Chad Gracey thinks a 17 song setlist is 'a lot' Options

[dangum]

During the first leg of the Live / Bush #Alti-mate tour where Live was playing the same 14 track setlist night after night, a fan asked Chad Gracey on his Instagram page how many songs Live would be playing on their European tour.

Chad replied with "a lot"



Now, that the European tour is over we finally know what 'a lot' means to Chad.

'A lot' is 17 songs. That was the greatest number of tracks performed on their 8 show tour.

Live played as few as 14 songs on the Euro tour (same as their co-headlining US tour), while the average for their solo shows was 16.

Do you think a headlining act touring a country where the biggest fans exist should play such a limited number of songs?

Is 95 minutes enough?

In my opinion the answer is a resounding "No" for both.

Live did try to mix things up a little - for example Overcome (full band and Ed solo), They Stood Up for Love were added. Shit Towne got an extended guitar solo from Chad Taylor. Ed venturing out into the crowd was cool... but Live needs to do more.

[ADAD]

Here are my thoughts on the issue, disjointed as they may be.

When I went to the opening night of the Altimate tour, to me the setlist felt short, tired (despite it being the opening night), and uninspired.

For the most part, the biggest change from last year's tour with the Counting Crows to this year was swapping covers I didn't care to hear for other covers I didn't care to hear. It's not as though Losing My Religion or Paint It Black got unusually large pops from the crowd nor that Live's versions were particularly inspiring (Paint It Black, in particular, just doesn't sound right with Ed doing a Mick Jagger impression). Beyond the covers, they played the songs I expected them to play and mostly in the order I expected them to be played. Live has too broad and too excellent of a catalog to be that uninspired.

I GET that Lightning Crashes, Dolphins Cry, All Over You, Selling The Drama, I Alone have to be played every show... probably Lakini's Juice and White, Discussion too. Still, that's only 7 songs. It leaves a lot of room for creativity with the other half of the set if they are only going to play 14 tracks. To me, they have failed in that regard.

The above is compounded by the band having totally ignored their new release since hitting the road. The TC 25th anniversary album was released last week, but Hold Me Up has now been out for almost 2 full months and its release was timed almost perfectly with the start of the Altimate tour. What's more, it's a great freaking song. The TC 25th album has no appeal beyond the three "new" songs; otherwise people will just as soon buy/stream the original album and tracks. The band has done nothing beyond a few social media posts to promote this record and new music; to not promote it while on the road playing in front of 8,000+ people most nights defies all logic.

However illogical I find the Band's decisions from a business perspective, I don't particularly care about the band's business beyond how it impacts me as a fan (i.e., the more in demand the band is, the more they will tour and they more opportunities there will be to see them). I do care that they are leaving great music at home to play essentially the same set every night. I think we all became fans of Live because their music - both on record and in concert - always felt incredibly inspired. After the 2 shows I've seen in the last 2 years (opening at Jones Beach and co-headlining at Foxwoods), I just don't sense the same inspiration. To speak to a point of contention in this thread, I don't believe you need a 2.5 hour show or 25 songs for an inspired performance; it's just something you know when you see. I'm not seeing it.

None of this means that the shows aren't entertaining or even that I won't go to the tour again when it comes through Jones Beach this year. It simply means this band is capable of better and that in and of itself makes the shows at least a little disappointing.