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Don't say that in public..

She Kinks

Negligible differences to me.

I spent most of the three years I was a student in or around Denmark Street in the mid 80s. I went back a few years ago and was disappointed by how it is now.

I like the idea of taking a classic crowd pleaser and doing something different with it, which is what I thought you were going to say when I read '... electronic backing track ...' . My mate's band does a version of 'Love Story', the Taylor Swift song. All they've done is take out all the subtlety, rocked it up and made it loud. Personally, I think it's their best song, and it still gets a decent crowd reaction.

I agree to a certain extent. My point (not well made) was that the crowds I'm talking about would react equally crazily to us playing Sweet Caroline, or the juke box playing it, but they wouldn't complain if we didn't play it. I agree there are some songs you have to play (in this neck of the woods, Dakota is required on every set list and is often called for by the crowd at the end of a gig) but as you say there are plenty of songs that will get a good reaction and the aim should be a strong set list that doesn't rely on one or two songs. My experience has been filling the dance floor and keeping punters in the pub makes the venue owner smile a lot, too. My current band gets all of its gigs through word of mouth and its because we are able to tailor the set list to suit the occasion. In the context of the OP, if bands are playing similar sets then punters will soon get tired of the lack of variety. And if the options open to a venue owner are limited it becomes pot luck whether you land the gig or the next band that plays the same sort of set does. A band I recently depped for are known for playing Bohemian Rhapsody (sadly, not when I played with them). That will get them noticed in a way that 'they play Dakota' won't. They also play Dakota (sadly, when I played for them 🙂) because it works.

Seeing Cloudbusting with orchestra at Basingstoke Anvil in a few weeks time...!

Just be careful you don't miss out the "L" when discussing them...

Off to see “Cloudbusting” Kate Bush tribute at the Tramshed in Cardiff on Thursday. Looking forward to it. Then the Rock Orkestra the following week also in Cardiff.

I had a 4 string built a few years ago, before I managed to track down an affordable 4003. Still have it. The woodwork was spot on, the electrics were a bit meh. I keep meaning to upgrade them, but just never get around to it. Maybe one day.

Meninblack - The Stranglers

So I assume you don’t gig in pubs or small venues where a full PA rig would be unnecessary in these cases ? We would mostly be playing in pubs and clubs without stages so the old ways still work for us. PA is purely for vocals and a little bit of guitar and kick drum

@BassBags I’ve ordered some strings!

My band are hardly a big set up. The typical venue size we play is around 100 capacity. Since we ditched backline completely last year our sound on stage and FoH has been more consistent and better.

Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top

Ah shame, yeah I did think it was pretty ambitious given the parameter depth/breadth! I remember the 90s S&S synths (eg Korg, Alesis) were really well designed for this - but even they relied on 2x16 LCDs to navigate the menus. Incidentally I have had trouble with the super-cheap midi interface I bought, not sure if it's user error, my computer or the interface itself, but I'm going to order something like the Behringer Go to see if it resolves itself. I've managed to load the odd patch but manual editing seems inconsistent and I wouldn't trust it to update firmware.

Looks great!

Soul Dressing — Booker T & The MG's

Pleasure. Stick and sub systems can be very good, but as is always the case, the ones that deliver the goods aren't cheap. The NXL24s go down to 65 hz (on paper, at least), so shouldn't need a lot of low end reinforcement. If you do go for them, I's start with one sub. The RCF 905 is guaranteed to work with them and you can always add another in the future if you need to. However, I'd be surprised if you do. Modern subs are so much better - more efficient, cleaner and louder - than the old boom boxes. You don't need stereo subs. Very low frequencies are omni-directional and a single sub can be placed optimally more easily than two.

Fancy Sauce - Green Day