Set List Quotes

When I sit down to make a set list I usually think, 'We'll build it up here, take it down here, go into a quiet section here, explode here,' in a way that there's a flow and it doesn't feel like shuffle on an iPod.

What we do every night is we change out the set list as much as we can to make sure that (fans can) go home and tell their friends they experienced something unique and cool.

I wanna go play my music in a club.

Some bands blow it before they even play. The most important moment of any show is when a band walks out with the red amp lights glowing, the flashlight that shows each performer the way to his spot on the stage. It's crucial not to blow it. It sets the tempo of the show; it affects everyone's perception of the band.

When you put an album out, you can't do any material from the album if people are paying to see you.

I sign up whatever live shows I get simply because every gig is a chance to reach out directly to the audience. When it comes to gigs, I try mixing personal picks with what the audience demands.

I don't know who was the one that came up with the notion that you have to play the same songs every concert.

We're a band. We're hired for parties. We have to know what to do.

We've never been a band that gets up on stage and says, 'OK, we're going to play our entire new album.' Of course we want to introduce new music, but we also want to play the songs people want to sing along with.

I used to do covers gigs that would be 90 minutes, with a 30 minute break, then another 90.

When you talk about the Final Fantasy series, the series started selling better after 7, and that was the base idea for the center of the set list for the LA concert.

The first gig we ever played was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I'm from. I was in a band called the October Game, and we opened up for a Vancouver band.

The Grateful Dead played for three hours on a given night, plus sound check.

I always use the Rolling Stones as the whipping boy for this, but they still play old songs as 90% of their set, and we would die if that were the case.

We're not like pop musicians who have to perform the same top ten tunes every night of a tour.

I only listen to my own music when I'm playing an hour-and-half set each night. I don't put it on recreationally.

I want to entertain my audience. I know when then come and see me play, if I don't do 'Swing Town,' 'Jet Airliner,' 'Take the Money and Run,' 'True Fine Love,' 'Fly Like an Eagle,' 'The Joker,' blah blah blah - if I don't do all those songs, they'll be extremely disappointed. I love to do them.

It's fun to write your set list 20 minutes before and keep the crew very much on their toes.

We'll go out and we'll be playing in front of 15,000 people and say, 'Hey, we're going to do three new songs from something we just recorded' and 5,000 people get up and go get a hot dog and a beer and they don't come back until they hear the opening strings of 'The Joker' or 'Fly Like an Eagle.'

Some songs, you just can't shake; they keep creeping back into your set list.

The reason I stop playing songs is usually because I get sick of them, and then they find themselves back into the set list at some point.

At some shows, the set list gets changed while we are on stage. I know Ed thinks about the set very hard throughout the day in order to make the best show possible for the fans and for us.

I do a medley of hymns in all of my sets, whether I'm in an arena, in a theater, in an amusement park.

A lot of times I play my music at shows based on the views and the streams.