Re: Suggestions for Classic Rock Repertoire expansion
I've been doing this gigging thing since I was 15. I used to think that the thing that would impress crowds were songs by Jethro Tull, Rush, Yes, Kansas, etc. If there is one thing that I've learned about a classic rock format, it's that if you know 1) "Gimme Three Steps", 2) "Mony Mony", and 3) "Old Time Rock & Roll", you're in like flint. Personally, I LOVE doing songs by Jethro Tull (We do "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath"), Rush ("Limelight" and "Spirit of the Radio"), Yes (gimme a break, we're a three piece band, but we HAVE messed around with "Roundabout" live) and Kansas ("Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind") but the bottom line is that in this area, noone appreciates it. However, we have had a lot of luck with other classic rock tunes that are a bit more obscure but just as popular tunes like "What I Like About You", "Rock & Roll All Night", "Fool for the City", China Grove", "Love Stinks", "Takin' Care of Business", "Rock & Roll", "Fire Down Below", etc. Mind you, these are not difficult tunes to play, BUT, when you're hired by a bar, the objective (and you should ALWAYS keep this in mind) is to make the crowd want to dance to make them hot and thirsty to order more drinks, which is how the bar pays you. You're not doing this necessarily for your own benefit as much fun as it might be to play the more complex and technically advanced material. The bottom line is that the crowd as a majority can't discern the difference and in a classic rock club, they want to hear classic rock, which by its very definition is simplistic. But that doesn't mean that you can't have fun with it. My band, for example, will play "Memphis" but then meld it into "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", and then go back into "Memphis", or play "Tequila Sunrise" and meld it into "On and On", or start "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" and go straight into "Stuck in the Middle with You". The idea is to play recognizable material that will motivate the crowd to dance or stick around and drink.
