on the subject of setlists and such...

[kgdjpubs]

I got to thinking a little bit about the conundrum of being stuck between the greatest hits nostalgia band that the crowd wants, and the functioning rock band that the band members and diehard fans want, and the difficulty in striking a balance between the two warring factions.

The whole thing was started by thinking about the UK rock band Magnum, which has a similar history to Journey to an extent. They had a very popular period in the 80s which produced plenty of hits, took a five year break in the late 90s, and have been fairly prolific in the past 10 years since reforming. They have released 5 albums of new material since then, bringing out a new album every other year like clockwork. In the same timeframe, Journey's history hasn't been all that different. Depending on whether you count Trial By Fire or not, Journey is at either 4 or 5 new albums and an EP in the post-ROR days. That's a bunch of songs that rarely get aired live. For Magnum fans, it tended to be the same way.

Here's where things get turned on their head. For the most recent tour, Magnum pretty much did away with the typical Greatest Hits set with a new track or two thrown in for good measure, and instead did a pretty much equal mix of songs from the new album, post-reformation songs, and classic hits. The whole thing got me thinking on Journey terms, how such a set might play out with the similarities/differences between the bands and here's what I came up with...

1. Where Were You
2. The Place in Your Heart
3. Chain of Love
4. To Be Alive Again
5. Remember Me
6. Someone
7. Lights
8. Anything is Possible
9. Edge of the Moment
10. Never Walk Away
11. Ask the Lonely
12. Tantra
13. Resonate
14. Higher Place
15. Wheel in the Sky
16. Be Good to Yourself
17. Any Way You Want It
18. Separate Ways

ENCORE
19. Don't Stop Believin'
20. Faithfully

Take a few extended songs, a guitar and keyboard solo and the customary short break before the encore, and you are in the 1:45 range for a headlining act. It would be a pretty risky move for any band, and Magnum got their fair share of complaints from some fans who were hoping for more greatest hits for their hard-earned concert dollars. Still, it was a hard hitting statement of a band refusing to be a nostalgia act and bringing new material to the fanbase, even if it meant dragging them along kicking and screaming.

It would be interesting to see how a Journey audience on a pure headlining date would react that the above setlist (or something similar). It's obvious the package deal of 3 bands would not have been the place to try something like this out. Take a headlining date however (either solo or with a short opening act) and you have far more latitude with what you can do. There are no shortage of songs to choose from, and a pretty strong selection if you combine all the stuff post-reformation onwards. There are also a few songs in there that have either received some minimal amount of radio airplay or tended to go over well live when played live that could have become concert staples if the band was willing to stick with them over subsequent tours, which I have included. Either way, it was an interesting exercise in what-ifs. Thoughts?

[Archetype]

Iron Maiden got away with playing a 16 song set in which only five songs were form their "hey day" last year on their Final Frontier tour. Yes, I realize that Journey attracts a different type of crowd, but but I think that if Journey wasn't so passive about promoting new material then they could get away with it too. Because like Iron Maiden's new material, Journey's new material is pretty good.