For Performing Pros - how much repertoire, length of sets?

[BBWW]

I've got about 80 originals I can do, about 4 traditional and maybe a dozen covers. I can play for a four hour gig if I need to with ease...but don't much like gigs that long. Back in the Steak and Ale restaurant days a four hour gig was the norm. Back then I drank so much coffee I could do a 3 minute song in two minutes. I needed a lot of songs! LOL It's funny how I can still pull 70's covers out of the blue...

These days for me they are mostly house concerts and small listening venues where my intro to a song is longer than the song.

However you do it, have fun.

[Al Acuff]

Don't forget to have some good tuning jokes and a few good jokes on other topics. I have good luck with the third grader jokes from Prairie Home Companion. They're clean enough to tell in a family restaurant and simple enough for drunks in a bar to remember and tell at work the next day.

Tuning jokes:

You can tune a guitar folks but you can't tunafish.

Funny... I swear it was in tune when I bought it.

This next song is an oriental number called Too-Ning.

And yeah, they're really dumb those tuning jokes but they are tried and true and always get some laughs. If anyone here has some new tuning jokes please share!

[Mr. Jelly]

An interesting aspect I ran into was quantity verses quality. At some point a performer should start replacing the weaker songs of their show with higher quality songs. It's an upgrade for your show.

[Goat Mick]

In my neck of the woods (TN, VA, NC, KY, WV) it's about 50/50 between 3 and 4 hour gigs. While 50 songs will get you through 4 hours of playing time it's best to have at least double that because you never know what the audience is going to respond to. If you're playing your classic rock favorites and the crowd wants country, you're going to be playing to an empty room really quick. Also there are nights where the audience is laid back and responds best to slower songs, the fast stuff leaves them cold. Other nights a slow song will empty a room and you have to keep them going on the fast stuff. You've gotta be able to shift gears on the fly and go in another direction depending on what is holding everyone's attention. Read your audience and always be ready to respond to them. Usually I'll only take one break in a night especially if the audience is engaged. I've had times where I was playing to a full room that was completely engaged, announced a 10 minute break and before I was out of the restroom 3/4 of them left. It's tough but I can do 4 hours without a break if I judge the audience to be a flight risk. I've got about 60 originals that I base my show around and about 150 covers I can pull out when I need to.

I'm not trying to scare you out of gigging, just letting you know about some harsh realities you may find out there. Oh one last tip, throwing in the occasional tuning joke is a good idea, my favorite is "I tune because I care", but other than that, if you're not a funny guy don't try to be. Go with your strengths, I can't tell a stage joke for crap but I can banter with my audience and get a lot of laughs. Find your strengths because those are the things that make you unique.

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

An interesting aspect I ran into was quantity verses quality. At some point a performer should start replacing the weaker songs of their show with higher quality songs. It's an upgrade for your show.

Good point, but "quality" must be defined, and that can change with the gig. If you're playing in a noisy bar or even a loud restaurant, Stevie Wonder's Overjoyed might not get much of a response but Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville will. However, if you're playing for a quiet, attentive crowd at a winery, the exact opposite might be true.