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Closing songs! Any ideas?


Truckstop
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Depends on what kind of band you are, national or regional signed headliner or local functions band? To be honest I think well thought out closers are more for headliners ( the big guys ). At the local level it really doesn't matter, your lucky if you have a few people left during your last set which is around 1:00AM over here. You certainly don't want to save your best stuff to play to a half empty room.

Blue

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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1420937456' post='2655375']
Depends on what kind of band you are, national or regional signed headliner or local functions band? To be honest I think well thought out closers are more for headliners ( the big guys ). At the local level it really doesn't matter, your lucky if you have a few people left during your last set which is around 1:00AM over here. You certainly don't want to save your best stuff to play to a half empty room.

Blue
[/quote]

Wouldn't work for a pub band here... you need to keep them there all evening to be able to justify your fee and gig.
We have a strong finish and the reason why we have a choice of 5-6 closers is because we will encore 2 or 3.
But then again, we tend to have a 2x45 slot so we have to cram everything into 22 or so songs, but with 'encores'
that generally makes our second set an hour plus.
So, there is no room for 'fillers' and the sets are planned to start strong, dip a tad to give everyone a bit of a break
( we call this part pacing it :lol: ) and then full on to the finish.
We couldn't play for much longer anyway, as the singer will be shot and the drummer will be on 3 shirts...

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We have ended the night with Alex Harvey's Delilah, with Wooly Bully, Sweet Home Alabama (it was a request!), Pretty Women and many others. Last night it was Under Pressure.

I worry more about the first number than the last one.

We've ended on slow numbers, fast numbers simple and big production numbers and they all seem to work. IME if you've done a good job the end of the set usually takes care of itself, but I hate it when people say "we'll just ease in" when talking about the first number.

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[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1420965437' post='2655435']
Different here, Blue. Unless you're a really awful band, closing time is when they are baying for it the most.

RRO's closers: Whole Lotta Rosie, and if needed, Freebird, if not done already.
[/quote]

Yeah, definitely different over here, at 1-1:30 in the morning even the best bar bands won't have much of a crowd. Why waste your best stuff on a couple of drunks.Headliners that are delivering a a pro level 80 minute show and have a legit encore are the ones that put a lot of thought into that closing song.

You guys in the UK your pub show is a completely different game than out USA bar band show.

Blue

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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1420972263' post='2655536']
Wouldn't work for a pub band here... you need to keep them there all evening to be able to justify your fee and gig.
We have a strong finish and the reason why we have a choice of 5-6 closers is because we will encore 2 or 3.
But then again, we tend to have a 2x45 slot so we have to cram everything into 22 or so songs, ..
[/quote]

Completely different here. First of all it's 4 hours with two 15 minute breaks. Most good bar bands will have a gang busters crowd and lots of alcohol sold in the first 3 sets. No bar owners over here expect a band to keep a huge crowd for 4 hours.

Blue

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1420975880' post='2655616']
We have ended the night with Alex Harvey's Delilah, with Wooly Bully, Sweet Home Alabama (it was a request!), Pretty Women and many others. Last night it was Under Pressure.

I worry more about the first number than the last one.

We've ended on slow numbers, fast numbers simple and big production numbers and they all seem to work. IME if you've done a good job the end of the set usually takes care of itself, but I hate it when people say "we'll just ease in" when talking about the first number.
[/quote]

When we have songs choosing sessions I always pick a song and tell them where I see it in the set.
Picking the first track is one of the hardest as we like to start with an impact that others might finish on..
And that is why the set has to be thought through and paced...
Works for us.

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Interesting to see that nobody else seems to do our closing numbers.

We always finish with:[list]
[*]Let's Dance
[*]Whatever You Want
[*]Spirit In The Sky
[*]Get It On ... [i]segue [/i]into ... Only Rock'n'Roll (But I Like It)
[/list]
Of those five, the absolute banker (every time, every venue, every audience) is Spirit In The Sky, followed reasonably closely by Get It On.

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[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1420888491' post='2654545']
Ooh, Don't Stop Believin might work if we can somehow get past the piano intro. My brother suggested 'I wanna know what love is'. Cracking song, but might be a bit too ballad-y?

Alex
[/quote]

I played it in a trio before, and learnt the piano part from this video:

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vph0iluEUHk"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vph0iluEUHk[/url]

Tricky, but it can be your moment to shine :)

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[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1421112836' post='2657370']
f*** that! Is every band run by Bruce Springsteen then?
[/quote]

No, however, we don't have the pub band protocol over here. If your a bar band, your doing an 8-12 or a 9-1a. We have one venue where it's 9:30-1:30? The plus side, it keeps the band tight.

At some point I would love to get a gig with a touring headliner doing 70-80 minute shows.

Blue

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Depending on genre of course, not sure if these are too much.

AC/DC - Highway to Hell, great singalong
Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit, who doesn't know this song
Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire, yes girls....
Killers - Mr Brightside, another yes girls...

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We alternate between 500 Miles and Proud Mary (Tina style!) - both are floorfillers at a typical function. In an earlier male fronted, more rocky incarnation of the band, Gas Panic by Oasis, Tumbling Dice or Comfortably Numb went down well.

Up here north of the border, anything a bit stereotypically Scottish is a safe bet! Think Caledonia, Loch Lomond, that type of thing.

A personal suggestion would be Come Up And See Me Make Me Smile, by Cockney Rebel. Pity my singer can get the timing of the vocals right!

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