One last setlist rule

I discussed the science of setlists before but failed to mention one special instance: Festivals.

I saw half of the Flaming Lips set yesterday, and I've been to enough festivals to have seen some very good and very bad sets. In the course of the half-dozen songs I saw, Flaming Lips hit some highs and some lows. So here's a quick rundown:


* Intros are a mixed bag. Now at this point in their career the Flaming Lips are a lifestyle brand that occasionally put out albums so they get a pass, but if you are a band that records 3 minute rock and roll songs, ditch the intro music and just play your set.

* Setup time is key. Let's say one one song all the band members play stand-up basses and accordions simultaneously. This is probably an awesome tangent in a longer set, but if it take you 30 minutes to get mic levels on these, then stick to the more straightforward stuff.

* Make your banter sparkling. Imagine a half-assed between-song joke bombing in front of 500 people, then imagine it bombing in front of 20,000 people. You can lose people with the banter, so only bring the "A" game.

* Momentum is really really key. The Lips fucked this up on a monumental scale. They started amazing. I mean, "Race for the Prize" and "Lightning Strikes the Postman"? That's a great start right there. Then they played a very very slow version of "Fight Test" and a very slow starting off-the-wall cover of "Borderline" and then a very very slow version of "Yoshimi." Notice a trend? In a 10 song set, why would you play 3 slow songs in a row. The poor teenagers who were dancing on the sides of the stage looked really really unfortunate trying to dance to these songs.

* If you wrote a song as awesome as "Kim's Watermelon Gun," then you should play it. Obviously.