Gigging members: 90's songs requested/working across the most venues

solo-act

solo-act

Fractal Fanatic
Gigging members: What 90's songs are working best for you?

I can't decide if I should add more 90's or more 2000-2005…my experience with 90's has been mixed at best. I could ditch half my 90's and nobody would miss them.

I wouldn't mind adding more, but I don't want to waste my time.
What's requested most/working best for you?

Here's what I have.
Requested most/working best:
Violent Femmes - Blister in the sun (technically 80's but also big in 90's)
Oasis - Wonderall
BNL - million dollars
Hootie - Only wanna be with you
BigHead Todd - Don't tell her I love her
​

Requested/working at least half the time
Green Day - Basket case
Presidents of the USA - She's Lump
Weezer - Say it ain't so
Sugar Ray - Fly
Cake - I will survive
Black Crowes - hard to handle
Everything - Who got the hooch
Dave Matthews - Tripping Billies & Ants Marching
BNL - Old Apartment
Social D - Ball and chain
​

Rarely requested, some love, most are "meh…."
BNL - All been done
Cake - Sheep go to heaven
Sister Hazel - All for you
Shawn Mullens - Shine
David Gray - Babylon
Dunkan Sheik - Barely Breathing
BigHead Todd - Resignation Superman
Counting Crows - Long December​

Should I learn these? tell me what sucks/works. These are some of the requests I get.
Sublime - what I got
Sublime - santaria or wrong way
Eve 6 - Inside Out
Foo Fighters - Everlong
The Killers - Somebody told me
Blur - song 2 (woo hoo song)
Alice in Chains - nutshell
Better than Ezra - good
STP - vasaline
3 doors down - Superman
Pearl Jam - Evenflow or Alive
Bush - Everything zen
The Cure - Friday I'm in love
​

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even though it's early 2000's i think of it as 90's so stuff like Lit, Jimmy Eat World, Eve 6, Matchbox, etc always goes over big. We do like 4 Crowe's tunes (but we are more southern rock/country so that's our wheelhouse)
 
solo-act said:
I can't decide if I should add more 90's or more 2000-2010…my experience with 90's has been mixed at best. I could ditch half my 90's and nobody would miss them.

I wouldn't mind adding more, but I don't want to waste my time.
What's requested/working most for you?

Here's what I have.
Requested most/working best:
Violent Femmes - Blister in the sun (technically 80's but also big in 90's)
Oasis - Wonderall
BNL - million dollars
Hootie - Only wanna be with you
BigHead Todd - Don't tell her I love her
​

Requested/working at least half the time
Green Day - Basket case
Presidents of the USA - She's Lump
Weezer - Say it ain't so
Sugar Ray - Fly
Cake - I will survive
Black Crowes - hard to handle
Everything - Who got the hooch
Dave Matthews - Tripping Billies & Ants Marching
BNL - Old Apartment
Social D - Ball and chain
​

Rarely requested, some love, most are "meh…."
BNL - All been done
Cake - Sheep go to heaven
Sister Hazel - All for you
Shawn Mullens - Shine
David Gray - Babylon
Dunkan Sheik - Barely Breathing
BigHead Todd - Resignation Superman
Counting Crows - Long December​

Should I learn these? tell what sucks/works. These are some of the requests I get.
Sublime - what I got
Sublime - santaria or wrong way
Eve 6 - Inside Out
Foo Fighters - Everlong
The Killers - Somebody told me
Blur - song 2 (woo hoo song)
Alice in Chains - nutshell
Better than Ezra - good
STP - vasoline
No Doubt - It's my life (90s' remake of an 80's tune)
3 doors down - Superman
Pearl Jam - Evenflow or Alive
Bush - Everything zen
The Cure - Friday I'm in love
​

​


​
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I'm not home, but I'll grab a set list when I am a shoot a few favs your way. We do similar music.
Cake Short Skirt Long Jacket always works well for us.

Where are you located?


Sent from my iPhone
 
We're primarily a 90's band and it's a bit of a crapshoot. The problem is nobody thinks of the. 90's as a genre... Not like the 80's anyway. Some things work sometimes, some things work other times, but of the few you listed there are some that work every night: Santaria, Inside Out (our closer), Everlong (we have a female drummer who nails this), what I got.

Song 2 kinda works, but we play it early second set to get people amped up. Better Than Ezra is a filler song... It has that tempo that you can't really dance to, but it's still a good song. Kryptonite is REALLY hit and miss. Just when we think about cutting it, it'll hit big. It seems like the smaller the town, the bigger that song goes over.
 
I've done almost all of the 90's songs that have been mentioned. But I didn't realize until just now that we hardly do any more 90's. I don't think that was intentional. I just wonder if most of it wasn't working anymore? Or if we're just sick of doing them after 20 years? We still do One Week from BNL. Song 2 made it's way back into the set, mainly because the new drummer can sing it, and it's a good break for the singer. I also sing the Lemonheads version of Mrs. Robinson and Fly Me Courageous from Drivin' N Cryin', but again, mostly because it's a good break for the singer. Right now, that's it.
 
Fro said:
I've done almost all of the 90's songs that have been mentioned. But I didn't realize until just now that we hardly do any more 90's. I don't think that was intentional. I just wonder if most of it wasn't working anymore? Or if we're just sick of doing them after 20 years?...
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The 90's are a mediocre decade, but a lot of people still want them. Tough part is picking which ones, thus the thread. Thanks for the help so far.
 
Man in the Box always does well
Enter sandman too.

And I will second "what I got". That one kills everytime. If done well that is.
 
90's are a weird mix. Definitely hit or miss. I have a band that does songs in the vein of 90's music...but we also do more current songs too. I find it really difficult to get hits every time with just 90's tunes. My buddies have a similar cover band but they do their music all acoustic. They do it well....but they too have the hit or miss songs. I'll get my list together when I get home and check back in.

Good idea on posting this. I'll def. do some cherry picking for our set. I expect others to do the same.
- Joe
 
J-Beard said:
90's are a weird mix. Definitely hit or miss. I have a band that does songs in the vein of 90's music...but we also do more current songs too. I find it really difficult to get hits every time with just 90's tunes. My buddies have a similar cover band but they do their music all acoustic. They do it well....but they too have the hit or miss songs. I'll get my list together when I get home and check back in.

Good idea on posting this. I'll def. do some cherry picking for our set. I expect others to do the same.
- Joe
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This is very helpful. Thanks!

Glad I'm not the only one experiencing the 90's hit/miss syndrome.
There's an identical thread on this for 2000-2005. Feel free to jump in there as well.
 
Yep, 90's are definitely hit and miss. There was a lot of dreary depressing music in that era. I still like a lot of that music, but it doesn't seem to go over as well in a live party setting.

As an effort to represent rock songs from all eras we do (or have done):

Everlong - Foo
Interstate Love Song - STP
Superman - 3 Doors
Wonderwall - Oasis
Ball and Chain - Social D
Timebomb - Rancid
Keep 'em Separated - Offspring
One Week - BNL
What Would you Say - DMB
Smooth - Santana
Short Skirt, Long Jacket - Cake
Beverly Hills - Weezer

edit*
Two Princes - Spin Doctors
Gel - Collective Soul
Vertigo - U2 (for your 2000-2005 thread)

Most of these are pretty much filler songs... Smooth gets a good response sometimes. A lot depends on the crowd obviously....

I'm still trying to figure out which ones to keep and which ones to ditch with my band too. I have a clouded judgement because I like of lot of this music, but it's not really upbeat danceable rock. The only ones that get good dance response is Smooth and Timebomb. The others are all listening songs.
 
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Not all 90s for sure. But here are some of the songs we are doing.

Alice In Chains - Man In The Box
Alice In Chains - Them Bones
The Cure - Lovesong (we do a more uptempo version)
Bush - Machinehead
Fall Out Boy - Sugar We're Going Down
Foo Fighters - My Hero
Green Day - Hithin' A Ride
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
No Doubt - Sunday Morning
Paramore - That's What You Get
Queens Of The Stoneage - No One Knows
Sponge - Plowed
STP - Dead And Bloated
The Outfield - Your Love
Tool - Sober
Tool - The Pot

Honestly.....every song is venue and crowd dependent. Some kill one week and fall flat the next. Same or different venues. Really just depends on who you might have in the crowd at the time.

I think the key takeaway is what kind of band are you trying to be? Do you want to go into an established club that has a built in draw and play there consistently? If so, be prepared to do the top 40 and pop tunes. Most of the people that grew up listening to 90s music are around the 30/40s. You'll find the dancers are about 10 years younger than that crowd. The popular songs in the 90s were not always dance hits.

I have a hard time even differentiating who/what are 90s tunes. Grunge.....sure. But when bands spanned their popularity from 95-05 are they considered 90's bands?

Probably preaching to the choir but getting paid to play cover tunes means you are playing and adjusting your set for the crowd. No way around it.
 
PS....this is a new, start-up band formed from prior cover bands. These songs just happen to be a current set ready to roll out the door on gig sharing opportunities.
 
J-Beard said:
Probably preaching to the choir but getting paid to play cover tunes means you are playing and adjusting your set for the crowd. No way around it.
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Yep - I cover Elvis to Gaga, usually let the crowd call the show. I'm light on 90's that work well across a variety of venues and I have almost no 00-'05 so I'm looking for what works there as well (in another thread).
 
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