I am still stuck on a song list of 600! The biggest I ever had was probably 80-90. I think of it that if you have 600 songs, 550 of them don't get played at a show. And if you aren't playing them, jettison them. I always had a top end limit and when we learned a new song, another had to go. We'd sit down as a group and say "What on this list don't we really play?" and decide what to drop.

I was in a band in the early 80s that tried to be versatile (more on that in a minute) so they insisted on learning a little of everything. I led a discussion that was loosely this.

We do shows that call for 45 songs. How about if we have a core of 20 that we will play EVERY night, and then a list of 205 that are harder edged rockers like "Get Out Of Denver" and "You May Be Right", and 25 that are more country leaning like "Today I started Loving Her Again" and "On The Road Again", where some of each list can be in the core list. From the remainder of the rock and the country lists we can mix in 20 songs to play with the core 25 and there's our night. When we walk in and see big belt buckles, boots and cowboy hats, we lean heavier on the country list. But pulling out an obscure ZZ Top sing in a stone cold country place would be a wrong move.

The real issue, and SO MANY BANDS don't get this, is that your band needs a fingerprint. That whole "song list all over the place" just doesn't work where I am. Rooms are known as "____________" kind of room or "___________" kind of room, and the best Merle Haggard songs in the world won't work in a room that wants metal. We have a club here called Thirsty Cowboys. Their band had to cancel at the last minute because of a car accident in which the bass player and his singer wife were injured. They scrambled to find ANYBODY and ended up with a rock band. Only due to the most morbid of curiosity did I go see the place. At 11pm, there were 25 people in there. Any other Friday night at 11pm there are 250. So rooms have a fingerprint, and it's a good idea for a band to have one too. Remember, it's easy to dazzle the 50 friends who will come to see you no matter what. The strangers matter most.

We have a Spazmatics franchise band here. 3 playing pieces and a front singer. The music is about 65% tracks. They are very popular and very busy and nobody cares that they are more tracks than live play. The guitar player is a producer at a studio he owns, and his tracks are CD worthy so it works well for them.