First step is updating the songs we've played recently (at HudsonFest). I usually include any notes about how we start off the piece, how we end, and anything else (such as if the song lends itself to trading with the drums). I also keep track of how many months it's been since we last played it. This helps to pick out tunes for a new gig (as you'll see).
Ok, now I create three lists - Recent, Classics, and New. Recent includes songs we've done over the last three months or so. These can either be pieces we're not sick of yet, or tunes that we want to work on a bit. Classics are songs that we haven't done in the last 6 months. And new songs, clearly enough, are songs that we may have played at rehearsal once or twice, but haven't performed yet.
I also make a quick check to make sure I'm not missing any songs that really fit in with the theme of the event.
Once I have these lists, I'll make some obvious cuts (we won't be playingchristmas songs in July), and group them by type. At this point, I've got 25 classics, 17 new, and 22 recent songs (64 in all). These are good proportions, but far too many. Last year we did 18 songs.
Actually, that's a good point. I'd like to avoid repeating songs we did last year, so I'll cull those out of the list as well. Except for "Summertime", as it fits the venue so well.
Now to cull the list a bit by type. As usual, we've got a ton of ballads (22), some latin and fast songs (11) some slow blues songs (11), and an assortment of (10) others.
New ballads and slow songs that don't offer anything different are easy to cut. That leaves me with 42 songs left to review. Cutting out some songs that need more work, or are similar to other songs on the list, and I'm down to 30. Time to send the list out to the band for voting!
I notice that I'm cutting out a few songs that are weather-related. As we have been rained out before, I think it may be fun to come up with an "In case of rain" list to go along with our actual planned set list. That list would include:
- Here's that Rainy Day
- Stormy Weather
- When Sunny Gets Blue
- Over the Rainbow
- I should care
- Misty
- Comes Love
- They Party's Over
- Pennies From Heaven
Come and see us at Brandt Beach in Mattapoisett, MA on July 24th!