Music: (ON) REPEAT

You might know the feeling of walking home without hearing your favourite songs at a concert you paid £50 to see. Setlists aren’t always perfect, especially if the artist has decades’ worth of material - it’s difficult to make each member of the audience happy. This doesn’t just go for famous artists; I’ve also shouted at a friend playing a local open mic who refused to play his first cringey breakup song.

Musicians sometimes change it up at different gigs or only play their new album to promote fresh songs. It can be dependent on if the artist has changed their musical style or what type of performance it is. Often, it’s at oneoff events like Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show, that artists are made to stick to performing their greatest hits (although there were still complaints online about her not playing ‘Desperado’).

Though experiencing new releases live gives you more additions to your playlists, the main point of going to see popular artists in concert is to sing along with friends in a large crowd. I’m excluding up-and-coming artists, like DJs or indie musicians, from this comparison of setlists, as these shows are meant to be about exploring new music, rather than a more well-known or established artist.

From the live shows I’ve attended, the most satisfying setlist seems to be an unexpected mix of old and new bops, with an encore of the finest couple of classics.

It’s important to value new releases as much as the classics. With this in mind, RAZZ has asked writers to send us pieces on the music they always have (on) repeat…