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Is it me or does it seem like Bruce doesn’t even playcate requests much anymore.
Look at the setlists of Bruce with The Noisemakers over the past two or so years and you will see the same 25 – 30 songs.
Don’t get me wrong I would still see Bruce even if he played the same setlist each show, I’m just saying that I miss getting to hear my favorites that may not have been played in awhile.
I definitely miss the days of ’01-’05 where it seemed like he played straight from the requests pile as all those setlists varied so much…not so much these days.
Thank you…that is all.:ugeek:
G —
I heres ya, brah.
I didn’t want to you feel neglected, so I’m giving ya a quick shout-out, with the promise of a vague and hasty and entirely unobjectively-done pseudo analysis later…
But right about now I gots stuff to do, brah!
Yours with Francona-love —
T, now with Farrell redux
T….thanks for the support I knew I cant count on ya broham.
-off subject moment-
Yeah I was glad not to get Sandy…Farrell is nice too, but I didn’t get why Bobby V got the blame as I would have got rid of Big Pupi Ortiz and his fellow entourage/distractions.
The Francona era coming soon.G —
(Off sub: Bobby V was a scapegoat for Theo’s remnants and the what, 56 players on the dl? At least lil’ Benny Cherry got rid of Joshy Tex and Zombie “It’s God and ESPN’s fault” Adrian G. My jury’s out on the Crawfish…maybe all that playing time at the Concrete Flop Trop got to that Texas boy. I gots to disagree witcha re. Big Poopy — he had a good year until Achilles’ last stand…)
It seems, again, SEEMS, ‘cuz I still have yet to go back and actually do a dummy’s analysis, but the setlists have lacked, ahem, “deep diversity.” By which I mean the deeper album cuts aren’t repped as much…plus it does feel like BH trots out “P Dog Town” any chance he can, and the spontaneous ad libs/attention to written requests are getting short-shrift. This is just an off-the-cuff and entirely hasty generalization, I admit…
Yes, defenders of the BH flag, he is STILL the best in town. No question. We’re just saying that the deep cuts are not getting stage time, thas’ all. Don’t hate the playa, hate the game…by that token, maybe BH is just getting tired of trying to bridge the great divide (too easy) between the poseurs and the hardcore…………
T
I couldn’t agree more. And the odd thing is, Bruce has always prided himself on playing for the people, disregarding the hits if need be. But in my opinion, it’s not necessarily that Bruce needs to take more requests, and the majority of requests are your hit songs, or songs close to hits. Instead, Bruce and the Noisemakers needs to pull more from the library to diversify the set-list. There’s nothing better than Bruce pulling out a song you’ve never heard live out of nowhere, and just killing it.
My biggest problem is lately, it seems like Bruce has picked a song or two from albums, and just puts them on repeat, as if to say, ‘Well this covers playing that album.” For example, See The Same Way on Spirit Trail and WWL on Hot House. Additionally, it seems like Bruce used to stick to the rule of only playing one hit a night. But over the last few years you can see all 3 of Way It Is, End of the Innocence, and Mandolin Rain played on any given night, which by default, decreases the number of requests/uniques that can be played.
Someone was awesome enough to put up basically the whole Boulder set from this summer on youtube. I was watching them and bang, one of the songs played was Another Day, and played really, really well. Not only was it just awesome to hear, but it was just refreshing and exhilarating hearing a song that hasn’t been played much live. That’s what Bruce has to strive to do more, even though it might not sell more tickets (And believe me, I completely get that selling tickets is the number one priority of a musician).
I’m just going to list a bunch of songs I’d personally like to see Bruce play more, many of which have been played live a decent amount over the years, but not so much recently.
– Longest Night
– Swing Street
– Cruise Control
– The Changes
– Sneaking up on Boo Radley
– Sad Moon (FULL BAND, which according to Bruce Base, has never been done live before. I would love to hear this)
– Line In The Dust
– Barren Ground
– Stranded On Easy Street
– Another Day
– Harbor Lights
– Long Tall Cool One
– On The Western Skyline
– Mirror On The Wall (Would be great on the Dulcimer with Sonny on the washboard)
– Red Plains
– Road Not Taken (Has done versions in the last 5 years with an incredible instrumental build up towards the end)
– Jacob’s Ladder (I even feel like this hasn’t been played much over the past few years)
– Simple Prayer
– Show Goes On
– Take Out The Trash
– So OutThat’s just 21 songs that’s I’ve chosen that should be played more. Obviously there are tons more. If Bruce even took a handful off the list, and mixed them in regularly, shows would seem a lot more diverse.
here’s my guess on the rationale Bruce is using…..Bruce has really gone through….many… times of re-inventing himself. and exploring what he can do creatively..
Bluegrass/SCKBSTD/Solo/Jazz/Noisemakers/World’s greatest dad. etc etc.
Bruce would find the “need” to I don’t want to say “plug” aka advertise these new ventures, but he felt necessary to showcase them into the concerts…and the requests fell by the wayside… of course most of everyone on here…the die hards know this.
But in being die hards…we probably have seen this formula repeated and repeated at his tours….I’ve followed Bruce on the east coast and this happened all the time, he threw it sonny on the washboard….. practically every show. Bruce on the dulcimer.. guaranteed every show….while I think its a bit of a novelty….to me…and I’m not speaking for anybody else…it doesn’t do much for me….I like prairie dog town.. but I’d rather see things mixed up once in a while…not PDT every show..
I think Bruce is exploring where his interests are at the moments and he decides to go that direction in the concerts…..not pleasing the fans with “All request sets” like the old days…
Lately and I hate to say it….it’s been about Bruce and the music…not the fans.. But then again…we’re very lucky….and perhaps spoiled a bit….because not many artists give fans..requests or choices at concerts….very rarely…and it’s usually 1 or 2 songs if that…… I know I know very harsh and I’m sure I’ll get burned at the stake for it….but it’s just my opinion.
JF1, post: 8562 wrote:I couldn’t agree more. And the odd thing is, Bruce has always prided himself on playing for the people, disregarding the hits if need be. But in my opinion, it’s not necessarily that Bruce needs to take more requests, and the majority of requests are your hit songs, or songs close to hits. Instead, Bruce and the Noisemakers needs to pull more from the library to diversify the set-list. There’s nothing better than Bruce pulling out a song you’ve never heard live out of nowhere, and just killing it.My biggest problem is lately, it seems like Bruce has picked a song or two from albums, and just puts them on repeat, as if to say, ‘Well this covers playing that album.” For example, See The Same Way on Spirit Trail and WWL on Hot House. Additionally, it seems like Bruce used to stick to the rule of only playing one hit a night. But over the last few years you can see all 3 of Way It Is, End of the Innocence, and Mandolin Rain played on any given night, which by default, decreases the number of requests/uniques that can be played.
Someone was awesome enough to put up basically the whole Boulder set from this summer on youtube. I was watching them and bang, one of the songs played was Another Day, and played really, really well. Not only was it just awesome to hear, but it was just refreshing and exhilarating hearing a song that hasn’t been played much live. That’s what Bruce has to strive to do more, even though it might not sell more tickets (And believe me, I completely get that selling tickets is the number one priority of a musician).
I’m just going to list a bunch of songs I’d personally like to see Bruce play more, many of which have been played live a decent amount over the years, but not so much recently.
– Longest Night
– Swing Street
– Cruise Control
– The Changes
– Sneaking up on Boo Radley
– Sad Moon (FULL BAND, which according to Bruce Base, has never been done live before. I would love to hear this)
– Line In The Dust
– Barren Ground
– Stranded On Easy Street
– Another Day
– Harbor Lights
– Long Tall Cool One
– On The Western Skyline
– Mirror On The Wall (Would be great on the Dulcimer with Sonny on the washboard)
– Red Plains
– Road Not Taken (Has done versions in the last 5 years with an incredible instrumental build up towards the end)
– Jacob’s Ladder (I even feel like this hasn’t been played much over the past few years)
– Simple Prayer
– Show Goes On
– Take Out The Trash
– So OutThat’s just 21 songs that’s I’ve chosen that should be played more. Obviously there are tons more. If Bruce even took a handful off the list, and mixed them in regularly, shows would seem a lot more diverse.
I came across this and thought it was interesting. Under JV’s profile on Bruuuce.com, he lists the following songs as some of his favorites to play live:
“China Doll, Spider Fingers, Hot House, Mandolin Rain, Country Doctor. Stander on The Mountain, There are too many to mention.”
This is from a Q&A from 2002, quite some time ago. I’m sure things change, but still. 4 out of those 6 songs are almost never played. Imagine going to a show and hearing Hot House Ball played? How awesome would that be.
I downloaded the New Brunswick show Si just posted. Boom, opens up the show with Try Anything Once; which I’ve never come across a recording of live and it’s awesome.
I found a show from Boulder in 2009 that I had not yet listened to, that I’m playing now. China Doll is one of the songs they played. Also awesome.
It’s so awesome for them to play songs that are rarely played like the two I mentioned.
I got hooked by Hot House Ball my first show at Biltmo’ ’02. Some shows with Try Anything Once are Red Butte Gardens SLC, UT 7/11/02; South Shore Music Circus Cohasset, MA 7/25/02; Wolf Trap Vienna, VA 7/29/02(with ITALTLITA Train To Cry); Chastain Park Atlanta, GA 8/03/02 all were sold by munckmusic on Bruce’s site. Can’t believe they played a Dead set at All Good Festival.
I enjoyed a couple of tunes from the Harvest Festival, but my impression of the crowd noise left me
sadly certain that Canadians are now as stupid and rude at concerts as any North American could ever
hope to be, so I hope there will be more indoor shows where only half the crowd will annoy me taking
photos and video in relative quiet.
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