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Behind the Setlist
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© Billboard 2022 - 2026
Description
At Behind the Setlist, we talk to artists to get the stories about the songs they play live. Most artists are known best for their recordings, but they love to be on stage. That's where the music feels at home. That's where they connect with the audience. How do they pick the songs to take the audience on a journey? Why do they cover other artists' songs? How many new songs can an artist fit into a 16-song set when people want to hear the classics? We find out.
Hosted by Glenn Peoples (Billboard) and Jay Gilbert (Label Logic).
52 Episodes
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Andy Summers is best known as the guitarist in The Police. But in certain circles, he's also known as an accomplished photographer with numerous books and his own camera, the Leica M Monochrome "Signature" by Andy Summers. Andy is currently mixing his two passions with A Cracked Lens + Missing String, a solo tour in the U.S. and Canada where he performs in front of a backdrop of his photographs. His latest book, A Series of Glances, was released by ACC Art Books on April 12, 2023. He joins Behind the Setlist to talk about his musical influences, his travels around the world and performing with The Police, as a solo artist and as a member of Call the Police, a Police cover band that features Rodrigo Santos (Red Baron /Barão Vermelho)on bass and vocals and Joao Barone (Os Paralamas do Sucesso) on drums.
Links
Andy Summers home page
Andy Summers tour dates
Andy Summers tour history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Veteran singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield joins Behind the Setlist to talk about her upcoming album, her concert setlists and her long career in music. Juliana will release her 20th solo studio album on Nov. 17 — Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO, a collection of 10 covers of songs by Electric Light Orchestra. It's Juliana's third album of covers songs after Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John in 2018 and Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police in 2019. Her career began with the Blake Babies while she was a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston. After a brief stint playing bass in The Lemonheads, her breakthrough came in 1994 when her song "Spin the Bottle," released by The Juliana Hatfield Three, appeared on the soundtrack to the Winona Ryder-Ethan Hawke film Reality Bites. More recently, she paired with Paul Westerberg, known best as the frontman of The Replacements, to form a duo called The I Don't Cares and release an album, Wild Stab, in 2016.
Links
Juliana Hatfield home page
Juliana Hatfield tour dates
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Grace Potter's '70s influences come through on her new album, Mother Road (out August 18 through Fantasy Records). The Vermont native built her name as the leader of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, sang on a hit song ("You and Tequilla" in 2010) with country star Kenny Chesney and had a song ("Something That I Want") on the 2010 Disney movie Tangled. Now with countless tour dates and five solo albums under her belt, Grace joins Behind the Setlist to talk about the meaning behind Mother Road, the new material, how she chooses songs to play in her sets, her '70s and '90s musical influences, her music festival and advice a record executive gave to a young Grace Potter.
In this episode:
4:50 The meaning behind Mother Road
5:30 What Grace did during the lockdown
9:00 Playing Red Rocks Amphitheatre
10:30 How the setlist changes night to night
13:00 Considering photographers when choosing the first three songs
15:00 Her parents record collection and making mix tapes
19:00 Covering Lee Hazlewood’s “Some Velvet Morning” with Lukas Nelson
22:50 Playing “Something That I Want” at Red Rocks
25:30 Playing the (at the time) unreleased “Rose Colored Rearview”
29:40 Singing “You and Tequilla” with Kenny Chesney
31:00 The status of the Grand Point North Festival?
34:00 A young Grace Potter getting advice from a record executive
40:00 Picking the songs to close a set
Links:
Grace Potter home page
Grace Potter tour dates
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
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Rock-folk-blues musician Peter Case began busking in San Francisco in the '70s, co-founded the Nerves ("Hanging on the Telephone") in 1974 and the Plimsouls ("A Million Miles Away") in 1978 and has been a solo artist since 1986. Since three albums for Geffen Records, Case has recorded for indie labels such as Vanguard, Yep Roc and, most recently, Sunset Blvd. Records. On his 16th studio album, Doctor Moan (released March 31, 2023), Case trades his acoustic guitar for a piano and Hammond B3 organ with often stunning results. His life and career were examined in the excellent 2023 documentary Peter Case: A Million Miles Away.
Links:
Peter Case home page
Peter Case tour dates
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Billboard podcast page
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Les Claypool is the co-founder of the rock band Primus and is currently touring with the return of Colonel Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, one of his many bands and collaborations that showcase his unique skills on the bass and a penchant for psychedelic, absurdist and oddball music.
The Fearless Flying Frog Brigade tours through July 15 and breaks until a gig at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA, on Oct. 11. That tour continues through Nashville, TN, on Oct. 31.
Inside the episode:
3:10 The origins of Colonel Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade
6:00 Les talks about his music influences: Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, Larry Graham and Louis Clark, among others.
8:20 The origins of his music’s humor and absurdist qualities came from his love of British comedy. Where did the psychedelic element of Primus and other Claypool come from?
11:18 Les talks about his equipment, first the Rickenbacker 4001, then a Carl Thompson, and later designing his own instruments.
13:52 Why do so many musicians want to collaborate with Les?
15:45 The current set lists includes Pink Floyd’s Animals but gives the band room to play other material and improvise.
19:00 They want to do a longer set in the fall, without an opening band, to have more room to play songs other than the songs from Animals.
20:25 Who goes to the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade shows?
22:26 Les talks about his winery, Claypool Cellars.
Links:
Les Claypool home page
Les Claypool tour dates
Claypool Cellars
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Arguably the best band named after a Monty Python sketch, Toad the Wet Sprocket sprung from Santa Barbara, CA, to popularity in the early '90s on the strength of the platinum albums Fear ("All I Want," "Walk on the Ocean") and Dulcinea ("Fall Down," "Something's Always Wrong") that captured the spirit of the alternative rock of the era. Their latest album, Starting Now, was released in 2021 and shows the band hasn't lost a step. Singer Glen Phillips and bass player Dean Dinning join Billboard's Behind the Setlist to discuss the band's distinctive sound, the songs they've been playing on tour, covering the Kiss song "Rock and Roll All Night" and much more. Toad the Wet Sprokcet is touring the U.S. through July 19th and starts another run on Sept. 8 in Omaha, NE, that runs through Oct. 14 in Mount Vernon, IL.
Links:
Toad the Wet Sprocket home page
Toad the Wet Sprocket tour dates
Jay Gilbert at Label Logic
Glenn Peoples at Billboard
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Known for the metal anthems "Last Resort" and "Scars," Papa Roach is an enduring figure in the turn-of-the-century nu-metal scene. The band's 2000 album Infest went triple-platinum in the U.S. on the strength of "Last Resort." That was followed by Lovehatetragedy in 2002 (certified gold) and Getting Away with Murder in 2004 (certified platinum). Their concerts are a non-stop barrage that covers the band's twenty-plus years and, recently, a blazing cover of "Firestarter" by electronic act The Prodigy.
In a great interview with Billboard's Behind the Setlist, Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix and guitarist Jerry Horton talk about their stage show, maturing, starting their own record label and what T-shirt sells best on tour.
The band is hitting the road this summer with European dates through before the opening for Shinedown on The Revolutions Live Tour starting Sept. 3 in St. Lous, MO.
Links:
Papa Roach home page
Papa Roach tour dates
Jay Gilbert at Label Logic
Glenn Peoples at Billboard
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bear Rinehart is the singer and co-founder of NEEDTOBREATHE, a commercially successful rock band founded in South Caroline in 2001. Known for their uplifting, spiritual music, NEEDTOBREATHE has had a string of top 10 albums (The Outsiders, The Reckoning, Rivers in the Wasteland and Hard Love) and performs in arenas and amphitheaters around the U.S. As a solo under performing under the name Wilder Woods, Rinehart takes a rootsy, Americana bent while retaining NEEDTOBREATHE's ability to move and inspire. His second album as Wilder Woods, FEVER/SKY, was released March 24 by Dualtone Records.
Wilder Woods will perform at the The Roxy in Los Angeles on May 16, Red Rocks Amphitheatre (supporting the Avett Brothers) on July 8 and the Moon River Music Festival in Chattanooga, TN, on Sept. 10.
NEEDTOBREATHE's 2023 dates includes July 12 in Myrtle Beach, SC, Aug. 13 in Fort Wayne, IN, and Sept. 8 at the Kansas State Fair.
Links:
NEEDTOBREATHE home page
Wilder Woods home page and tour dates
NEEDTOBREATHE tour history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Billboard's podcast page
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Blues musician Joe Bonamassa just had his 26th No. 1 album on the Billboard Blues Albums chart with Tales of Time, a live recording of his 2021 album Time Clocks recorded in 2022 at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Joe talks to Behind the Setlist about his latest tour, the concert that became Tales of Time, covering songs by Tom Waits and ZZ Top, which younger blues musicians he thinks are exciting, and his not-for-profit, Keeping the Blues Alive, that raises money for music education and helped cash-strapped musicians during the pandemic.
Joe is currently on tour in Europe and will perform in Germany on May 5 and 6, Luxembourg on May 7 and France on May 10. He will play five dates in the U.K. from May 9 to 14 before returning to the U.S. to perform at the Capitol Theatre in Yakima, WA, on May 26 and the Backroad Blues Festival with Kenny Wayne Sheppard in Bend, OR, on May 27.
Links:
Joe Bonamassa home page
Joe Bonamassa tour dates
Joe Bonamassa tour and setlist history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Billboard's podcast page
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The "Queen of Country Pop," Shania Twain talked with Behind the Setlist about preparing for her upcoming tour, her latest album (Queen of Me, released Feb. 3 by Republic Records), how performing other artists' songs early in her career helped make her the entertainer she is today and how she overcame adversity to become one of the biggest country stars. Twain's trio of albums from 1995 to 2002 rewrote the rulebook on what country music looked and sounded like. The Woman in Me from 1995 (featuring "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and "Any Man of Mine") has sold more than 20 million units worldwide. Come On Over from 1997 produced 12 singles (including "You're Still the One" and "That Don't Impress Me Much") and has sold more than 40 million units worldwide. Up! from 2002 spent 5 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spent a total of 93 weeks on the chart. Twain's tour supporting Queen of Me begins April 28 in Seattle, WA and runs across North America through July, heads to the U.K. and Ireland in September and returns to the North America in October and November.
Links:
Shania Twain home page
Shania Twain tour dates
Shania Twain tour history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Billboard podcast page
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alex Gaskarth is the singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band All Time Low. Formed in 2003 in Maryland, All Time Low released its ninth studio album, Tell Me I'm Alive, on March 17 on Fueled By Ramen. Gaskarth talks to Behind the Setlist about the new songs' heavy use of piano, playing crowd favorites like "Dear Maria, Count Me In," and touring through some of Europe's great cities. The band tours the U.S. from May to July and will perform at the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas in October.
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Michael Fitzpatrick is the singer and founder of the Los Angeles band Fitz & the Tantrums. Known best for the singles "Out of My League," "Handclap" and "The Walker," Fitz & the Tantrums' career spans retro soul to '80s-inspired pop. The common thread is the band's knack for memorable hooks and tight, punchy songwriting. Its latest album, Let Yourself Free, is its fifth studio album and fourth for Elektra Records. The band is hitting the road this September with Goo Goo Dolls. In addition, they will perform at the Moon Crush festival in Miramar Beach, Florida on April 23 and Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 23.
Links
Fitz & the Tantrums home page
Fitz & the Tantrums concert history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert & Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
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John Rzeznik is a co-founder of the rock band Goo Goo Dolls. He produced much of the band's 2022 album, Chaos in Bloom (Warner Bros). Rzeznik is best known as the voice behind a few big hits from the '90s: "Name" from 1995's A Boy Named Goo and "Iris" from 1998's Dizzy Up The Girl. The band is hitting the road in the summer of 2023 with dates in Ireland and Great Britain and will cover the U.S. in the Big Night Out tour with O.A.R. and Fitz & the Tantrums.
Links
Goo Goo Dolls home page
Goo Goo Dolls at Billboard
Goo Goo Dolls tour history at Setlist.fm
Billboard podcasts
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kim Thayil was a co-founder and guitarist of rock band Soundgarden. Kim joined Behind the Setlist to talk about the songs and setlists of the band's final tour in 2017. Formed 33 years earlier in Seattle, Soundgarden played its final show on May 17, 2017 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, MI. Singer Chris Cornell died the next morning.
In addition to helping spawn Seattle's grunge scene in the late '80s and reshape popular music in the '90s, Soundgarden had an incredible string of successful albums in the '90s: 1991's Badmotorfinger, 1994's Superunknown (No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart) and 1996's Down on the Upside (No. 2 on the Billboard 200). It had three songs reach No. 2 on the Alternative Airplay chart: "Black Hole Sun" in 1994, and "Pretty Noose" and "Burden in My Hand" in 1996.
Links:
Soundgarden's tour history at Setlist.fm
Billboard's podcasts
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Billboard
Glenn Peoples @ Twitter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Behind the Setlist is rebroadcasting its first episode from May 2022, an incredible conversation with the one and only Andy Grammer. You may have recently seen Grammer perform at the 100th annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington D.C. And you probably know Grammer for such songs as "Keep Your Head Up" and "Don't Give Up On Me." Billboard talked to Grammer earlier in 2022 about putting people in a good mood at his concerts. “The word positive is cheesy," he said. You’re at a loss to begin with. You’re just starting down 20 points.” But, at the same time, “we all need optimism." Grammer also talks about how he chooses songs to put in a setlist and how he uses poetry to connect with his audiences. If you missed this episode the first time around, you're in for a treat.
Links:
Andy Grammer talks positivity, poetry and Louis Prima on debut Behind the Setlist podcast
Andy Grammer home page
Andy Grammer tour history at Setlist.fm
Billboard's podcast page
Glenn Peoples at Billboard
Jay Gilbert at Label Logic
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chris Isaak loves holiday music. This year he released his second studio album of holiday tunes, Everybody Knows It's Christmas, and hit the road for his standard holiday tour to share his holiday and non-holiday music with fans. Chris joined Billboard's Behind the Setlist to talk about writing holiday songs such as "Almost Christmas" and "Help Me Baby Jesus," working with famed producer Dave Cobb in Nashville on the recordings and meeting some of his musical idols such as Roy Orbison.
Isaak is best known for his timeless song "Wicked Game," from his 1989 album Heart Shaped World that reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 after it was featured in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart. Heart Shaped World is certified double-platinum with more than 2 million sold in the U.S. His 1995 album Forever Blue is certified platinum in the U.S. and spawned two well-known singles, "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" and "Somebody's Crying."
Links:
Chris Isaak's home page
Chris Isaak's tour history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert at Label Logic
Glenn Peoples at Billboard
Billboard's podcast page
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jim Kerr is a co-founder, singer and songwriter for the Scottish rock band Simple Minds. Known best for the track "Don't You Forget About Me," which propelled from the film The Breakfast Club to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1985. The band followed that with more Hot 100 success from the 1985 album, Once Upon a Time: "Alive and Kicking" (No. 3), "Sanctify Yourself" (No. 14) and "All The Things She Said" (No. 28).
Simple Minds' latest album, Direction of the Heart, released on October 21, 2022, is a wonderful collection that showcases the band's time-tested ability to write and perform compelling, emotional rock music. It includes a song written in the band's early days but never released, "Act of Love," and a cover of the 1983 single by The Call, "The Walls Came Down."
Links:
Simple Minds website
Simple Minds tour history at Setlist.fm
Billboard podcasts page
Jay Gilbert at Label Logic
Glenn Peoples at Billboard
Glenn Peoples @ Twitter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sunny Sweeney is country singer-songwriter who released her fifth studio album, Married Alone, on Sept. 23, 2022, through her own Aunt Daddy Records label. Her music has the sounds and storytelling typical of classic country and Americana roots music. She cites Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks as her biggest inspirations.
Her 2006 debut, Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame, was self-released and reissued by Big Machine Records. The follow-up, Concrete from 2011, came out through Republic Nashville and featured the song "From a Table Away," which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Married Alone's beautiful title track is a duet with the legendary Vince Gill.
In this episode, we focus on Sunny's Oct. 15 show at The Loft at City Winery in Philadelphia, PA. The 16-song set included the new track "Tie Me Up" and the Randy Weeks' song "Can't Let Go" that Lucinda Williams recorded for her breakthrough 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and Sunny included on her 2014 album Provoked.
Links:
Sunny Sweeney's home page
Sunny Sweeney's tour history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Twitter
Billboard podcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Myles Kennedy & Mark Tremonti are one half of the rock group Alter Bridge. The band is currently on tour in Europe in support of its seventh studio album, Pawns & Kings, released on Oct. 14 via Napalm Records. The well-reviewed album reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200 U.S. album chart, No. 2 in Switzerland, No. 5 in Austria, No. 6 in the U.K., No. 7 in Germany and No. 15 in the Netherlands. The band wraps up its European tour on Dec. 12 at the O2 Arena in London. A U.S. tour starts on Jan. 25, 2023 in Tampa, FL, and extends to an April 1 show in Highland, CA.
Tremonti's career started with the band Creed with Alter Bridge bandmates Brian Marshall (bass) and Scott Phillips (drums). That trio and Kennedy co-founded Alter Bridge in 2004. Kennedy was previously in the rock band Mayfield Four. Kennedy has recorded and toured with Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash since his 2010 solo album. Slash with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators released their latest album, 4, in Feb. 2022.
Links:
Alter Bridge's home page
Alter Bridge tour history at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Twitter
Billboard podcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As Soccer Mommy, Sophie Allison released her third studio album, Sometimes, Forever, in June of 2022 on the Loma Vista Recordings label. The album has received widespread acclaim. Paste magazine gave it 8.5 out of 10. Pitchfork’s review, an 8 out of 10, noting Allison’s "characteristic humor and wit amidst bitterness and melancholy." The Guardian’s four-out-of-five star review called it "warm, toothsome pop with icy blasts of angst."
Soccer Mommy had a busy 2022 on the road. Allison and her band spent the spring touring North America and played the Governors Ball festival in New York in June before heading to Europe for festival and club dates through the end of September. Back in the U.S. Soccer Mommy performed at the Pavement museum in New York City on Oct. 1 — covering three Pavement songs. Sophie talks a bit about Pavement and ‘90s indie rock, a few other bands she covers, how she approaches building a setlist, writing songs on the road and much more.
Links:
Soccer Mommy's home page
Soccer Mommy at Setlist.fm
Jay Gilbert @ Label Logic
Glenn Peoples @ Twitter
Billboard podcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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