What follows is a visitor essay by Jeremy Davis (College of Georgia).
Just a few months again, I went to a New Discovered Glory live performance (I’ve a smooth spot for early-aughts pop punk; sue me). Halfway by way of their set, I seen {that a} girl a couple of rows in entrance of me saved taking a look at her telephone. In my expertise, when individuals are on their telephones at reveals, it’s normally to ship a textual content or submit a selfie to their social media. However this girl was doing one thing I hadn’t seen earlier than: she was trying up the band’s setlist on Setlist.fm.
For the uninitiated, Setlist.fm is an enormous wiki-style web site on which customers submit setlists, that are then catalogued and searchable. Their database spans many years, and consists of all the things from mainstream artists to extra obscure bands. You’ll be able to dig up a setlist from some random live performance you went to again in 2005, or try what a band you want performed on their most up-to-date tour. Setlist.fm additionally simply permits customers to dive into the statistics for a given band: you’ll be able to see what songs they play most frequently, what albums get essentially the most consideration throughout their units, what their commonest songs are for a given yr, when precisely they final performed a given tune, and so forth.
Setlist.fm is a bottomless properly for music nerds. Some folks use it through the present to see what songs are up subsequent. However I believe most informal guests to the location use it the best way I do—particularly, to see what songs a band I like tends to play on tour. Generally that is finished out of pure curiosity—for instance, I used to be not too long ago curious in regards to the setlist for the Blink 182 tour, regardless that I had no intention of going. I additionally checked to see what songs Phoebe Bridgers performs when she opens for Taylor Swift—a considerably odd setting for her, so I puzzled if her set was totally different than when she headlines (not likely, it seems).
I typically seek the advice of Setlist.fm after I’m contemplating whether or not to go to a present in any respect. Just a few months again, I heard Iron & Wine had a present arising in my city, so I hopped on Setlist.fm to see what kind of set he usually performed. I used to be disenchanted to see that he doesn’t play too many songs off my favourite album of his, Kiss Every Different Clear. He hadn’t performed my favourite tune, “Strolling Far From House”, since 2015. I used to be on the fence about going, however in the end went for it. And I’m glad I did: the present was great, regardless of him not taking part in that tune.
However there have been numerous circumstances the place I noticed an artist I preferred was coming by way of city, checked out their Setlist.fm web page, seen they didn’t are likely to play the songs I knew and preferred, and determined to skip the live performance. I reasoned that it wasn’t well worth the problem, realizing I’d have to sit down by way of a bunch of songs I didn’t know (or like).
Sadly, this behavior has brought on me to overlook out a couple of occasions. Once I heard Invoice Callahan—who I hadn’t seen earlier than—was coming to Atlanta, I checked out his current units, and I felt uninspired. Specifically, I used to be disenchanted to see that he hadn’t performed one in every of my favorites, “Too Many Birds”, shortly. I used to be on the fence about going, however seeing a setlist that didn’t grip me was a significant factor in my resolution to not go. I used to be kicking myself later after I noticed that he performed that tune for the primary time in years on that evening of the tour.
As Setlist.fm reveals, quite a lot of bands are likely to play just about the identical setlist for each cease of a given tour. On the manufacturing degree, this is smart for lots of bands: all of the lighting cues, auxiliary instrument monitoring, choreography, and so forth must be rigorously organized. There may be additionally worth in conserving the present on time, permitting for a rigorously constructed move, and guaranteeing the appropriate number of songs seem all through the set.
How are you aware if the band you’re going to see will play the identical setlist evening after evening? You examine Setlist.fm, in fact. Assuming you’re not the primary few nights of the tour, you’ll be able to see what their setlist has been for the previous few reveals of the tour. (In case your metropolis occurs to be the primary evening of the tour, then you definately’re out of luck.)
That’s what the lady on the New Discovered Glory present was doing: she was scrolling by way of the setlist through the present, presumably to see what tune was up subsequent, or to see whether or not some tune she cherished was forthcoming. As she did that, I had a fairly instant and visceral response. You’re already right here, I assumed, the present is going on proper now, simply hold listening! I discovered myself aggravated that she couldn’t let the efficiency unfold as it could.
Just a few months later, although, I spotted I used to be a hypocrite.
Thrice, one other early-aughts former love of mine, was touring in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of their album The Artist within the Ambulance. (Like many different millennials, I’m weak for nostalgia.) They performed the album front-to-back, after which proceeded to play a second set of songs off their different albums. After the primary set, I drifted to the again of the venue and rapidly hopped on Setlist.fm to see what they usually performed for his or her second set. I used to be disenchanted to see that they solely put one different older acquainted tune on the setlist. I caught it out for a couple of extra songs, seen the sample rising, and opted to depart early. I left the present assured I wouldn’t miss a lot. (I checked Setlist.fm later to see whether or not I used to be proper, and certain sufficient, it was the identical set as each different evening of the tour.)
What I used to be doing was simply as obnoxious as the lady I discussed earlier. In reality, it was worse, since I didn’t simply spoil the live performance for myself. I used the setlist as motive to depart early.
Setlist.fm has grown to turn out to be not simply an infinite archive for music nerds, but in addition a predictive device for figuring out whether or not going to a live performance is value going to (or staying at).
What’s so unhealthy about this?
Reside music performances are likely to current artwork in a particular means: they contain a curated number of songs, introduced in a selected order, with sure narrative and inventive parts. A type of parts is shock: the viewers is presumed to not know what tune comes subsequent. Consider the roar of the gang when the singer publicizes, “This subsequent one’s referred to as…” or when the guitarist begins in on the tune’s opening riff. With the maybe lone exception of classical music live shows, it’s exceedingly uncommon to ever discover an artist or group voluntarily sharing their setlist with the viewers previous to the efficiency. The factor of shock in stay music is underappreciated, however it’s completely central.
However Setlist.fm encourages us to spoil the shock for ourselves. And this diminishes our expertise. Identical to spoilers for TV reveals and flicks compromise the viewer’s aesthetic expertise, so do live performance spoilers diminish the concert-goer’s expertise. We deprive ourselves of the fascinating narrative anticipation that comes with the ignorance of the setlist.
It additionally weakens the performer’s potential to generate the specified aesthetic expertise. By checking the setlist—whether or not earlier than or through the present—we rob the band of this factor of their efficiency. Think about if everybody within the crowd had a bootleg copy of the setlist in entrance of them always. That second when the opening riff of the subsequent tune begins shall be a lot much less dramatic, and far much less satisfying. (In fact, this generally occurs in different methods, as when Thrice performed the album entrance to again. On this case, we all know the tune order, as a result of we all know the album. However I’d argue this trades the shock factor for an additional helpful aesthetic expertise—particularly, evoking the sentiments of listening to the album.)
This downside solely arises when it’s obvious {that a} band has an analogous setlist for each evening of a tour, as within the New Discovered Glory case. However one other downside with Setlist.fm arises extra broadly. Setlist.fm encourages us to embrace a reductive view of live shows as an aesthetic expertise. Utilizing the web site earlier than a live performance typically quantities to pre-judging the worth of the entire stay efficiency by way of the worth of sure of its presumptive components. That’s, we mistakenly find the general worth of a stay efficiency primarily in what songs are performed (or not).
Whereas there’s no denying {that a} band’s tune selection influences the general aesthetic expertise, Setlist.fm encourages a type of aesthetic myopia: eager about what they could play tells us little or no about how the efficiency would possibly unfold—for instance, whether or not the band would possibly play fascinating renditions of acquainted songs, the specifics of the stage efficiency, the band’s stage vitality, what the expertise will really feel like within the venue, how new songs would possibly sound in that context, and so forth. These are all central parts of the aesthetic expertise of stay performances, however this extra data-driven method undermines our appreciation of them.
In fact, I’m not suggesting that we by some means overlook these different options as soon as we glance up a band’s setlist. However by centering the steadiness of chances that our favourite songs shall be performed in our evaluation of whether or not the expertise is available in any respect, we inevitably obscure from view, or at the least considerably diminish the significance of, the myriad different issues that make stay music a worthwhile aesthetic expertise.
Over time, I believe this yields a view on the worth of stay music that’s essentially conservative: what makes a live performance value going to, on this view, is a operate of its success in reproducing the issues I already know and like, somewhat than seeing oneself as opening oneself as much as a particular expertise of artwork with which one is already, at the least broadly, acquainted or concerned with. This conservatism is in rigidity with a side of stay music efficiency that’s central however not often seen—particularly, the band’s position as a curator of their very own art work, which includes (amongst different issues) an try to craft a singular efficiency which may open our eyes to new songs, or supply new views and experiences of songs we’d not but love.
However can’t checking setlists beforehand additionally improve the concertgoer’s aesthetic expertise?
In any case, if there’s a solution to mitigate the chance of attending a nasty live performance, it appears silly to not use it—even when that comes with some price to the aesthetic expertise if one does go. That is very true for these with fairly restricted free time, cash, or for whom going to a live performance will not be a trivial outing. I confess that I nonetheless really feel inclined to take a look at Setlist.fm when a band is coming by way of that I solely have a restricted expertise with—the place it could be disappointing to sit down by way of an hour of songs, none of which I’m conversant in.
As any concert-goer is aware of properly, this disappointment may be profound. For instance, after I noticed Sufjan Stevens in 2010, he performed virtually nothing off his earlier albums, opting as an alternative to play his brand-new album (The Age of Adz) in full. Whereas I loved the general efficiency and got here to like these new songs with time, I left the live performance fully unhappy. Would I’ve nonetheless gone had I seen this on Setlist.fm beforehand? Perhaps not. But when I had, at the least I might have identified what I used to be in for, and this in all probability would have yielded a greater expertise than the one I had.
In reality, this precise state of affairs occurs very often. Earlier than Caroline Polachek’s current live performance, I seemed on Setlist.fm to see whether or not she ever performed songs from her former band, Chairlift, whom I adored. Alas, she by no means has. Had I not identified this, I’d’ve held onto hope of a Chairlift tune all through her set, which might have produced a little bit of anxious vitality through the present, and doubtless some slight disappointment afterward. As a substitute, I used to be in a position to put that concept out of my thoughts and benefit from the present.
The varied parts, good and unhealthy, are due to this fact in elementary rigidity.
Checking Setlist.fm earlier than a live performance dangers producing a reductive method to what’s helpful about seeing a band stay, and it’d wreck the anticipatory pleasure and delighted shock of listening to an previous favourite. However there is no such thing as a denying {that a} unhealthy setlist can wreck a live performance. And the anxiousness and disappointment of the artist not taking part in a tune you’re keen on—the flipside of the shock issue—also can compromise the aesthetic expertise.
My level will not be that we must always by no means seek the advice of setlists earlier than attending (or throughout) live shows, however somewhat that we must always pay attention to the methods it dangers compromising the very factor we search to safeguard. Although we’re proper to wish to keep away from the frustration of a nasty setlist, we might be fallacious to disregard the refined and vital prices we incur over time by being so threat averse.
Normally, we should goal to curate a set of maximally helpful aesthetic experiences for ourselves; however we must also prioritize openness to the various methods others, significantly the artists whose style we all know resonates with our personal, curate aesthetic experiences for us which can be greater than we’d have assumed them to be.
Jeremy Davis is an Assistant Professor within the Division of Philosophy on the College of Georgia. His analysis is primarily in utilized ethics. You could find him on Twitter/X @myavidjeers, or at www.jeremyvdavis.com.
Edited by Alex King
