Set list–Part 1
The issue of what songs I’ve chosen to play at my concerts is a complex one. I have a suspicion I can’t explain it in a single blog, so I’ve made this Part 1, which gives me the opportunity to stop writing at some point and pick it up tomorrow.
Here are the songs I played at my last 4 gigs:
Leipzig
I Live In A Suitcase
Flying North
Europa And The Pirate Twins
She Blinded Me With Science
Hyperactive
It’s very hard for me to make choices, because an enormous amount of work goes into preparing each song for live performance. How did I select these few songs from among my ‘extensive’ repertoire (a whopping 50 titles*)? And how did I go about choosing which additional ones to add in April and May when I go out and play a full set of an hour or more? Well, my main aim with this tour was to reconnect with my musical roots and my core audience. So they had to be songs that are fundamental to me; songs that I still feel good about, 20 to 25 years after I wrote them. They have to be ones I can sing comfortably, five or six times per week (I’m no Vegas seasoned professional when it comes to vocals.) I also had to play ‘the hits’ because everybody will expect them, and a large proportion of people at my gigs will be unfamiliar with the more cerebral tracks. And I know that my most fanatical fans, the ones that travel thousands of miles to see my concert, have their own favorites–often the least commercially successful ones–and I’d love to be able to make those fans happy by performing those songs for them in an intimate setting.
I always saw myself opening with ‘Leipzig’. It’s about a bored man in a no-hope job that thinks maybe he’d do better in another country, behind the Iron Curtain in fact. On the surface it’s very cold, alienating; but underneath it has a certain optimism, this man has an almost romantic wish to be assimilated into the modern world. It’s a song that defined my early period, yet I never played live in the old days. It was too hard to recreate it with the technology we had back then. Many of my early songs utilized a setting I discovered on my Roland JP4 (see below) which basically created a pulse that you could ‘steer’ on the keyboard. It would follow the chords you held down for as long a you sustained them, and the actual chord changes got a little touch of emphasis. This made for a great backing track for a recording, but there was no way to use the synth’s ‘clock’ to control anything else. So any other parts after the first you laid down, had to be played manually with ‘human’ timing. I got pretty good mileage out of this sound–it was the basis for ‘Leipzig’, ‘Urges’, ‘Europa And The Pirate Twins’ and ‘Cloudburst At Shingle Street’. However the downside was, it was hard to recreate those songs on stage. These days of course, everything is done right in my Mac and all the elements share a common clock: If I change the master tempo from 120 beats per minute to 130, all my drums, percussion, and even echoes follow suit. At any point I can go all the way back and rework the first part I laid down. And when it comes to playing it live onstage, I can have a separate mix in my earphones with a click to play to that the audience doesn’t need to hear through the PA. So this has opened up songs that in 1979 were prohibited to me as live material, which is very satisfying.
I decided to keep that flavor of ‘Leipzig’ and let it set the tone for the first few songs of the show. In the same category were ‘Suitcase’ and ‘Flying North.’ Both had their issues when it came to live arrangements. They both have multiple layers of sounds, impossible for one person to play all at once. Of course, I could have pre-recorded those parts, but I somehow felt that would be cheating. I wanted the audience to get a glimpse into my musical world, and that meant limiting the arrangements to what I could realistically play live, and that they could watch, while still giving a decent rendition of a vocal.
In both songs I am totally maxed out. On ‘Suitcase’ for example I play… let me list them… a bass sound, lead and rhythm guitar, organ, piano, bells, a spacey pad thing, and a vocoder. The parts are not terribly complicated in themselves–but I’m a ham-fisted self-taught keyboardist, not a virtuoso, and just juggling these parts is making my brain work overtime. Thankfully, muscle memory takes over at a certain point, and my fingers know where to go. Sometimes what I’m playing is the musical equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. And often when I can’t reach a certain interval, I’ll define a MIDI zone on one of my keyboards and transpose it to make the fingering easier, which means I’m often playing some parts in a completely different key. [If all this is hard to envision, have no fear: I'm planning on filming some clips with my video 'headcam' with a live spoken commentary, and putting them on this site as downloadable video podcasts.] But when it all gels I’m able to come up with an arrangement that feels really natural to play, and I stop thinking about it altogether. Then I can just go with the flow of the music, and focus on projecting the lyrics and the meaning behind them.
There’s a vital balance to be struck, too, between staying faithful to the original song versus allowing new elements and influences to creep in. In ‘Europa’ I use an effect on a couple of sounds that never could have existed in 1981 when I first recorded the song. It’s called Camelspace and it uses a sequence to ‘gate’ a track in a specific rhythm. All I have to do is hold down a chord, and Camelspace chops it up in the tempo of the song and turns it into an instant rave epic. But that very idea might be sacrilegious to many fans who have lived with and loved that song for over 20 years. So tempting as it may be to spice ‘Europa’ up with a new toy, I have to weigh the validity of this new effect, and whether it’s really in keeping. I ended up going for it, and now I’m very happy with it. It moves the song along in a gratifying way, and somehow updates it for 2006. In this way I’ve allowed new influences to seep in.
‘Science’ and ‘Hyperactive’ fall into the ‘required hits’ category. But though they’re certainly the most lightweight songs I ever wrote, I can still have fun with them. They’re definitely crowd pleasers, and I get the sense by the time I play them anyone that’s still on the fence about me is is won over. It’s amazing how many stories I still hear from fans about where they were or who they were in love with when one of these was playing on the radio or the club sound system. Even when I’m in business mode, sitting in some Silicon Valley board room with a bunch of VPs in suits, there’s inevitably one guy who gets this peculiar look on his face and proceeds to tell me about Lavinia whom he was bonking at MIT when ‘Science’ was on the stereo.
Ok, tomorrow I’ll tell you how I selected which songs to add to this list for the Sole Inhabitant Tour.
*I’m anything but prolific! Most artists have a much higher output. By comparison, Prince, who first hit the mainstream round about the same time I did, has released something like 23 solo albums compared to my 4.
Prince? Yeah, the only difference is, I wouldn’t go see him perform, even if It was just for me. I am looking forward to bringing my son to Anaheim on the 12th, and we’ll be thrilled with whatever you play.
Thanks.
Larry
Actually I think your choice is pretty good. Leipzig is a great song and “She blinded me with science” is a classic.
One song you should also consider throwing in (Your choice of course) is Airwaves. I really like that song.
- Ryan
Blog: http://blog.ryanwynne.com
Flying North? Wahoo! There are no more Pan-Am bar floors for The Artist on the brink of a whole new deal.
No “Flat Earth” songs? But it’s your show, play what you love. Heck, play your own arrangements of songs from “Dog Eat Dog”, “Steve McQueen”, “Jordan: The Comeback” or just the piano intro to “I Love You Goodbye” for 70 minutes.
I just bought tix for S.F! “Oh I’m so excited” (TMDR on Joni Mitchell’s Shiny Toys).
Personally, I’d love to hear “I Love You Goodbye” played live. But then again, it is your show and I feel that as the artist, you should paint the picture the way you’d like it. I just bought my tickets for Royal Oak, MI and can’t wait until May 13th arrives. Is there any chance of a meet and greet before or after the show?
Yes, I second the motion for “Airwaves” as well as “One of Our Submarines” and “Radio Silence.” I don’t think you played these on the 1988 tour which was mostly for “Aliens Ate My Buick.” Which was definitely enjoyable, just never got to see some of the first singles played live.
And (not that you asked for our votes, but here goes) speaking of “Aliens Ate My Buick” my faves on that are “The Key To Her Ferrari,” “My Brain Is Like A Sieve,” “The Ability To Swing,” and of course “Budapest By Blimp.” Whatever you choose I’m sure it will be entertaining to see the new twists and turns on old favorites. If a musician gets tired of playing something, it’ll show. Can’t wait to hear the new bits on “Europa,” my all-time favorite.
That would make a cool set-list, Tom. Hearing that I’d die a happy man!
~Jeff
Mr. Dolby,
Here’s the difference between you and Prince… I have all of your albums and none of his =).
Your’s is the first concert I will be attending in a very, very long time… the last concert I saw was (gasp) Howard Jones in 1985 (oh, and the New York Philharmonic every once in awhile).
Alot of us have been carrying the torch for you over all these years, so I think it’s safe to say that anything you play will be met with lots of enthusiasm (but if you wanted to throw “Screen Kiss” onto the list, I wouldn’t argue one bit).
Thank you for your music. I can’t wait for Joe’s Pub!
Deborah
Hey Thomas. Just found your new blog. Fantastic that your touring again! You need to add Boulder Colorado to you tour!
> It’s very hard for me to make choices,
>because an enormous amount of work
>goes into preparing each song for
>live performance.
Just curious if you are using Ableton Live. Over the last year, I’ve gone through the process with my own rig to “limit my toolset” so I can spend more time creating and less time fidgeting with gear (I can really realate to your first post on your shed). As a consequence I’ve sold a lot of hardware and gone virtual with light weight midi controllers – save for my Korg Karma and KAOSS KP2 which I can’t seem to part with.
I’ve found Ableton Live to really changed my notions about performing. It’s incredibel what a time saver it’s been for me.
Thomas,
I like much “Astronauts & Heretics”…
“Cruel” is one of my favourite songs (cool, sweet,…).
Another idea : “Eastern bloc” ?
“Beauty of Dream”…. (for that last one, I’ll see very well people with little ligths – lighters – during the song…)
I try to help you
“*I’m anything but prolific! Most artists have a much higher output. By comparison, Prince, who first hit the mainstream round about the same time I did, has released something like 23 solo albums compared to my 4″.
It’s about quality, not quantity. If it takes you 15 years between recordings, at least we know it will be worth the wait (although some of us will start getting a bit old at some point along the way).
All this Prince talk reminds me: I remember hearing of a comment he made in the mid/late 1990′s. Something about how he was considered such a pervert last decade, while Michael Jackson was the doe-eyed sweetheart Peter Pan who loved children. Things rather turned around, didn’t they…
Also, Prince is in the news. He’s possibly going to acquiesce to Universal Music’s wishes and appear on “American Idol,” of all things. More record-company pressure in the name of album sales? I smell another name change coming on.
http://www.mp3.com/features/stories/3964.html
I hope you decide to post a sample or two of things you may change in some of your songs. It will be interesting to see how you move things around, if at all.
Mr Roberts nee Dobly,
I too would have to plead that you include at least one song from TFE or AAMB (or a bunch of new stuff, no matter how raw – I get the strong impresssion that you are fully capable of conveying your meaning with only the barest of piano samples). Barring that, I’d throw my hat in with “Airwaves.”
Your gear list in a more recent post was a dream come true to for me. I became a gear geek because of you; or, rather, I realized it was OK to be a gear geek, that sometimes the gear propells the songwriting.
In any case, both your blog and your return to touring is most welcome.
…a loyal fan since 1984. In fact, I first got to second base to “Screen Kiss,” my first hearing of anything other than the “hits.” Not a bad beginning.
YEA – great coments from everone above..also havent been toany concert in many many years!!! will have a total melt down if “I LOVE YOU GOODBYE” could happen..I will also die a happy Man
I’m probably in a minority of one, but I’d much rather hear radically different versions of the songs that don’t attempt to recreate the original sound. I love the albums to death, and for that reason I’ve listened to them so many times that I’d much rather hear completely new versions that use the limits of performance to re-imagine the songs. Recreating the albums live sounds/feels belabored.
What amazed me about Wireless was that it sounded so new, so evocative. I think the only way to capture that sense of newness is to re-invent the arrangements. I’d love to hear ‘Blinded by Science’ performed by an orchestra of theremins, or ‘Airwaves’ just with radio samples [a la 'I trawl the Megaherzt'] Wishful thinking I guess…
Hope to see you beofre I go to Africa- will miss the Detroit show- so will try to get your show in Maryland or Cleveland. VERY excited, man!!
So, I’ve got some requests…. how about playing the Blinded By Science EP off Harvest (tunes from from GAOW) straight through! Airwaves, Flying North, One of our Submarines, Windpower, She Blinded me with Science….
But a couple also from Flat Earth: *****Screen Kiss***** or White City….
Can’t wait!
Splendid news. I’m looking forward to hearing “I Live In A Suitcase” live at the Scala when you get to Blighty. “Golden Age Of Wireless” was the first album I ever brought on vinyl as a nipper (after an afternoon of walking peoples trolleys back to the supermarket in order to get the pound coins. Who else used to do earn their pocket money like that?), but I was a bit of a latecomer to “Astronauts & Heretics”.
As it was, it came at just the right time because “I Live…” really did help me get through some tough times.
So thanks very much for that, Mr D.
spyware delete…
Aww… I just found this blog too! Well best of luck with the projects….