I was trying to think of anyone LESS experimental than the Stones, who can make everyone freak out just by playing 2000 Light Years at Glastonbury? U2 definitely play more album and rare cuts. The only act that's more risk-averse may be Billy Joel, who plays the same 20 songs every night since 1990.

I checked and frank Sinatra actually mixed up his set list more in the last months of his final performances

AC/DC. Same songs, same gimmicks.

Yep, probably. This is of course Sisyphean labour but I think they should have put more emphasis on their post Some Girls output (SG included). Say 2/3 of the show should be post 78.
As it is now the show is more or less over when Honky Tonk Women sets in. I've had it with that! Monotonous crap!

Led Zeppelin.

ZZ Top
Bob Dylan (since 2013 the same setlist at almost every show, no greatest hits though expect form Blowin' In the Wind and Watchtower)

It's basically the latter 2/3 of the setlist that has been, almost, the same since 1989. We are talking some 26 years here.

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slewan
ZZ Top
Bob Dylan (since 2013 the same setlist at almost every show, no greatest hits though expect form Blowin' In the Wind and Watchtower)

The Dylan setlists may be a rigid as you said in terms of repeating the same songs. But as you said, it's packed with lesser-known songs (I recently checked a setlist out after a friend went to see him earlier this year), so I don't really consider it "conservative". Which to me is not just playing the same songs, but also the safe songs. The show my friend went to only had a few songs I'd even heard of. I'm not a big Dylan fan in terms of his whole career, but I'm pretty well-versed in his studio/live work of the 60's and 70's. He did play Blowin' In The Wind that night, but no Watchtower. He played Tangled Up In Blue and She Belongs To Me, which I think are pretty well-known. At least in comparison to the rest of the setlist.

Man, who knew the day would come when we'd be mentioning "conservative" in the same sentence as 'The Rolling Stones" and "Bob Dylan".

The times they are a changin'.

peace

Maybe it isn't conservatism, maybe it's senility? Like an aged comedian telling the same joke over and over again without even being aware of it?

There are plenty more conservatist bands setlist-wise. Lynyrd Skynyrd these days play only their biggest hits from 1973-1977 era. Grand Funk Railroad plays only their biggest hits from the 70s. Even Black Sabbath when they reunited with Ozzy played mostly songs from their first five albums plus 2 or 3 new songs.

On the scale 1 to 10 where 1 is the most conservative setlist and 10 is totally non-conservative setlist I think today The Rolling Stones are 4 (in 40 Licks era I would give them 6). AC/DC would be 1 (not only conservative setlist but also the same gimmicks all the time) and Bruce and Pearl Jam would be 8 (many rarities but some obligatory warhorses too). Who would be 10?

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NoCode0680

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slewan
ZZ Top
Bob Dylan (since 2013 the same setlist at almost every show, no greatest hits though expect form Blowin' In the Wind and Watchtower)

The Dylan setlists may be a rigid as you said in terms of repeating the same songs. But as you said, it's packed with lesser-known songs (I recently checked a setlist out after a friend went to see him earlier this year), so I don't really consider it "conservative". Which to me is not just playing the same songs, but also the safe songs. The show my friend went to only had a few songs I'd even heard of. I'm not a big Dylan fan in terms of his whole career, but I'm pretty well-versed in his studio/live work of the 60's and 70's. He did play Blowin' In The Wind that night, but no Watchtower. He played Tangled Up In Blue and She Belongs To Me, which I think are pretty well-known. At least in comparison to the rest of the setlist.

I really know and I've been to some 118 Bob Dylan shows, but I just wanted to say (at least once) something against Bob Dylan… ;-)

Conservative, perhaps, but they have the best songs, so...

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DeanGoodman
AC/DC. Same songs, same gimmicks.

No doubt about that, but their delivery is always picture-perfect.

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The Stones
No doubt about that, but their delivery is always picture-perfect.

Picture-perfect is boring in the long run, Imagine if The Stones had played the ''Live At The Max'' setlist, with the exact same 1990 arrangement, on every tour since 1990!...

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yeababyyea

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The Stones
No doubt about that, but their delivery is always picture-perfect.

Picture-perfect is boring in the long run, Imagine if The Stones had played the ''Live At The Max'' setlist, with the exact same 1990 arrangement, on every tour since 1990!...

Isn't that almost exactly what they have done? 2/3 of their setlist has been the same since that tour. The arrangements are pretty much the same also.
Listen to Tumbling Dice or Start Me Up from that tour and compare with the Zip Code Tour. You won't find much of a difference.

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Naturalust
Man, who knew the day would come when we'd be mentioning "conservative" in the same sentence as 'The Rolling Stones" and "Bob Dylan".

The times they are a changin'.

peace

Calling Dylan's setlist conservative is ridiculous. 16 of the 20 songs played as recently as 5/17 were from TIME OUT OF MIND or later.

Could you imagine if 80% of The Stones' set was from BRIDGES TO BABYLON and later?

Dylan tours the way The Stones used to: he plays the same songs every night ... from his latest records, because he's an active, engaged recording artist.

No comparison at all to The Stones.

Actually, the most conservative setlist is from the group of setlist haters. Same tired old song, over and over and over and over.

The Stones were opening some concerts on their previous tour with 'I Wanna Be Your Man,' and were playing 'Around and Around' and 'Lady Jane.' Their 2002 tour featured different setlists for club, arena and stadium shows. Somewhere on this site is a list of all the songs the Rolling Stones have played since their 1989 tour - it's very long and diverse.


Mick believes - and he's certainly right - that a large majority of fans want to hear JJF, Brown Sugar, SFTD, Start Me Up, HTW, Gimme Shelter, Satisfaction, MR, YCAGWYW, etc., so he obliges. Also, the Stones are considered a great live act on the basis of how they perform these and other tunes. They have consistently mixed the hits with lesser played, lesser known songs.

To fans who have been complaining about the setlist since the 1990's - vary YOUR setlist!

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Stoneage

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yeababyyea

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The Stones
No doubt about that, but their delivery is always picture-perfect.

Picture-perfect is boring in the long run, Imagine if The Stones had played the ''Live At The Max'' setlist, with the exact same 1990 arrangement, on every tour since 1990!...

Isn't that almost exactly what they have done? 2/3 of their setlist has been the same since that tour. The arrangements are pretty much the same also.
Listen to Tumbling Dice or Start Me Up from that tour and compare with the Zip Code Tour. You won't find much of a difference.

8-10 songs has stayed permanently at the setlist hotel since the Urban Jungle tour, but the other 10 songs in the setlist has varied for almost every tour.

The arrangements has also changed, although not dramatically, Start Me Up has evolved a lot through the years:

1989/90 - Very fast upbeat and highenergy
1994/95 - Slower, trying to get a good crowd sing-a-long
1997/98/99 - Even slower, more guitar distortion and very focused drumming.
2002/03 - Faster again, less guitar distortion but with Charlie keeping the same steady drum beat.
2005/06/07 - Faster! More like in 89/90, less focus on creating a groove.
2012/13/14 - Much slower, more prominent backing vocals
2015 - Same as the last three years but Charlie opens hi hi-hat more = slightly more swing to it

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Scaffer
Mick believes - and he's certainly right - that a large majority of fans want to hear JJF, Brown Sugar, SFTD, Start Me Up, HTW, Gimme Shelter, Satisfaction, MR, YCAGWYW, etc., so he obliges

Some of them, sure. But not all of them, in the same order with the same arrangement over and over.

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DandelionPowderman
Conservative, perhaps, but they have the best songs, so...

That's right!!! At this stage we just have to accept that the surprises, if any, come early in the show and the latter part is pretty much the same at every show.
That's nothing new, so we just gotta face the facts. Tour openings and club shows usually feature rare songs so it ought to be a priority to try as hard as one can to be at those gigs. The Licks format was refreshing, but don't expect that to happen again.

After all, Jagger & co have been playing for 50+ years so I actually think they are able to make the best decisions regarding what songs to play and what works and so on.

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NoCode0680

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slewan
ZZ Top
Bob Dylan (since 2013 the same setlist at almost every show, no greatest hits though expect form Blowin' In the Wind and Watchtower)

The Dylan setlists may be a rigid as you said in terms of repeating the same songs. But as you said, it's packed with lesser-known songs (I recently checked a setlist out after a friend went to see him earlier this year), so I don't really consider it "conservative". Which to me is not just playing the same songs, but also the safe songs. The show my friend went to only had a few songs I'd even heard of. I'm not a big Dylan fan in terms of his whole career, but I'm pretty well-versed in his studio/live work of the 60's and 70's. He did play Blowin' In The Wind that night, but no Watchtower. He played Tangled Up In Blue and She Belongs To Me, which I think are pretty well-known. At least in comparison to the rest of the setlist.

This is Dylan's current setlist with release dates of the songs added. I would not call this conservative at all. In fact for an artist with Dylan's history it is quite unusual to play so many recent songs. Only two songs are from the 1960s and only two songs are from the 1970s. I think it's great and I wish the Rolling Stones did the same.

Dylan – 2015 setlist

1. Things Have Changed (2000)
2. She Belongs To Me (1965)
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin' (2009)
4. Workingman's Blues #2 (2006)
5. Duquesne Whistle (2012)
6. Waiting For You (2002)
7. Pay In Blood (2012)
8. Tangled Up In Blue (1975)
9. Love Sick (1997)
10. High Water (2001)
11. Simple Twist Of Fate (1975)
12. Early Roman Kings (2012)
13. Forgetful Heart (2009)
14. Spirit On The Water (2006)
15. Scarlet Town (2012)
16. Soon After Midnight (2012)
17. Long And Wasted Years (2012)
18. Autumn Leaves (2015)
19. Blowin' In The Wind (1963)
20. Stay With Me (2015)

Here is the setlist from "Stones at the Max".
As you can see, 11 out of 15 songs are the usual suspects.
That's more than 2/3. Q.E.D.

Track listing[edit]
All songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Opening Logos
"Continental Drift"
"Start Me Up"
"Sad Sad Sad"
"Tumbling Dice"
"Ruby Tuesday"
"Rock and a Hard Place"
"Honky Tonk Women"
"You Can't Always Get What You Want"
"Happy"
"Paint It Black"
"2000 Light Years from Home"
"Sympathy for the Devil"
"Street Fighting Man"
"It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
"Brown Sugar"
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
End Credit

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Stoneage
Here is the setlist from "Stones at the Max".
As you can see, 11 out of 15 songs are the usual suspects.
That's more than 2/3. Q.E.D.

Yes all of those 11 songs has been frequently played the last 25 years, but not all of them has been played at every concert.
At the concert in Minneapolis three days ago they ''only'' played 9 songs of that list.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 14:22 by yeababyyea.

LongBeachArena72:
No comparison at all to The Stones.[/quote]

You're right-there is no comparison to Dylan. He plays in front of a few thousand "hardcore" fans (I imagine you would have to be to listen to his whiny ramblings). The Stones are playing in front of tens of thousands of fans each night from a variety of backgrounds in enormous stadiums/arenas that they must entertain. I first saw the Stones with my mother. Her favorite song is Gimme Shelter (a "warhorse" that I'm sure Iorrians would replace with "insert obligatory random rarity here) which they didn't play. It took nothing away from her experience. I would love to hear "Shine a Light" or "hand of fate" or "rock and a hard place" or "rocks off like they played it in 72" or "whatever song you prefer" but that's not going to take away from the fun that I, my girlfriend, or my brother (all in our 20s, and very well versed fans) are going to have when we're singing along to Its Only Rock and Roll.

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rocksoffKR
LongBeachArena72:
No comparison at all to The Stones.

You're right-there is no comparison to Dylan. He plays in front of a few thousand "hardcore" fans (I imagine you would have to be to listen to his whiny ramblings).

I, my girlfriend, or my brother (all in our 20s)[/quote]

Don't worry when you grow up to be an adult, you'll understand the magic of Dylan... Like poetry or abstract painting Dylan's not for kids.

You're right, yby. But they added 5 other warhorses on top of them to fill the warhorse quota 14/19. Which is about the same as 11/15...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-06 14:40 by Stoneage.

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Stoneage
You're right, yby. But they added 5 other warhorses on top of them to fill the warhorse quota 14/19. Which is about the same as 11/15...

Haha correct, but ''Live at the max'' is not a real setlist. The quota has been strictly set to 2/3 warhorses since 2012, however it was different on prior tours. In Wercther 2007 they played 9 warhorses out of 20 songs,
In Philadelphia 1989 they played 15 warhorses out of 28 songs.

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MrEcho

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NoCode0680

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slewan
ZZ Top
Bob Dylan (since 2013 the same setlist at almost every show, no greatest hits though expect form Blowin' In the Wind and Watchtower)

The Dylan setlists may be a rigid as you said in terms of repeating the same songs. But as you said, it's packed with lesser-known songs (I recently checked a setlist out after a friend went to see him earlier this year), so I don't really consider it "conservative". Which to me is not just playing the same songs, but also the safe songs. The show my friend went to only had a few songs I'd even heard of. I'm not a big Dylan fan in terms of his whole career, but I'm pretty well-versed in his studio/live work of the 60's and 70's. He did play Blowin' In The Wind that night, but no Watchtower. He played Tangled Up In Blue and She Belongs To Me, which I think are pretty well-known. At least in comparison to the rest of the setlist.

This is Dylan's current setlist with release dates of the songs added. I would not call this conservative at all. In fact for an artist with Dylan's history it is quite unusual to play so many recent songs. Only two songs are from the 1960s and only two songs are from the 1970s. I think it's great and I wish the Rolling Stones did the same.

Dylan – 2015 setlist

1. Things Have Changed (2000)
2. She Belongs To Me (1965)
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin' (2009)
4. Workingman's Blues #2 (2006)
5. Duquesne Whistle (2012)
6. Waiting For You (2002)
7. Pay In Blood (2012)
8. Tangled Up In Blue (1975)
9. Love Sick (1997)
10. High Water (2001)
11. Simple Twist Of Fate (1975)
12. Early Roman Kings (2012)
13. Forgetful Heart (2009)
14. Spirit On The Water (2006)
15. Scarlet Town (2012)
16. Soon After Midnight (2012)
17. Long And Wasted Years (2012)
18. Autumn Leaves (2015)
19. Blowin' In The Wind (1963)
20. Stay With Me (2015)

I have not seen Dylan in many years but I think that takes a lot of balls (to put it mildly) to play a set-list like that where you have ditched the vast majority of your well known songs that casual fans are familiar with. Although based upon history, it would most likely not happen with the Stones, I wonder what fan reaction would be like if you went to one of their concerts and the following songs were omitted from the show: Jumpin' Jack Flash, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, Tumbling Dice, honky Tonk Women, It's Only Rock and Roll, and Satisfaction (alright, we'll keep Satisfaction in- 'ya got to have a signature tune LOL!).

If the Rolling Stones followed Dylan's current example of playing mostly recent songs, their setlist could look something like this. I would love it.

1. Highwire
2. Play With Fire
3. Rough Justice
4. Oh No Not You Again
5. Love Is Strong
6. Mean Disposition
7. Anybody Seen My Baby
8. Miss You
9. Thief In The Night (Keith)
10. How Can I Stop (Keith)
11. Beast Of Burden
12. Back Of My Hand
13. Laugh I Nearly Died
14. Sweethearts Together
15. Already Over Me
16. Gunface
17. Low Down
18. One More Shot
19. Satisfaction
20. Doom And Gloom