A Setlist Shakeup is Needed

Something to Believe In would never work as an opener, it's too slow for the opening slot. I think that Broken Promiseland would be a hell of an opener, if they streched the drum intro.

Aloha !

The A-selection of songs doesn't have to change, they're the ones to be expected. Surely most die hards would love it if they'd all be dropped but it's not a realistic approach. It's the b-selection, as in smaller hits like Sleep, Lost Highway and depending on what side of the pond you're on, Born To Be My Baby and Who Says that have to go and make room for other smaller hits. There's plenty of them yet everything is always overlooked. The same goes for the c selection, as in album cuts. It's always the same stuff that shows up. Captain Crash, Older, We Got It Goin' On, Raise Your Hands, all stuff that shows up pretty much every show despite it being possible to switch them around for other stuff casuals will enjoy. It's odd how a song like Captain Crash is played at pretty much all shows yet certain bigger hits like Hey God or One Wild Night are non existent in nowadays setlists apart from the odd exception every 90 shows or so. It puts Crash in the same category as Prayer while the latter has been way more important to the bands career than Crash'll ever be.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I don't know why they do not have a set list a bit like this:

1 - Hey God/OWN/Livin on A Prayer
2 - IML
3 - New Song 1
4 - Runaway/Wild in the Streets/BTBMB
5 - Always/IBTFY/TAALS
6 - New Song 2
7 - DOA
8 - Rare Song 1
9 - In These Arms
10 - These Days/Something for the Pain
11 - New Song 3
12 - WSYCGH/Lost Highway
13- HAND
14 - Rare Song 2
15 - Richie Song
16 - Dry County/Something To Believe In
17 - New Song 4
18 - Cover + Sleep or something similar
19 - Blood on Blood/Raise Your Hands/Bounce/
20 - Livin On A Prayer/Hey God/OWN

Encore 1
21 - Someday
22 - Never Say Goodbye/Livin in Sin/Always

Encore 2

23 - KTF
24 - Livin On A Prayer/Hey God/OWN

If they did a set like this, with maybe the odd adjustment I think everyone would be happy.

Agreed completely! I said that a number of times during the Circle tour. Talk about a missed opportunity. Instead we got Happy Now. The intro was perfect, but as soon as Jon hit the first verse, they would lose the crowd every time.

Aloha !

Let me say that I don't mean this to piss you off, but your setlist is flawed. If they did what you're saying there's no point in moving around slot 1, 20 or 24. You'd get the three songs anyway. The big ballad comes in way too early, and making a specific slot for a rare song yet adding Hey God and One Wild Night to the same set doesn't really make sense either, does it? And on top of that, if Jon would sing a set like that 3 shows in a row you'd be getting piss poor shows for the rest of the tour due to his voice being shot to bits.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

It's possible to open with a slow song. I've seen a few bands do it and it can work well.

Yeah he did sing It's My Life on the cirlce in Oslo. That was pretty amazing. The crown went totally nuts. Can't understand how littöe they actually used the circle. Except for the acoustic set and one or two more songs it was barely used. Just imagine Richie doing the Dry County solo out there!

I always liked LMS as the opener. Or he should open (while the crowd is in a frenzy still) with 2-3 new songs then kick into "the hits" to keep the crowd interested. Scattering the new songs (lesser known to a majority of crowd) deeper in the set too often results in people losing interest until they are drawn back in with a IML or other bigger hit.

An example: a lot of changes with only a little bit appointment:

1- lay your hands on me
2- rayse yours hands
3- you give love a bad name
4- everyday
5- runaway
6- sleep when i'm dead
7- destination anywhere
8- diamond ring
9- damned
10- every road lead home to you (RS)
Semi acoustic:
12- i'll be there for you
13- santa fe
14- always
Eletric:
15- undivided
16- capitain crash
17- bad medicine
18- livin on a prayer
Encore:
19- next 100 years
20- wanted
21- never say goodbye Eletric
22- keep the faith

apologies if im being a bit naive here but......is the setlist especially nowadays not dictated by jons voice??

and the b songs that seb mentioned, capt crash, wgigo and who says, he can sing comfortably so he puts a bit more effort into those songs e.g the crowd waving and confetti in crash, the indoor steps for wgigo, and the endless alrights in who says.

just my opinion anyway