cockroach wrote:Thanks Justin and Dave...you've pretty much fully answered DavidM's original question, IMHO!
I can only agree that, when performing for money for average folk, it's essential to play what they recognise, know, and love...OK, perhaps include a few other items which may not be quite as well known...but most people who are non- musicians but love music, I've found, far outnumber hardcore fans and musicians at most gigs...
I made the mistake of pushing my first group in the '60's into doing obscure 'hipster' type material rather than chart hits etc...it was a waste of time, and I've regretted it since..
The image of the three white Burns guitars is iconic, they look terrific ! The problem was, as Justin pointed out, they nearly always went with the dinner suits and bow ties, suggesting 'not rock & roll'. I loved the image, but I knew I was in a minority.
When the Shads began to fade I turned my attention to The Yardbirds as I liked Jeff Beck and what he was doing at the time, so consequently our band went a little that way too, but Motown was happening and we lost our way because we wouldn't play any in our show. We did have a small 'cult' following with the bluesy stuff we were doing but had to resort to commercialising ourselves, adding Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Manfred et al and later The Monkees and Byrds stuff, before going into cabaret for a decade. I learned later, that to be succesful we had to play what people wanted to hear, which is the key to filling most of our gigs today. I can honestly say that I love the stuff we do, which makes it an easy job, which allows us to slip in a fair amount of Shadows stuff which goes extremely well.