate it if they were anti-nostalgia or forget where they came from. Or any other lame reason.

In a band where there are multiple hits, I'm not asking you play every one (that's another subject - favorite hits), but if I go see a show that's mostly unheard or new material I'm not interested.

I'm sure it's tiring to play Take It Easy or Sweet Emotion for the millionth time. But I'm selfish in that I don't care, that's why I'm paying you. Play it again.

I also believe in promoting your new music but not throughout whole show by playing a TON of new songs, plugging your new CD every 5th song, etc. That gets old.

I still think bulk of shows with new music from an artist should be at least 2/3s familiar stuff and hits. Then throw in new stuff in between hits (not all at the beginning, middle, or end) as not to do too much.

I'm a hits guy. I like some deep tracks but I'm a radio guy and I want to hear Hotel California or Walk This Way for the millionth time. If I'm paying you, you better play it. Failure to do so will result in no interest in seeing said band again.

I just think new music needs to be SLOWLY and sporadically introduced into shows. Going out and playing 6-7 new songs from a 10 song new CD and playing the main 5 or so hits isn't gonna settle well with me. 2 or 4 new songs is ok, 2 or 3 is best IMO. Any more than that and it gets boring. Or makes good time for a bathroom break if they do them back to back.

On the subject of HOTE they should have at least included How Long IMO, if not BBF or another from the album.

But a fresh album and following tour from an established artist/band should not be so concentrated with new stuff most people outside of die hard fans won't know or care about. Even as I diehard, I still prefer a largely older material setlist. I'd go as far as to say I like the old stuff better, but I'm a biased purist of 60s/70s/80s rock n' roll so there ya go.

But still, keep it continuing but not overload crowds with songs they haven't heard or heard much. It's a safe bet.

[Freypower]

You would be pretty unhappy with Henley's current setlist, then. How do you feel about him playing NO Eagles songs AT ALL?

I see the point about new music being slowly introduced; on the other hand surely the artist has the right to showcase 'where he is now'. How are new songs going to become famiiar & loved if the artist seems afraid to play them? I was very disappointed at the way the Eagles just dropped BBF, GOTC and (after three tries) Somebody when I saw them in 2010. They acted as if they were ashamed of the songs. They seemed to be saying 'well, you don't like them, so we don't like them either'. In my view they got a much more enthusiastic reaction for those songs in 2010 than they did in 2015 for a couple of obscure early songs from their back catalogue. It was the same with Glenn & AH. He WANTED to sing the new songs. He didn't really want to plod through some of the Eagles songs again;'you could tell he didn't. Presumbably Don is the same & Don has taken it a huge stage further.

[Funk 50]

One of the reasons I became a Joe Walsh fan is that I had absolutely no preconceptions about his material. Every Walsh track I've heard, has been a personal discovery. It was nice to find out later that other people liked them too but I didn't care if he had any hits or not.

As we go further into the internet/digital age, I'm sure the impact of hit singles will diminish. It's never been easier to discover back catalogues but fans can now make their own choices before they get whatever radio decides to play.

Cass County is Henley's best album. I Can't Stand Still is his oldest. I'd want to hear Don's best material, rather than the stuff that's been available longest. Taste and desire are subjective, so you are never going to please everyone but surely a current album is far more relevant than tracks made decades ago.

I'm pretty sure that Joe tailors his set list based on the reaction of his live audience. Since joining the Eagles he has become more of a performer than an artist. Artists want to be relevant, performers just play to the crowd.

I hope Eagles follow Henley's artistic path.

[shunlvswx]

I want to say kuddos to Don for not playing any Eagles songs other than SBR. He said he wasn't going to do it and he kept his word. I don't expect him to put any Eagles songs in his setlist when he goes back to touring in two weeks. He has changed his setlist around a little, but it is the same. He had Everybody Knows the first night and dropped the next night. He put Talking To The Moon in his set when he did TX and of course it was taken out for the next show.

Since I've never seen any of the guys in concert, hearing the songs in concert would be the first time for me to hear them.

I think the guys or any group or singers are playing it safe when it comes to including new songs in their show.

[Freypower]

One of the reasons I became a Joe Walsh fan is that I had absolutely no preconceptions about his material. Every Walsh track I've heard, has been a personal discovery. It was nice to find out later that other people liked them too but I didn't care if he had any hits or not.

As we go further into the internet/digital age, I'm sure the impact of hit singles will diminish. It's never been easier to discover back catalogues but fans can now make their own choices before they get whatever radio decides to play.

Cass County is Henley's best album. I Can't Stand Still is his oldest. I'd want to hear Don's best material, rather than the stuff that's been available longest. Taste and desire are subjective, so you are never going to please everyone but surely a current album is far more relevant than tracks made decades ago.

I'm pretty sure that Joe tailors his set list based on the reaction of his live audience. Since joining the Eagles he has become more of a performer than an artist. Artists want to be relevant, performers just play to the crowd.

I hope Eagles follow Henley's artistic path.

I completely disagree that CC is Henley's 'best album'. However, I agree that he is correct to showcase it the way he has been doing.

If the Eagles do wish to follow this path, then they need to record some new material, and they need to have the desire to play it & not be scared of some of it as I describe above. As far as I was concerned HOTE showed a band that had become a museum piece.

[Jonny Come Lately]

How do you feels about an artist's setlist? Do you want to hear the songs from the latest album or the hits from 40 years ago?

In Eagleland, most of the recent news has been about Don Henley and his tour to support the new album. He plays a lot of the new songs and some hits from his solo career, a few covers but no Eagles songs. It seems to be working for most people to write reviews and post reports but what about the rest of the audience.

Joe Walsh has also been touring. He promised some different songs but it seems he's stuck to the tried-and-tested for the most part and the audiences are ecstatic.

Meanwhile, Jackson Browne is touring, playing songs from his 2014 album and some more obscure songs from his back catalogue and finally playing a few of the old favourites. This reviewer describes the audienced as "bemused".

Next up is JD Souther who has a stripped down band (I'm not sure if it's just 3 or 4 of them). He's also playing songs from his newest (and really good) album but includes a few of the songs he wrote with and for the Eagles, singing them in his own way. Maybe he has an advantage of never being a huge star so expectations are different. There aren't many reviews but those I've seen have been positive. Here's review from a show this summer.

When Don Felder toured behind his 2012 album, he only included one or two songs from that album in a set that was very Eagles-heavy.

In his rare concerts, Glenn Frey seems to have a mix of old, new and covers.

When it comes to the Eagles setlists, I see a lot of complaints about its predictability. As the HotE tour was a retrospective, it was to be expected that they'd play old songs but they did bring back some that hadn't been played from decades - possibly as many Desperado songs as they played back in 1973. And the LROOE tour played quite a few songs from that album. Perhaps one of the issues is that the setlist doesn't change from one show to the next and with the tours being so long, that means they are playing the same songs for years.

Should audiences be expected to prepare for a concert by listening to the latest release from an artist?

After thinking about these artists, the show I'd really like to see is JD Souther with its mix of new songs, old songs with a new treatment and few covers of standards thrown in. I'm not a big Henley fan and I'm not keen on country, so Henley's show doesn't really interest me. I'm sure I'd enjoy Joe Walsh and I'd really like to see Glenn, especially if he didn't play too many Eagles songs. If Don Felder was to team up with a good singer and limit the Eagles songs to just a couple, I'd be interested but I'd rather see a tribute band than spend an "Evening at the Hotel California".

Thank you for starting this topic, UtW. I think this is an interesting area of discussion. I have never been to any Eagles show, or even a tribute band so anything I heard would be my first experience. In some ways, I personally don't feel worried about seeing any of them solo, but if they came on tour to the UK again, I'd definitely like to go if possible.

I tend to agree with you about Henley's current tour. I am disappointed that he has totally ignored the Eagles catalogue. I get why he doesn't want to play Hotel California or Desperado yet again, but I'm not sure why he should leave out something personal to him which the Eagles have not played recently. If he played either The Last Resort or The Sad Cafe, for instance, I'd be more inclined to consider seeing him. If the HOTE was at one extreme (and personally I would have been blown away to hear the old Desperado songs and TLTHM, on top of all the other songs), he has gone to the other. I could certainly see myself enjoying Joe's show, so I think given the choice between him and Henley right now as a solo act I'd rather see Joe. Ultimately, I think I know I'd have fun at a rock concert featuring one of my favourite musicians, whereas I can only handle so much pure country and therefore I fear I'd be disappointed if I went to Don's. Beyond the country songs, I have to say that Don's poppier 80s solo hits aren't that big a draw for me in live performance.

I will also admit that I would almost certainly enjoy Don Felder's 'An Evening At The Hotel California'. I can understand the 'glorified tribute band' jibes but, as I said, I have never seen Eagles songs live and with Felder I'd get to see plenty, potentially including those the Eagles wouldn't play (Victim Of Love, a song I'd love to experience live, for one). I guess I'm just more interested in the dance than the dancer, to turn the Saturday Night lyric on its head.

Of course, the issue to me is whether they play in the UK or not. There is no way I could realistically justify leaving the country to see any artist at this point in my life. I would go to London for the Eagles or another big favourite, but I'm not convinced from my personal point of view that it would be worth going beyond Birmingham for a solo show.

When I went to see Neil Young in 2014 I thought the balance of his setlist was pretty much right - for him to play his 'big hits' and nothing else would seem out of character but he had enough of the most familiar songs (After The Gold Rush, Heart Of Gold, Like A Hurricane and Rockin' In The Free World) matched with some excellent choices from (including the likes of Barstool Blues, Days That Used To Be) He also played a couple of newer songs, although he wasn't promoting a new album so, and an acoustic cover of Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind. By all accounts, from the setlists I've seen I think Mark Knopfler has also achieved a good balance in his recent setlists, with a mix of Dire Straits songs, including some but not all of the obvious ones, along with both newer and older solo songs.

[WalshFan88]

I personally wouldn't go see DH in the current tour.

As far as relevancy, sure a new album is new, but I believe a lot of the best music and the big hits were made long ago and stay relevant because they are great.

I mean for instance, Aerosmith's 70s drug-fueled albums are way better to me than their later sober efforts. I hate to say that, and I'm glad they are clean but nothing they make will ever top the 70s stuff they did.