# What musicians/bands refuse to play their hits in concert? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037 "2010-03-02T21:07:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/21 "2010-03-03T04:04:05Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Bobby McFerrin does not perform “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” at all. It was more popular than it deserved, It hink. I’m not so sure about that. I’d be thinking that it was 30% “getting those harmonies live is a bitch” and 70% that he was sick of the stage being rushed by people with knives demanding to rip out his lungs for getting the #%\*$ing thing stuck in their heads again. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/22 "2010-03-03T04:48:28Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Since there was a core group of thousands who saw virtually every show in any given year, they noticed EVERYTHING (including the most trivial minutiae possible) about each and every Grateful Dead show. > > Anything (musical or otherwise) the Grateful Dead did on stage was studied, debated and catalogued under microscopic scrutiny, by a (quite often) stoned, yet incredibly “deadicated” and as some would say, obsessive audience. You and Mixolydian are right. It was such as good line I could not resist. About 30 years ago, when Jerry Garcia was talking about how the quality of their shows could vary wildly, “Circus” magazine asked if the audience was too stoned to notice. Oh no, said Captain Trips, they usually know before we do whether the show is good or not. I saw Rod Stewart in the mid 1980s and was disappointed he did virtually nothing from “Every Picture Tells a Story” era. I have no idea what he does now in concert. Steve Winwood, on the other hand, did about five Traffic/Spencer Davis Group sons (opening with “Low Spark”, closing with “I’m a Man”) which was sufficient. Bob Dylan said once that occasionally band members suggest a song of his to do and he has to ask them how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/23 "2010-03-03T04:55:15Z")
I heard Beastie Boys don’t play _Fight for Your Right to Party_ anymore ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/24 "2010-03-03T05:50:36Z")
> [@KSO](#): > > U2 has stopped playing Pride in concert. > > And speaking of obsessive fans, here is a website with the set list from every U2 concert ever, dating back to their first performance as Feedback in their high school cafeteria… [Link](http://www.u2tours.com) But in your link, it shows up in the setlists on the current tour. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/25 "2010-03-03T06:34:38Z")
Prince is pretty notorious for this too… a co-worker of my ex caught him on a plane on the way to KC and asked him if he was gonna perform his oldsongs… Prince stated that some of them conflicted with his religious beliefs… ie… I haven’t heard Darling Nikki or Let’s pretend we’re married in a long long long time… ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/26 "2010-03-03T12:47:55Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > Prince is pretty notorious for this too.. a co-worker of my ex caught him on a plane on the way to KC and asked him if he was gonna perform his oldsongs.. Prince stated that some of them conflicted with his religious beliefs.. ie.. I haven’t heard Darling Nikki or Let’s pretend we’re married in a long long long time.. Howabout “Sexy Motherfucker”? ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/27 "2010-03-03T12:57:22Z")
Neill Young appearantly doesn’t play most of hits anymore. He was here a couple of years ago, but me and my friends decided we weren’t going to pay the extremely high price (150 euros or something). Later we heard he played a set with very few of his hits; made us feel happy about the decision:) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/28 "2010-03-03T13:06:25Z")
I once heard Sting introduce ‘Roxanne’ with the line ‘Every day of my life I have to sing this song’. That would have been back in about 1990 so I imagine it’s gotten worse. And I can’t really blame these guys. It’s got to get old and, frankly, boring to do that sort of thing endlessly when what you are interested in playing is something you’ve been working on and that’s in your head now. Rush used to guarantee that they’d play all of each new album except one song during each show. The rest would be the older stuff. Even now, with 30+ years worth of recordings to draw from they make sure to hit most of each new album. To cope with demand for the older stuff, though, they’d switched to three+ hour shows with an intermission so they can do the new stuff and still provide fanservice. Hell, I saw Counting Crows right before ‘Recovering the Satellites’ and they didn’t play ‘Mr Jones’. They encored with ‘Anna Begins’ which is, to me, a FAR stronger song and a good choice. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/29 "2010-03-03T13:14:06Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > But in your link, it shows up in the setlists on the current tour. At the top of the page is a search box for every tour. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/30 "2010-03-03T13:40:09Z")
Here’a variation on not playing your hits. Get someone else to. The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, after years of not playing , then getting back into live performances etc Stops halfwway through a concert to plug a new musical where others play new material or medleys of your hits. Not surprising it didn’t go down well with some fans. > [@](#): > > .The bad vibes began when Islam paused the performance for a 40-minute preview of his forthcoming musical, Moonshadow. A cast led by the former Hear’say singer Noel Sullivan trooped on to act, dance and deliver a mix of new material as well as the Cat Stevens classics Father and Son and Wild World. By the latter, streams of people were walking out, dismayed at Islam for handing over his hits. In truth, the musical segment lasted far too long and was confusingly introduced. In the West End of London, where it is expected to open next year, Moonshadow could go down a storm. In front of an audience who had come to hear Islam trawl his back catalogue, it was never going to work. > **[TLS](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article6919074.ece)** > > Times Literary Supplement ---
**Author:** ![Seamack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@Seamack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seamack)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/31 "2010-03-03T13:51:51Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > Neill Young appearantly doesn’t play most of hits anymore. He was here a couple of years ago, but me and my friends decided we weren’t going to pay the extremely high price (150 euros or something). Later we heard he played a set with very few of his hits; made us feel happy about the decision:) He always plays his hits, that’s mostly what he does during a gig. The only time I saw him not play a biased greatest hits set (I’ve seen him maybe 8 times over 20 years) was on the Greendale tour. He played solo (when I saw him) the entire Greendale album, took a break and then came back and played a second greatest hits/old rariteies set. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/32 "2010-03-03T14:02:26Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > What do you mean, “anymore”? They haven’t played “Creep” with any regularity since about 1997. 🙂 > > (IIRC, the only tour in the past fifteen years in which Radiohead played “Creep” in more than 5% of their sets was the “Hail to the Thief” tour in 2003. Yes, I know too much about this band.) > > . ## I seem to remember a televised festival performance on the BBC not more than couple of years ago where it was played but as said, doesn’t seem typical of their usual concert songlists. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/33 "2010-03-03T15:06:58Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > Prince is pretty notorious for this too.. a co-worker of my ex caught him on a plane on the way to KC and asked him if he was gonna perform his oldsongs.. Prince stated that some of them conflicted with his religious beliefs.. ie.. I haven’t heard Darling Nikki or Let’s pretend we’re married in a long long long time.. Prince has a nice compromise here - he did a part of his show in 2006 acoustic, and he played hints of the “old” songs. He wouldn’t sing the lyrics, but he’d do the intro and maybe a line or two. I think Sting has the right attitude about this - he plays “Roxanne” virtually every night of his life on the road, and has said words to the effect that it’s a privilege - that the song means so much to people, and also made it possible for him to have a career in music. The least he can do, is to play it with appreciation for the fans. I know some songs aren’t favorites of artists, but to not play any of the hits seems kind of dickish to me (unless it’s a special show for hardcore fans who want to hear the deep cuts, or the b-sides). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/34 "2010-03-03T15:25:24Z")
I saw David Byrne twice last year. He did the big Talking Heads hits and a few other TH songs (most of them were from the albums they did with Bryan Eno, who also produced his new album), but I get the sense he usually avoids those. In fact in interviews he seems to avoid mentioning Talking Heads by name. > [@middleman](#): > > I’ll indulge a rock god the opportunity to slip in a few “pay the bills” moments in effort to sell their new album. But c’mon. Do you really think people filled a 50,000 capacity arena to hear your subpar stuff? We want your megahits. I realize this varies with different people depending on how often they go to concerts and other things, but I hate this attitude. Why do you feel it’s your right to show up at a concert and dictate to the performer that he has to keep playing songs that he wrote several decades ago? What is that about? ‘I was 18 when your songs were playing on the radio, so stop trying to evolve as an artist?’ If you feel that way, why shell out for the concert at all? It’s a shlep, tickets are expensive, and the beer costs a ton. Presumably you already have the CDs at home. There are couple of bands out there that I’ve seen a lot of times, and I wouldn’t do it if they played the same songs or the hits every time. I saw Neil Young a couple of years ago during his stint at the United Palace, and while his setlist didn’t change that much from night to night, he did mix in the hits. The night we saw him, he did Cowgirl in the Sand, Cinnamon Girl, and Tonight’s the Night. At other shows he did Cortez the Killer, Like a Hurricane, and some others. It looks like he didn’t play Rockin’ in the Free World at all that year. I did see him do that one at a show in the late '90s. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/35 "2010-03-03T15:34:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Bob Dylan is famous for not playing his more familiar songs, and, when he does play them, doing them in versions that are almost unrecognizable. I have seen Dylan in concert many, many times and I agree. The worst was the very first time I saw him. It was during his “religious phase”. A gospel group opened for him. After a song or two, people (myself included) were chanting for Dylan. After a few more songs, most were booing. When Bob finally came out, the crowd went wild. BUT, the gospel group stayed onstage as his backing band. He _only_ played his new stuff. It was awful. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/36 "2010-03-03T15:44:35Z")
I remember seeing an interview on VH1 with Pat Benetar. And she explained she could never understand why artists don’t perform their older hits. She went on to say that artists have an obligation to perform them. She said that while she may be personally fed up with a song, that particular song could have very special meaning to the fan, and it’s a duty of artists to perform their best known works as well as new stuff Made me respect her a lot. This made me respect her a LOT. I mean, most artists are so wrapped up in their own egos they forget HOW they got to where they are now. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/37 "2010-03-03T15:47:29Z")
Say Anything does not perform “Every man has a molly” even though the audience are literally begging for it. At one point he said to a screaming fanboy “sorry, I can’t, but this next song is just as kick ass”. In fact, Say Anything is so inconsistent in their song quality and choose to mostly perform the songs that I dislike rather than like, that I will stop going to their concerts (although they tend to tour with other bands I like so I won’t necessarily leave if they are the headliner after I have seen the band I want to see, although I have done so in the past with them!) There are two theories of mine as to why he doesn’t play it: one, he’s married now and the song contains references to his personal life, and two, the song makes references to killing oneself and even ends with only a voice screaming “i’ll kill myself!” The thing is, most listeners don’t take those lines seriously at all. The problem is is that the singer sings in a southern california surfer accent which makes all his songs seem arch-ironic, except he takes them seriously personally (exactly like Cake). If he would just admit that most of his listeners consider the song non-serious, then he might be more willing to perform it. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/38 "2010-03-03T18:27:23Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > Neill Young appearantly doesn’t play most of hits anymore. He was here a couple of years ago, but me and my friends decided we weren’t going to pay the extremely high price (150 euros or something). Later we heard he played a set with very few of his hits; made us feel happy about the decision:) This is not correct. I have heard Neil Young in concert many times over the past 20 years or so (last time was in New Orleans in May 2009) and each time his show has been a career retrospective, with a few songs from his latest album, and the bulk being made up of his most popular songs from his 40+ year long run in the music industry. Because his catalog is so extensive, he might not play any one particular song in a given evening, but he still plays many of his most recognized tunes each show. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/39 "2010-03-03T18:54:24Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Rush used to guarantee that they’d play all of each new album except one song during each show. The rest would be the older stuff. Even now, with 30+ years worth of recordings to draw from they make sure to hit most of each new album. To cope with demand for the older stuff, though, they’d switched to three+ hour shows with an intermission so they can do the new stuff and still provide fanservice. I’ve seen Rush six or seven times, but the most recent was in 1996. They had a definite pattern on the tours before _Test For Echo_: five songs off the new album, three off the previous, then whatever older stuff. On the TfE tour, their first with longer shows/no opening act, they played six songs from the new album. So in actuality, they played half of their new album at best. IME. ---
**Author:** ![beatlejuice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@beatlejuice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beatlejuice)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037/40 "2010-03-03T19:21:05Z")
I saw the Allman Brothers this summer and they only played Jessica with Melissa as the encore. The rest of the show seemed to be a competition between a guitarist from Government Mule and another non-Allman member. For the number of hits they had, this was a major disappointment.☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musicians-bands-refuse-to-play-their-hits-in-concert/531037.md?page=3)