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When you pay to see a concert, you go to see the band you love in a hot and sweaty outdoor environment. Packed like sardines with fans who are just as ravenous about the group or artist as you are. On this night, you spent your hard-earned money to see a band that you love, possibly for the first time ever. You saved up for this moment to hear your favorite songs performed live. Then, the lights go down, anticipation builds, and the band takes the stage. Two hours into the show, you feel as though something is off. You can’t quite place it, but you know what it is. The band has dropped their biggest hits from their set. While it is commonplace for bands to frequently add deeper cuts to a live show, the hits must remain for the causal fans. Unless it is an intimate show or fan club event, the hits must remain for the casual fans. Even if the band is tired of playing the same hits night after night, they must be in the setlist for the causal fans. 2023 has seen a new trend in live music in which bands have all but dropped their most popular hits from their setlists. Their hits are their bread and butter. They are what pave the way for the band to play deeper cuts in their shows. If fans know the hits are coming, they will put up with whatever songs the band is willing to play.
This trend started when Iron Maiden kicked off their Future Past Tour. A tour centered around their latest record Sinjetsu and their classic 1986 LP Somewhere In Time. The group known for such hits as “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “The Number of The Beast”, suddenly found their setlists without them. Other staples such as “Aces High”, a fixture at every Iron Maiden show, were noticeably missing as well. In place, a handful of tunes from the new record with some classic deeper cuts thrown in. Now the flipside to this is that this is Iron Maiden, a band that can get away with playing anything and the fans will lap it up. Though if this was someone’s first show and they didn’t hear the big three hits, they would leave disappointed as they are a causal listener who wanted to experience the band.
Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Live 2023
Another perpetrator of dropping the hits is Slipknot. Every show as far back as I can remember, they have always played “Before I Forget”. It’s one of, if not the biggest crowd-pleasing music festival anthems of all time. Though on their 2023 tour, it has largely been absent from setlists. Granted personal issues plaguing the band on this tour could have something to do with it. Longtime band member Craig Jones departed the group without explanation. Not wanting to be reminded of Jones could have had a hand in the song’s departure. Though casual fans who attended the recent shows have noticed how odd it was that the hit was dropped without explanation.
Personal Drama in Slipknot
There must be a fine line between playing what the band wants to hear verses the fans. Metallica got it right this year with their 72 Seasons Tour. The band plays two nights in each city, with no repeat setlists. Meaning for fans who tire of hearing “Enter Sandman” or an endless barrage of new tunes at every show, they could attend the first night and hear the classics. As for the newer stuff, the metal titans will save them for night two.
Audiences tune in to shows to hear greatest hits set. Unless the band’s new album is spectacular, people will always stay for the hits. On the recent Foo Fighters tour, the band made an egregious error, they dropped their typical closer “Everlong” from the set. They instead replaced it with the moody 12-minute new song, “The Teacher”. While the concept of the Foo Fighters playing a 12-minute-long song is enticing, not hearing “Everlong” during live shows could impact attendance. If every concert I’ve ever attended has taught me one thing, it’s that when the new songs come on, the fans hit the restrooms.
Playing live shows is always a balancing act. As a band, you must appease not only your sanity for playing the same songs every night, but the causal listeners and the die-hard fans in attendance. Peppering the set with deep cuts as well as hits is the appropriate way to bring attention to the band’s current tour. Dropping hits entirely could indicate that the band is tired of them or each other. Unless you are a big-name act with a ravenous fan base, you could get away with it, though it’s still not recommended that you should.
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