I have been away from the board for some time as I am very busy at work lately but it seems that ‘set list’ topic is still hot, like a non stop No.1 subject over here. And honestly I think it deserves its own thread as the most important discussions about it always end up at the end of the threads about particular shows of the tour and I think that many people just don’t read them, because they don’t see them.

I think there’s no need to complain about set lists, no matter what anyone will say. We can not judge the whole tour only based on US shows and what’s more important on our personal opinions. European part is ahead of us and probably the set lists will be different a bit. US music market and audience interest is different from what we have over here in Europe or Australia or South America. I am really curious what the set lists will be like in London or Paris. It seems the band should have the info that LH was not such a huge success on the old continent as it was in North America and they should adjust the set lists to local music tastes. Therefore I think that songs from the 90’ should be brought back to life as they were huge hits over here. Jon is a smart guy and he should notice right away that the crowd will not get excited about WSYCGH or LH or ILTT. It was obvious that they played it on LH tour but right now there is no need to play more than one song of that album over here. So I hope they will play more songs from TC or the ones from the 90’. Of course it’s also only my personal wish and probably some of you would want something different, and it again proves how hard it is to make a good set list that everyone would love.

I know that the die-hard fans from US would also want to hear rarities the band usually play in Europe but you just have to face it that majority of audience at the shows want to hear the songs they hear on the radio or TV. And as far as I ‘ve heard LH was a hit all over the US and masses love it and that’s the reason they play so many songs from that album. You just have to face the facts that only minority knows songs like Dry County, Something to Believe In or anything from the first 2 albums.

But the set lists are one thing and the passion and feeling of the songs is far more important than that. None of us should judge the shows if he/she hasn’t seen any of The Circle Tour shows live so far. Neither photos, YT videos nor audio bootlegs will give us a glimpse of what they really are. After the first few shows of the tour I stopped watching YT videos everyday as I want to keep something for myself as a surprise on the show that I am going to see in June. Only by seeing it I will be able to judge if the show was great or not. Of course this will be only my second BJ show ever and probably I will like it anyway and can’t compare my impressions to those of you who have seen them dozens of times in their career or even only this tour. But some of those people still say that the band is awesome this year, that energy is great and you can see and feel the passion in the eyes of the band members that you haven’t seen in many years. So it proves also that sometimes it doesn’t matter if it’s show No 145 or No 2 for you, if they are great – you will feel it right away and enjoy every second of it, no matter what they play. Set list on paper doesn’t mean much if you haven’t experienced the songs live by yourself, they are just pure letters, nothing more. And I personally can’t wait to see and hear them live again this year, especially songs of The Circle as I really love this album to death and am looking for the live versions of those amazing songs.

What are your thoughts about it?