Bunnahabhain sez: "I often find gigs with too many songs on the same theme rather wearisome, especially if it's unannounced. The only time it works for me is with very good acts indeed, and even then it's very hit and miss."
I totally agree with you! If I'd been an audience member at my friend's gig, I might have walked away too because of the tedium factor (but, as his employee on stage for the evening, I was kinda stuck there!). I don't like his idea of turning his 2 sets into mini-shows on 2 themes (usually Set 1 is romance and Set 2 is sections of the newspaper), but I'm afraid there's no convincing him to stray from it. He's even recorded a CD of songs all from the first theme and is planning a CD about the second theme. Excruciating. I wonder how many more times he can get even his loyal fans to come out to hear the same songs (and the same patter about them) in much the same order, over and over again.