Alice say's "You gotta play the hit's", but....

Kristian · Post by **Kristian** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 11:58 pm

True true. However, they hint at just how mind-numbingly many times AC has played certain songs. Also, a fun site to spend some time on, there's always a surprise or two. AC covering "Fight For Your Right to Party" by the Beastie Boys, anyone? Morrissey playing brand new stuff on his new tour, who'd have thunk?

Si · Post by Si » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:10 am

Oh I agree many songs have been played to death, and in a perfect world we could all have our perfect setlist.
However tell me you don`t get a buzz when the band kick into those classics. I certainly do.
You could cewrtainly alternate some songs each year to allow a little more variety, but things like SO, 18, Poison etc just can`t be dropped because far more people want to hear them then don`t.

Kristian · Post by **Kristian** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:26 am

I *do* get a buzz... hence one of the very first words I posted in this thread was "dilemma"... Also, one sure-fire way to disappoint "casuals" instead of turning them into potential "die hards" is to play nothing they can relate to. Imagine your first exposure being a cavalcade of trippy, weird, unknown songs - that's not likely to make anyone pick up an album, no matter how good these songs might actually be, IMO.

Si · Post by Si » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:32 am

I agree.
And it's a dilemma Alice faces at the start of every tour, hence we normally get at least a couple of lesser know songs that haven`t been aired for a while, like Clones and Brutal Planet this year.

Swinger · Post by **Swinger** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:43 am

Just going over past setlists it seems like there is seven essential songs that more or less haven't left the setlist since they first appeared: School's Out, Billion Dollar Babies, Only Women Bleed, Under My Wheels, No More Mr. Nice Guy, I'm Eighteen and Poison.
And while there are other songs that appear often (Welcome to My Nightmare, Dwight Fry, Elected etc.), setlists do vary quite a bit from year to year.

The only thing that bothers me, slightly, is that the lesser known song mostly tend to be from the 70s, it would be nice to see more variation in that.

Dhr.Tepes · Post by **Dhr.Tepes** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:40 am

What songs would Alice like to play?
It would be cool if Alice did something like the Cure did with there trilogy shows. Play three full albums.
Like Alice could do Welcome To My Nightmare, The Last Temptation and the new one :-) Make it a Steven show :-)
*how about Goes To Hell* I hear you think... All right make it a 4 album show

dadascot · Post by **dadascot** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 11:07 pm

It has become fashionable for rock bands to re-visit the past, the who did the whole of quadrophenia for instance. The last tour I had someone coming who wasn't a big fan and told her to listen to Alice's greatest hits and the new album and she would know at least three quarters of the song's. I think that this is a very relevant subject. I for one would love to hear more variation, I would love to hear more of the early eighties songs, model citizen was a great live song. I am glad that Clone's was brought back and hope it is retained for the Halloween tour. I don't agree with the 'do the classics to keep the new fan's happy cos that's where the money is' argument. I think the money is in the repeat fans, can't drop all the classicks but mix it up a lot more then has been done recently. The 100 club setlist sounds amazing, I remember seeing him at the Astoria about twelve years ago wher he did either hound dog or jailhouse rock and it was Superb.

RemarkablyInsincere · Post by **RemarkablyInsincere** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:30 am

dadascot wrote:I don't agree with the 'do the classics to keep the new fan's happy cos that's where the money is' argument. I think the money is in the repeat fans, can't drop all the classicks but mix it up a lot more then has been done recently.

Alice mixes it up more than some bands by adding in true rarities from tour to tour. However, the truth is casual fans want to hear the hits and are disappointed when they aren't played.

It may come as a shock, but the vast majority of people in the audience don't visit Alice Cooper fan sites and spend the countless hours many of us do talking about the music. A large segment only know what they've heard on the radio or what's on the Greatest Hits albums give or take a few.

In addition, it's also not very hard to gauge the reaction of rarities and new songs when they are in the set and most often they get minimal response compared to the classics. Don't think Alice isn't aware of that.

Shoesalesman · Post by **Shoesalesman** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:52 am

RemarkablyInsincere wrote:Alice mixes it up more than some bands by adding in true rarities from tour to tour.

No doubt. Plus he has to put the rare song into a spot that makes sense in the stage show. As easy as it would 'seem' to come up with songs to play live, Alice has more to contend with than picking tunes from a hat. He nods to the casual fan as well as the more serious fan.

Swinger · Post by **Swinger** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:55 am

Good point Shoey.
For example, Luney Tune was rehearsed for the Theatre of Death show but was dropped due to it slowing down the flow of the show.

steven_crayn · Post by **steven_crayn** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 11:24 am

mattcoddington wrote:just shot a great white concert. from the first song, to the last, they were screaming 'twice shy!!!!!!'

probably most of them not knowing it was an Ian Hunter song!

GarryW · Post by **GarryW** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:37 pm

What I love about Alice Cooper's shows is that there are usually a few songs in there that arn't known to the casual fans.

Of course he's gotta perform the hits but I'm glad that he is creative with the setlist and puts in special treats for the die-hard fans; eg: Nurse Rozetta and Guilty from Theatre Of Death and Clones from his current tour.

tommystooge · Post by **tommystooge** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:11 am

glamprincess wrote:
mattcoddington wrote: and how many in the audience would LOVE to hear those songs? maybe 5%???? not a good business move.
Exactly. I think the diehard fans who post and communicate with other diehard fans forget that most of the audience know mainly only the hits and the songs from the best-selling albums. It would be a big mistake for Alice to tailor his shows to only 5% or even 10% of the audience. And some of you may forget that artists (like David Bowie, for example) have tried doing the shows with more obscure songs and the concept was a bust.

Ya, good point...Bowie did his Sound and Vision tour which was suppose to be his last tour playing the old hits...but guess what, he went back to playing the old hits...

Having said that, as a diehard fan of Alice, I get tired of hearing the old hits over and over, my fav moment is waiting for the one or two gems he digs out to play, loved that he did Clones on this tour, and Theatre Of Death had a few surprises...

Sadly it is true, most people are casual fans and only know the popular tunes, it's like every other band, just saw Motley Crue and of course enjoyed that they played the hits.

we diehards just have to remember when we first heard those songs they blew us away, so maybe someone new in the audience is hearing them for the first time and can't believe their ears...

Alice say's "You gotta play the hit's", but....

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