When you think of one of your favourite bands, there’s always a defining song that comes to mind. Think Devo, and Whip It starts to hum in your head. Same thing goes for Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up, and Gary Numan’s Cars.
I missed out on the recent Nine Inch Nails concert at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena. For weeks, their song Closer was playing on a non-stop loop in my head.
When I learned that the song was skipped on their Vancouver stop last Thursday, admittedly, the first thing I felt was a quick pang of relief that I hadn’t spend over $100 for a decent seat to the show (not that numerous other NIN songs wouldn’t have been fantastic to hear live).
What about those occasions when you’re actually at one of your favourite band’s shows, just waiting half the night to hear “that one song” that you just have to hear, otherwise the night wouldn’t be complete?
How many times have we been disappointed, thinking the band must play that one song, and then, even after a decent encore or two, the song has simply vanished from the set list, to be replaced by newer songs, or (dreadful!) a cover of some other band’s.
As bands mature, their collection of releases grows. I begin to wonder whether it’s just an age thing, or just the obvious: that bands simply need to grow their audiences, playing to a younger, newer crowd that’s just bought their latest CD/iTunes download.
It’s hard to know the process a band goes through in creating a set list for any given concert. In my concert-going career, I’ve easily seen several hundred shows, scattered across California, Western Europe and British Columbia.
What are some of your ‘must-hear’ songs from some of your favourite bands? Do you feel cheated when that amazing tune gets left in the dust?