BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists

Subject: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Scotsbard
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 01:02 PM

We're expecting to find completely different crowds at our two St.Pat's gigs this year. The first venue is an intimate irish/english restaurant with excellent acoustics and reputation for hosting traditional music, and the audience usually seems to be very serious about listening to the tunes. The cavernous second venue is a trendy but relatively tasteful yuppie meat market, and often packs the house on weekends with blues or rock cover bands.

Given such potentially different crowds, how would that affect your set lists? At the moment, we're hedging towards melodic and intricate celtic arrangements for the first gig, and traditional if somewhat schmaltzy irish ballads for the second.

Would you try to keep everything uptempo because of the crowds and particular occasion? For other shows we usually try to build some continuity of topics and varition of rythms between the songs.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 02:17 PM

If you have people who will listen, you can do a much more subtle set than you can with the greenbeer crowd. I wouldn't try Rocks O'Bawn, or even Maid with the Nutbrown Hair (Pride of the County Down)with the latter. They want Finnegan's Wake, Danny Boy, the Old Orange Flute, O'Reilly's Daughter, The Wild Colonial Boy, The Black Velvet Band, and probably even Green Alligators and repeat from Finnegan's Wake. People in a decent acoustic setting with ears to hear with can be gifted with the best you have and will enjoy it. IMHO, FWIW...

A

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: paddyc
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 03:17 PM

The first gig I'd probably do your best material and stuff that shows your talent. Second gig I'd do upbeat, party tunes like Home Boys Home, Black Velvet Band, Wild Rover, IrishRover, all basically Irish Rovers, Clancy Bros. & Dubliners stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Midchuck
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 04:08 PM

I was thinking that it ought to bother me that we don't have a gig lined up for St. Pat's day. Now I remember why it doesn't.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 04:41 PM

Good, Midchuck. The first step of recovery is ... :>)

Never did care for the horsepiss with green dye in it that that loud lot of begorrah-prattlers went in for anyway. With all due respect to Patrick and his heirs, I'm glad to be outside on this one. Now, annap's gazebo, I'd think differently on!

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 04:50 PM

Set lists? Never use 'em. You know what you play; judge the crowd when you get there.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Scotsbard
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 05:24 PM

We've got a couple of pubs that keep a serious listening environment despite the tidal wave of green beer, but dozens more that really go irish for a day. It is sort of a mixed blessing, but every remotely celtic band can play party tunes almost all day on St.Pats.

Amos, last year we had Unicorn and Wild Colonial on our "if we get time to practice them" list and ... well ... we've been busy arranging the fancy tunes. ...

Donkey Riding, Drunken Sailor, Leaving of Liverpool, Isn't It Grand, Whiskey in the Jar, etc would seem to count as rousing ditties for the second gig. There's other ones we still need to run through again to make sure that someone remembers the words and chords.

What about instrumental sets; hornpipes, jigs, etc? The gb crowd usually seems sort of ambivalent if there are no lyrics.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: paddymac
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 11:57 PM

Just a wild idea, but would anybody have an interest in posting their playlists for St Pat's? It might give us an idea of what audience's around the world will be listening to on Friday night.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:09 AM

I never use a set list, but rather play it by ear. Take the audience on a gentle roller coaster ride, up and down. And do a lot of stuff I like to do. And in a busy, noisy crowded bar, I always seek out the few people who are actually paying attention, establish eye contact and perform for them. All the best. Seamus

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Mbo
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:23 AM

Well, here was MY proposed set list for the St.Patrick's Day Hearme that I didn't get to do:

(in no particular order)

Danny Boy/ Anthem for Ireland
The Irish Rover
Is Ar Eireann Ni Nosfain Ce Hi
Fields of Athenry (YES!)
The Music of Healing
Roddy McCorley
Carrickfergus
Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore

--Mbo

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: GUEST,Amergin
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:30 AM

Set lists for tunes are not a common practice for me, it's much more fun trying to think of something on the spot. I can't remember half the names of the tunes we play anyway, so i could only post a list like "The one that Dan plays/the one that comes after it/the humors of something or other."

As for songs, one need not even mention the infamous "D.B." Otherwise,I can't sing worth a crap, so i don't worry about songs much anyway. They usually do stuff like Roddy McCorley and Patriot Game and that sort of thing, and then a bunch of sea shanties, and then basically whatever song first pops into their heads (traditional or not).

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: InOBU
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 08:48 AM

Riddle of the Rum
Bonnie Swans
Popular Halfwit/out on the ocean/cliffs of moher
Yvettes song
Dick Turpin
Morning Star/Drunken Landlady
Jolly Soldier/Blarney Pilgrim
Sons of Piety
Pipe on the hob/old hag at the churn
Sussana Martin
and many many more... at Bagatelle, see the Sorcha Dorcha for St. Pats post for details.
Happy St. Pats,
Larry

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: InOBU
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 08:50 AM

Riddle of the Rum
Bonnie Swans
Popular Halfwit/out on the ocean/cliffs of moher
Yvettes song
Dick Turpin
Morning Star/Drunken Landlady
Jolly Soldier/Blarney Pilgrim
Sons of Piety
Pipe on the hob/old hag at the churn
Sussana Martin
and many many more... at Bagatelle, see the Sorcha Dorcha for St. Pats post for details.
Happy St. Pats,
Larry

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: InOBU
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 08:53 AM

PS. I see Mbo likes Fields of Athenry, we did that - sort of impromtu at our last concert a few days ago, for the Woodside St. Pats Day Parade Banquet. It went over well, so for you Mbo old boy, we will do Fields of Athenry this St. Pats.
Larry and Sorcha Dorcha

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: JedMarum
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 09:10 AM

I think you're already onto the answer. The listening crowd will enjoy just about anything you want to play. The 'mainstream' room will want to hear anything they recognize as stereotypical. What I do in those mainstream rooms is play the few mainstream numbers they recognize, and songs that sound like them ... mix in a few of the quiet listening songs, with an intro so the crowd knows that the song fits the day's celebration ... this mix can keep the 'restless natives' happy. I have found that sometimes that kind of crowd accepts Roddy McCorley to be on par with Brown Eyed Girl! It sounds funny, but I think it works.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Scotsbard
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 12:17 PM

A couple of groups I know pick their first 3 tunes, and then decide what to play after that on the fly. Sometimes the same 3-4 tunes usually get played in sequence regardless of where they are in the set.

It's interesting to see what other folk are planning to play, (and I'm taking notes for tunes that we could add but haven't had the time or inspiration to practice.)

Here is the list we roughed out for the listening pub as sort of a compromise between lively and quiet, since the pub owner specifically asked for uptempo music. The "*" tunes are 4pt acapella, and yeah, they're not all irish, but neither are we.

DonkeyRiding*, AsIRovedOut, StAnnesReel/CollegeHornpipe, GypsyRover, GreenGrowtheRushes, LittleBeggarman/HarvestHome, Colcannon*, LoftusJones, HillsofConnemara, MaidDeepinLove, LevelPlain, TellMyMa*, PhiltheFluter, IrishRover, CalonLan*, Newry Town

We're planning noisy mainstream stuff for the second gig: BlackVelvetBand, DannyBoy, DrunkenSailor, ... WhiskeyintheJar(gotta dig the Metallica version), WildRover, maybe throw in some jigs and hornpipes to give voices a rest.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Alice
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 01:06 PM

Whether I perform Friday night is still up in the air, as the new pub is racing to get the remodeling finished in time. Here's a bit of a list of possibilities if the gig comes through.

Kitty of Coleraine
Off to Philadelphia
The Mountains of Mourne
The Irish Girl
Jackets Green
The Foggy Dew (love song version)
She Moved Through the Fair
Curragh of Kildare
Down By The Sally Garden
The Leprauchan
Bonny Bunch of Thyme
Ballinderry
Spanish Lady
The Quiet Land of Erin
Spancil Hill
The Galway Shawl
Where the Blarney Roses Grow
Red is the Rose
Rose of Tralee
Lagan Love
Paddy's Lamentation
Fields of Athenry
Carriag Donn
Gartan Mother's Lullaby
Farewell But Whenever
The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Easy and Slow
and if anyone requests it, I would
sing Danny Boy (and yes, I know its history).
(not necessarily in that order)

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: JedMarum
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 01:56 PM

nice set list Alice, I' comin' to see/hear you! And Danny Boy? people very often think I'm jokin' when I tell 'em the lyrics were written by an English Barrister!

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: JedMarum
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 02:00 PM

Seamus - I do the same thing; play to the audience that's paying attention ... it becomes contagious. But I do bring a set list; I don't try to map out the entire set/s, but I do try to keep a list of the songs I might want to play. I very often think of three or four songs I really wanted to play after the show's over. The list helps me pick quickly without forgeting.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 04:56 PM

For starters: Holy Ground Real Old Mountain Dew Rocky Road to Dublin Mick Maguire Ramblin' Irishman Whisky in the Jar Black Velvet Band Bridget Flynn An Cruiscin Lan Wild Colonial Boy Parting Glass Arthur McBride Whisky, You're the Devil Good Ship Calabar Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe Finnegan's Wake plus a bunch of tunes.

Bat Goddess for the Great Bay Company

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 05:05 PM

Ah, but will you do Wild Colonial Boy to the tune for Ghost Riders in the Sky again?

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Scotsbard
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 06:30 PM

*ROTFLMAO* at Jeri's suggestion ...

The worst/best weave we found this year was playing Cripple Creek during the Hills of Connemara chorus.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 01:10 AM

Jed, the eye contact thing works doesn't it? And it's contagious as you say. It's the same with my little comedy bits, too. If I try to play them to the whole room, they get lost and go right into the toilet, but if I zero in on one or two people and work just to them, they laugh and the folks in their immediate vicinity start to listen to see what they're laughing at, and it spreads. I have about 600 songs in my head, so I've never considered a set list, which is great because I can handle mosts requests that come up, and occasionally I dredge up an obscure beauty from my rapidly dwindling memory cells which surprises and delights the hell out of ME! All the best. Seamus. By the way, Jed, since I'm now a Mudcatter, if you want to contact me in the personals, we can organize the CD swap which failed to take place at NTIF.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Brakn
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 07:54 AM

I ask for requests most of the time.
Click here for a rough guide!

Mick Bracken
Happy St. Pats!

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: phil h
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 01:48 PM

This is the set list we used at Peterborough (UK) rugby club last year for ST pat's

Tune sets

Ships in full sail / Ten penny bit / Kesh St. Anne's / Teetotaller / Dash to Portobello Tripping up the stairs / Behind the haystack Donnybrook fair / Banish misfortune / Star of Munster I buried my wife (and danced on her grave) / Dusty windowsills Maggie in the wood / Tralee gaol / Rattling bog Rakes of Mallow / Soldier's joy Sonny's mazurka / Charlie Lennon's Lilting banshee / Connaughtman's rambles / Geese on the bog Tar road to Sligo / Blarney pilgrim / Blackthorn stick Old hag you have killed me / Leitrim fancy / Morrison's Egan's (low) / Egan's (high) / Ballydesmond's Rakes of Kildare / Irish washerwoman Cook in the kitchen / Lark in the morning Maid behind the bar / Banshee / Merry blacksmith Dennis Murphy's / John Ryan's

Songs

What put the blood Wild mountain thyme Jacobites I'll tell me ma Black is the colour Rothsea-o Next market day Green fields of France Irish rover (in 'c' - no Miss McCleod's) Whiskey in the jar Wild rover (Ghost riders in the sky) Black velvet band Rocky road to Dublin Leaving of Liverpool I wish I were back home in Derry Finnegan's wake Holy ground Weela wallia Peggy Gordon Seven drunken nights Butcher boy Sullivan's John Arthur McBride Musha god help her Jolly tinker Isn't it grand boys City of Chicago Old maid in a garret Curragh of Kildare Three score and ten If he's gone Fisher lads of Whitby Maids when you're young never wed an old man Do you love an apple Flower of Magherally Lass of Glenshee

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Molly Malone
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 02:08 PM

I'm really surprised not to see more rebel tunes in here.

We're using Black and Tans to liven things up. It sounds really cool if you have an electric fiddle and can use it!

We have four gigs, and they are all completely different! One is for an significantly older, well-to-do crowd that will get most of the trads...another is a bar crowd that's used to the rock stuff. Rebel tunes go over well there, as do fiddle tunes that you can start slower and really cook on the third time around. If you have dancers, a slip jig looks great to just about anyone.

As for set lists...we have one, but it's a guideline, not a rule. If you get a request from a patron, or a crap in your tipper hand, it's always good to be flexible enough to mix things up.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Popular Halfwit
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 02:08 PM

Looking at Sorcha Dorcha's song list i'm surprised to see no mention of "Tom o Bedlam". Although this song isn't typically Irish, surely it might be viewed as being representative of some of the maniacs in English politics who have involved themselves in the peace process.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: paddyc
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 06:08 PM

Here's mine. We're doin three sets 1st: MINSTREL BOY I' TELL MY MA IRISH WASHERWOMAN GIVE ME YOUR HAND BLACK VELVET BAND LINDA'S SCHOTISSHE FIELDS OF ANTHENRY LIFE IS ALL CHEQUERED BAY OF FUNDY REEL WILD COLONIAL BOY GOLDEN JUBILEE /DROWSY MAGGIE MY BONNIE 2nd:

RAKES OF MELLOW GYPSY ROVER HASTE TO THE WEDDING FATHER O'FLYNN WILD ROVER DANNY BOY SMASH THE WINDOWS FIDDLER'S GREEN CONNAUGHT MAN'S RAMBLES RED IS THE ROSE FROST IS ALL OVER BAY OF FUNDY IRISH ROVER

3rd: SPANISH LADY FOGGY DEW WILD ROVER FOUR GREEN FIELDS MINSTREL BOY BLIND MARY LIFE IS ALL CHEQUERED MY BONNIE FROST IS ALL OVER LINDA'S SCHOTISSHE GO LASSIE GO GOLDEN JUBILEE /DROWSY MAGGIE I TELL MY MA

A couple of repeats in there, but sometimes the crowd likes that.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: open mike
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 08:18 PM

I sure will startand/or end with A Health to the Company. Maggie Brown's Favorite, Caledonian Laddie, Cherish the Ladies, Star of the County Down, Amelia's and Fanny Poer waltzes, and don't forget St. Brendan's Fair Isle!

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Midchuck
Date: 16 Mar 00 - 09:07 PM

Molly Malone said (spelling as in original, emphasis supplied):

If you get a request from a patron, or a crap in your tipper hand, it's always good to be flexible enough to mix things up.

Now there's a really effective way to quiet down a noisy drummer!

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Kara
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 10:21 AM

This is what they will be getting in T Murphy's Ploermel Brittany tonight

Ladies Fancy
Long note
tolka polka Rosie Brown/Ali's waltz
Galician Tune
Run like the hare
Sligo maid/women of the house
Suspicious minds
Pipe on the hob/ gravel walk
the ship song
Ronnie Scott's/ the Banshee
Banks of the Pontratrain
Coleraine/the Carpenter
fields of Athenrhy
dirty old town
Dingle regatta
Dream love
Stagalee
shee beg shee morh
Delilah
a fast hop from the celtic fiddle festivel
after the deluge
Maudabawn chaple
Bring the peace home
After the storm/Fanny Power
The Silver Tassy
Castle Kelly/ Frieze Britches
Riverside
Spanish waltz
the wild rose
gold ring
curse of milhaven
Paddy fahi's jig/ cliffs of Mohar no woman no cry
Rambling music man

and dirty old town again as the Bretons are of the impression that it is the Irish National Anthem

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Molly Malone
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 10:28 AM

Cramp! Cramp! Although the other is a good reason to slow things down as well....

See, even typing with the tipper hand gives me grief.

Subject: RE: BS: St.Pat's / Set Lists
From: Scotsbard
Date: 17 Mar 00 - 01:44 PM

Thanks, and I'm making a list of tunes to keep adding for next year or whenever.

Y'all stop by the Mucky Duck if you get a chance.

~S~