Yeah, it probably will work

[VorpalSword]

hello all. haven't been in SE for a while. thouhgt ya might wanna know.

anyway, to the point of this post.

I recently returned to Sixth Form and it turns out that there's a new initiative for all year 12 students this year. each tutor group gets £10 pounds and has four weeks to turn it into more money for charity.

it turns out that my tutor group want to do a gig in our school hall, so we've cobbled together a group(which the pot smoking guitarist has called "3 plum clash" for no apparent reason...). I'm singing in it, btw(mainly so when I sing "the blower's daughter" i can look all intensely at this girl i fancy on the line "can't take my eyes off of you").

so i was given the job of deciding what songs we do and the order we do them in. here lies the problem.

i've read in a book(ahem...california diaries) that you're supposed to start on slow songs and work your way up to the fast ones, but i wanna save "hallelujah"(jeff buckley version) 'till last because it's my favourite of the bunch. this is the order i have at the moment:

Polly (Nirvana)
The Blower's Daughter(damien rice)
Save Me(remy zero)
California(phantom planet)
Teenage Dirtbag(wheatus)
I'd rather do it with Madonna(the androids)
I Believe in a thing called Love(the *shudders* darkness)
Breakfast At Tiffany's(deep blue something)
Hallelujah(jeff buckley)

will this work? is the order all out of whack? any advice from experienced VWs is greatly appreciated. sorry about the rambling nature of this post btw, i've just got back from work and i'm very tired.

thanks.

[VorpalSword]

bump,

i really do need help, guys and gals.

maybe it wasn't the best idea to post this on a friday night.

bollocks.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

I can't fucking stand that Save Me song and would avoid it at all costs if I were you. Other than that the order looks fine, good luck!

[Ciarán2]

Don't do ANY of those songs. They're not  "charity" enough. You need a repertoire containing songs by Dire Straits, Phil Collins, REM, Nik Kershaw, U2, Bon Jovi (marginally better than The Darkness too), The Cars (if possible), Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and something a bit "red, hot and blue"...let's see...George Michael. Your revised tracklisting should be this,

"Money For Nothing" (spot the irony there)
"In The Air Tonight"
"Everybody Hurts"
"The Riddle"
"Bad"
"Living On A Prayer" (more irony, there)
"She's My Best Friend's Girl" (and you can nod at the girl you fancy during this one)
"Silly Love Songs"
"Freefalling"
"Born To Run"
"A Different Corner"

If you haven't learned any of these songs yet, get rehearsing NOW! But you'll do well anyway, no problems. (I think my set-list is better though...)

[VorpalSword]

Thanks APTS, after listening to "Save Me" again I realised that I can't hit the low parts, so that one's out the window.

Ciarán, I really do hope that you are joking. If I did perform your setlist at school then I would be crucified at least twice. Thanks for the advice though, if you were being serious.

[Borboski]

Good luckk!.. I wouldn't necessarily want to play Teenage Dirtbag unless I wanted the normal people in the audience to lynch me... but it's up to you I suppose.

Also - unless you're going to sing Hallejula like Cohen and not Buckley I hope you're a good singer because the possibility for caterwhauling is huge.

[Jet Set Willy]

Play these songs:

Maybe I'm Amazed
Time After Time
Beat It
Theme From Fraggle Rock
Wired for Sound
Don't Stop Me Now
The End (by the Beatles)

[VorpalSword]

Also - unless you're going to sing Hallejula like Cohen and not Buckley I hope you're a good singer because the possibility for caterwhauling is huge.

I'm the third best under-18 singer in Dorset. I think I'll cope.

Play these songs:

Maybe I'm Amazed
Time After Time
Beat It
Theme From Fraggle Rock
Wired for Sound
Don't Stop Me Now
The End (by the Beatles)

are you taking the piss out of my high voice?


(i bloody love fraggle rock)

[Jet Set Willy]

I didn't realise you had a girly voice.

How about "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", the best song in the world or "Theme from Rugrats" which is second to none?

[VorpalSword]

grumble

[Huzzie]

Your list

Polly (Nirvana)
The Blower's Daughter(damien rice)
Save Me(remy zero)
California(phantom planet)
Teenage Dirtbag(wheatus)
I'd rather do it with Madonna(the androids)
I Believe in a thing called Love(the *shudders* darkness)
Breakfast At Tiffany's(deep blue something)
Hallelujah(jeff buckley)

OJK, I am not going to reccomend you change any of th3ese songs as you have obviously made your mind up on them.

First thing though, don't start with Polly. It is actually quite an empty song, check NIrvana setlists, I am sure they would be towards the middle of the set. YOu want to start with something that will hit them immediately, something that will shut everyone up and get them into it, this song is not polly (though new wave polly would be a little better). I am not familiar with most of these tracks so I dont know what will be best.

Come on with a very heavey song with a great, catchy chorus, something more anthemic would actually be better an Oasisy type (not suggesting them but, you know what i mean). Give them a huge wall of sound and get their attention. The first song needs to have a wonderful intro too, think of the drum joined with guitars intro by the pixies on "Bone Machine", the bass on The STone Roses' "I wanna be adored", The Crashing Guitar on the Sex Pistols "Anarchy in the UK" or those amazing thumping Hip hop esque drums on Led Zeppelins "When The Levee Breaks"... This is NOT Polly! YOu cannot come on stage with a weajk, single clean guitar with E G D and C.. wether they are power chorded or open, it would sound so weak, empty and dull! Defo not the way to grab an audiences attention!

Slip the quieter, weaker (sonically) in  the middle of the set .

The most important song you will play will be the last song as that is what the audience will remember you by. This song has to be as fuelled, energetic and intense as the first and definately more than any of the rest. As the first needs a good intro, the last needs a great ending Stone Roses "I am the Ressurection" and so on.

If it were me I would do a completely different set list. NOt neccassarily because I dont like your songs but because they are not good songs to be playing live. Unles these are your own songs you will not get away with them, you wont pull them off.

maybe you would add a couple of dozen more songs and I/We could choose the best 10 for a gig.

Hope this is some help for you.

I am just looking for my Grace album as I cant remember how Hallelujah goes, i'll let you know my thoughts on tha in a bit

edit: Mojo PIn would be a good one to start with

[Rev]

Huzzie is completely right about 'Polly'.  The only way it could possibly work as an opener is if you were playing to a packed crowd of die-hard Nirvana fans, which you probably won't be doing.  I've also got no idea about some of the songs you've picked, so there might well be a better one to start with.

I will say this, though, and I'm being constructive here:  'Hallelujiah' is a shit song.  One of Cohen's worst.  A drab plod with some of his least inspired lyrics BUT both he and Jeff Buckley make it work because it's a blank canvas for a performance, and you'll really have to scale the same heights if it's going to be anything other than mediocre.  If you have that confidence, then more power to you, but it's a risky one.

Fuck me, that was rather negative.  I was trying to be helpful, honestly, and I hope that it goes swimmingly!

[VorpalSword]

thanks for the advice, Huzzie I'll definitely shuffle the set around a bit but unfortunately we can't play some of the other songs you mentioned, mainly because our guitarist is a lazy arsewip who I had to beg to learn 'Hallelujah' for me.

Ah, on the subject of 'Hallelujah'. I think that it is a fantastic song and I have been singing it to myself at work for the past couple of weeks, perfecting it totally. I think I should be able to pull it off.

Thanks for all the good luck sent our way. I apologise for asking the question and then rejecting the answers [seemingly] because I didn't like them, but every answer has really helped and I'm sure this  performance will go great.


Now if I can Just get Jane Higham to attend...