Has anybody ever seen a paper setlist, real stuff or in the photo, used for the 60s and 70s pop/rock concerts?

The Rolling Stones to begin with. I haven’t. None. Nil. Is it published in a book of the Stones ephemera and I just don’t know that? Just for the record, I see none in Matt Lee’s book, Hot Stuff, among the wealth of memorabilia collected and published there, not just one setlist from the 60s/70s.

And it’s not only the Stones. The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Monkees, The Walker Brothers, The Who, The Kinks, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Cream, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Joplin…all the big names of the 1960s who toured and played all over the place. I have never seen one picture of a paper setlist used by them, let alone the real thing.

And the 70s…I have never seen one, either, of Led Zeppelin for example. I saw a few from the punk/post-punk era, e.g. Joy Division (in the book), though.

Today, fans asking tour crew for a setlist after the gig are a common sight. I was too young to go to a rock concert in the 60s but I attended a fair few in the 70s, and I don’t remember that was the way it was in those times. Once the show was over, the audience left the floor to the exit without turning back.

Did a paper setlist exist in the first place back in time? Was it used by players, like it is today, taped up on the stage floor, or put on the mixing console for a sound man? Given the nature of a setlist, it would be natural to assume it was prepared for musicians and staff’s convenience from back in the day, but strangely enough no proof is readily available now.

I searched on the internet for a clue, but to no avail.

Does anybody on the IORR forums have information on this matter — especially the old-timers who were there and then?



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-11 15:29 by bv.

John's guitar:



[www.rickresource.com]

Paul's bass:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-10 03:06 by Cristiano Radtke.

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Cristiano Radtke
John's guitar:

[www.rickresource.com]

Paul's bass:

Oh wow! Many thanks for a quick response.

I wonder if it was more common for touring musicians in those days to attach a tiny setlist on their instruments rather than putting an A4-sized paper setlist on the stage floor, which is a standard now.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-10 04:57 by RisingStone.

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RisingStone

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Cristiano Radtke

Oh wow! Many thanks for a quick response.

I wonder if it was more common for touring musicians in those days to attach a tiny setlist on their instruments rather than putting an A4-sized paper setlist on the stage floor, which is a standard now.

My pleasure!

I guess that was the norm in those days. I've seen some other photos of musicians with their instruments with the setlist attached on it, like this one:



[jonimitchell.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the Stones did too, back in the 60's.

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Cristiano Radtke

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RisingStone

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Cristiano Radtke

Oh wow! Many thanks for a quick response.

I wonder if it was more common for touring musicians in those days to attach a tiny setlist on their instruments rather than putting an A4-sized paper setlist on the stage floor, which is a standard now.

My pleasure!

I guess that was the norm in those days. I've seen some other photos of musicians with their instruments with the setlist attached on it, like this one:

[jonimitchell.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the Stones did too, back in the 60's.

Thanks again
I hope to see more photos like these.

Am going to bed. Good night



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-10 04:58 by RisingStone.

Thank you, have a good night!

Interesting topic, I've benefited from the current process as I got Mick's stage setlists from San Jose and Oakland, 2015.
Would upload photos if I knew how.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-10 05:09 by snorton.

I would need to do some more research, but I'm almost certain I've seen one or more photos from 1975 with a setlist hanging on one of Ollie Brown's congas.

Until he had it surgically removed...

Bring back the plexiglas for the 26 tour!

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PaintMonkeyManBlack
Bring back the plexiglas for the 26 tour!

Plexiglass was definitely on the 1989 Steel Wheels tour. Was it ever used like that before that tour?

And who gets the job of neatly writing the setlist onto the plexiglass each time they play?

Captain Corella

Looks like the original title of this thread was too long and bv edited it shorter. Can’t blame him

A possible reason a sizable paper setlist was not required in the 60s may have been that musicians didn’t play that many songs, even a main act. In the days of the ‘package tour’, a headliner played around 10 songs or so, and the set length was only 30-40 mins. The Stones were no exception. It is the 1969 N.A. tour that they expanded their setlist to appx. 15 songs.

Still a mystery there Is very little trace of paper setlists used for the tours by big names in the 1970s when rock music was commercialized and the business surrounding it bloated like never before. The show became longer hence the setlist, generally speaking.

there are a lot of pic of Dylan with a setlist attached to his guitar.

The only setlists from the 1970's I have seen were for the PA and lighting people, so they knew where a solo would occur and when they need to turn on the houselights. I believe some were from Chip Monk.

But I have never seen a setlist for any of the Stones on stage on any of their tours up to 1989, not even on pictures...

Mathijs

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UrbanSteel
Set List Hydepark 1969
From Bill Wyman's Book Rolling With The Stones

Hmm…is this a picture of the real paper setlist that was actually used on the site?

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Mathijs
The only setlists from the 1970's I have seen were for the PA and lighting people, so they knew where a solo would occur and when they need to turn on the houselights. I believe some were from Chip Monk.

But I have never seen a setlist for any of the Stones on stage on any of their tours up to 1989, not even on pictures...

Mathijs

That's it, it's coming back to me. If we look closely at the LA Forum 75 filmed from camera angles taken from behind the stage, you can spot a white piece of paper on the left conga of Ollie Brown.

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RisingStone

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UrbanSteel
Set List Hydepark 1969
From Bill Wyman's Book Rolling With The Stones

Hmm…is this a picture of the real paper setlist that was actually used on the site?

Obviously not. "Loving Cup" didn't have the title yet. As far as I remember Mick announced it like "Gimme Little Drink" or something like that.

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RisingStone

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UrbanSteel
Set List Hydepark 1969
From Bill Wyman's Book Rolling With The Stones

Hmm…is this a picture of the real paper setlist that was actually used on the site?

Can't say, this is the only setlist on paper from a picture in Bill's book.

To franzk;

That’s a good point for sure.


To UrbanSteel;

I don’t have Bill’s book. That said, from the photo of the page you uploaded, I feel there is something unnatural the way the setlist looks, the font, the printing etc. Too neat overall considering the age. Thanks anyway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-11-14 14:48 by RisingStone.

Bump.

Two and a half weeks have passed with no more posts coming. In the meantime the thread tanked to page three. That in itself is an indication nobody has a clue to this topic.

Isn’t it strange to think about that, an almost non-existence of paper setlists back in the day, even the proof of them, photos etc? Just baffling

We can see a piece of paper on Keith's amp, although we can't be sure if that is a setlist or not.



By the way, there are some great photos also taken by Gered Mankowitz on his post: [www.instagram.com]

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Cristiano Radtke
We can see a piece of paper on Keith's amp, although we can't be sure if that is a setlist or not.

By the way, there are some great photos also taken by Gered Mankowitz on his post: [www.instagram.com]

Many thanks for your contribution.

The white paper slip on the amp may have been a setlist but hard to tell, it is so tiny and blurred.
There is no setlist on the stage floor, though.

I checked the other photos on Gered Mankowitz’s Instagram and did some detective work. Seemingly they are from two different concerts of the Stones’ 1965 2nd North American tour (29 October - 5 December). The pic that captures Stu shows the banner on the front stand, “SUNDAY - NOV. 14”, which coincides with year 1965. The date doesn’t necessarily indicate the photo is from the Stones’ concert at that venue, though. On that date they played the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, TN, but the inner structure of the building in Mankowitz’s photos looks different from that one.
The other one is Will Rogers Memorial Centrer, Fort Worth, TX, 21 November. “Howdy FOLKS! Welcome to FORT WORTH” in one photo is an unmistakable clue. Note the girl standing from her aisle seat is holding a rather cumbersome 8mm camera (or is it 16mm?). Were the promoters tolerant of that sort of appliance to be taken into a concert in those days? And why is a van parking in the aisle?

Sixty years ago…I wonder where and how those screaming girls are now. Most of them are in their late seventies. Guess some are no longer with us…

And the Stones keep on rolling today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-07 22:50 by RisingStone.