This year's top bands

The old year's almost over, time for a bit of summing up. So here are the top 10 artists (as of 1:40 PM CET) with the most setlists in the setlist.fm database - along with the great people that have been looking after their favourite artists and that are always keeping the statistics clean - you really rock:

1. R.E.M. - 789 setlists - bigdaycoming
2. U2 - 780 setlists - beau99, bigdaycoming
3. The Rolling Stones - 628 setlists - bbgun_301
4. Dir en grey - 397 setlists - beau99
5. They Might Be Giants - 214 setlists - beau99
6. Björk - 190 setlists - sicko
7. Alice Cooper - 188 setlists - michi
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - 150 setlists - xxrobynx
9. Depeche Mode - 126 setlists - michi
10. Pearl Jam - 125 setlists - riazor

Thanks for all the effort and keep rockin in 2009!

New features and adapted guidelines

Today a major update went online and we improved and added quite a bit. So what's new? Here the new features in brief, but please consider having a look at the guidelines, especially at the new example to read the details.

1. Unknown songs

If you're sure there was a song, but you don't know its name, it's now possible to add an @Unknown tag. Example:

• Stone Temple Pilots at City Park, New Orleans

2. @Info for whole concerts

If not only a song but the whole concert was special, add @Info[your text] in the very last line of the setlist. Thanks to Jay for suggesting that one.

• Elton John at Madison Square Garden, New York
• The Rolling Stones at Scott Stadium, Charlottesville

3. Gravatars

setlist.fm is now supporting avatars from Gravatar.com, just upload your gravatar there and it'll be included into your setlist.fm profile, your edits and your comments automagically (if you use the same email address). 

4. Setlist.fm on twitter, myspace and last.fm

To stay uptodate what's happening on setlist.fm, follow us on twitter - don't worry we'll be tweeting no more than once or twice a week - don't be irritated from previous tweets, we'll change that behaviour. If you're on last.fm, add us as friend - the same applies for myspace!

5. Thanks

Thanks to all of you boys and girls out there that are keeping the setlist-statistics clean and that keep on adding setlists! Thanks to Luis, Luis, leglessmoof, Robin, Beau, raistnaarson, tgelbrecht, emicom and all the others!

Farin Urlaub Racing Team in concert

Being a member of "The Best Band in the World" on weekdays, Farin Urlaub chose to do some solo stuff. But he actually didn't plan to perform his songs on stage or to go on tour. But due to popular demand he founded a band called "Farin Urlaub Racing Team" (FURT) in 2002 and went on tour. 

Now he's back on tour with his fourth album (the first studio album of FURT). He already sold out big venues such as the Palladium in Cologne, the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt or the Sporthalle in Hamburg in advance but also plays at lesser known locations such as the Tenniseventcenter in Hohenems/Austria where he played yesterday in a quite - well let's call it intimate atmosphere. Although with some spaces in the audience left, Farin Urlaub didn't lose his humor and seemed to be quite amused to see the smallest "Wall of Death" in history. After all great, funny and - as usual - long show featuring 29 songs of all of his albums. Here's the setlist:

• Farin Urlaub at T.E.C. Hohenems, Austria on December 7, 2008

And what's up next? In Extremo, Grossstadtgeflüster and Russkaja! Check out soundevent.at for great concerts.

Artist of the week: Kosheen

Since the late 90s Kosheen amaze their fans with their quite special mix of different music styles. They play a perfect blend of what the books call "Trip Hop", "Drum and Bass" and "Rock". But that's the only thing books can tell about the trio from Bristol because books can't define the speciality of their concerts. And the good news is: they're constantly touring. 

With a Bob Dylan like endurance it seems as if they never rest. On saturday they play at a very special location - even for them as I can imagine: they play in the newly built 3.3km long Achrain-Tunnel with an incline of 5%. 

Here's a setlist of one of their concerts last year:

• Kosheen at JZE, Essen, Germany setlist 2007

As far as Saturday's concert is concerned, stay tuned, you'll find it on setlist.fm - for sure.

Links:

Kosheen website
Photo from flickr
Tunnelevent

Die Toten Hosen are back!

Mach das Flutlicht an (turn on the floodlights) ... one of Germany's most popular rock bands is back on tour: Die Toten Hosen from Düsseldorf (photo with Bob Geldof). It's their first major tour after their 2004/2005 "Friss oder Stirb" world tour that also led them to Argentina, where they're quite popular as well. 

Now after more than three years, they're back with a huge setlist of 33 songs in Mannheim and 35 songs in Chemnitz. Their tour "Machmalauter" features 23 venues. 21 of them in Germany, one in Vienna/Austria and one in Zürich/Switzerland. Just like AC/DC, their concerts sold out immediately.

If you're among the lucky ones who did manage to get tickets for their gigs or if you're just interested in what they play this year, just visit Die Toten Hosen setlists on setlist.fm regularily, and you won't be disappointed ;-)

rock and roll!

Consider subscribing to get all the information of current tour setlists of a whole bunch of different artists.

Photo by u2005 (flickr)

Chuck Berry in Concert (Innsbruck/Austria)

Chuck Berry is, without controversy, one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time. Being among the major influences of numerous well known musicians, such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or the King himself, Mr. Berry is one of the last living legends that still are on tour, and still rock the house.

So I braved the elements and rode through this year's first snow through the alps. Fearless. To find the sign you see on the photo which explains that the gig has been cancelled due to Chuck being ill. Unlucky - both Chuck and me. But maybe that's the price you have to pay when you're still on tour with 82 years. So let's hope Chuck's feeling Goode again soon and will be able to complete his tour ... and will be back next year. Here's a setlist of his concert in Blueberry Hill in June:

• Chuck Berry setlist Blueberry Hill, June 11, 2008

rock and roll!

what's up next?

Farin Urlaub comes to Hohenems and Russkaja to Dornbirn. Check out soundevent

I Am Kloot in concert

As part of their European Tour 2008, I Am Kloot from Manchester came to the Conrad Sohm in Dornbirn/Austria last Saturday, November 15 2008. Their support act, beginning around 9:00pm, was the Swiss band Mañana. Although they state their influences being Doves, U2 and The Verve, I'd say they're a nice mixture of Keane and Elbow. You should really check them out.

Then at 10pm, after having watched the support act from their merchandise table, I Am Kloot entered the stage and did a set of no less than 21+3 songs. Kicking off with their regular tour-starter "One Man Brawl" they played eleven more songs until the band left John Bramwell solo on stage. There he played two songs, including my favourite, Astray, solo on acoustic guitar to be later joined by the band again doing eight more songs including "Twist", "Proof" and "The Stars Look Familiar".

After having completed their regular set the about 500 people (my rough estimation) longed for more and got "The Same Deep Water As Me", "Down At the Front" and the most beautiful tune of the evening "To You".

I then managed to get their setlist signed by John after the concert - but not before telling him how great the show was ;-)

Check out their setlist on setlist.fm:

• I Am Kloot Setlist at Conrad Sohm, Dornbirn on November 15, 2008

What's up next in the Central European/Western Austrian Area? Chuck Berry's rockin Innsbruck, "Best German Act" EMA winners Fettes Brot in Hohenems, and a whole bunch more, have a look at SOUNDEVENT for details!

City of the week: Philadelphia, PA

This week's city of the week is Philly. With its 1.5 million inhabitants it's the sixth largest city of the US and, of course, the largest in Pennsylvania. A city with such a size has a lot of concert locations - to present all of them I'd need some more blogposts apart from this one ... sounds like a good idea :-) Anyway, here are three locations:

The home of the Philadelphia Flyers, the 76ers, the Wings and Soul is the Wachovia center where some 20,000 people are allowed to get in whenever a major concert takes place. And quite a few did: Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, KISS, U2 and many many (many!) more. Here two selected setlists:

• Coldplay at Wachovia Center some days ago
• The Police at Wachovia Center in July
• George Michael at Wachovia Center, also in July
• Roger Waters at Wachovia Center last June

A slightly smaller stadium is the Philadelphia Spectrum. Since its opening 41 years ago (almost to the day) it hosted a lot of concerts and hopefully will until its planned closing in September 2009.

• Nine Inch Nails at Wachovia Spectrum in August
• Slipknot at Wachovia Spectrum in 2005
• Grateful Dead at Wachovia Spectrum in 1995

The smallest venue I'd like to present you is the Electric Factory with a capacity of about 2,500 - 3,000. They host many many small concerts of known artists. E.g. the Kings of Leon and We are Scientists will play there today and tomorrow! Here some setlists:

• Machine Head at Electric Factory last year
• The Killers at Electric Factory in 2006
• Megadeth at Electric Factory in 2004

rock and roll!

Photo by flickr

Pop idol of the week: Rihanna

20 year old Rihanna was born in Saint Michael, Barbados and is one of today's hottest acts. Her career began to be successful back in 2005 when she released her first album "Music of the sun" which became a top 40 hit a lot of countries. The next album "A Girl Like Me", released in April 2006 sold even better, before she finally topped charts around the world with both the album "Good Girl Gone Bad" and her single "Umbrella".

She's also on tour - steadily as it seems. Here's a setlist of her "Good Girl Gone Bad Tour" in 2007. As it is the rule for pop acts where a gig involves a huge amount of dancing and choreography, they don't change the setlist often.

• Rihanna in Sofia, 2007

 So what's up next? If you saw her touring and recording schedule, you'd say 'holidays' ...

rock'n'rihanna

Photo under CC licence by gamerscore (flickr)

City of the week: Nashville, TN

It's another city of the week saturday today. I'm sure each one of you loyal and regular readers couldn't wait for another city of the week to come, right? This week's city is Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is located right in the center of Davidson Country and is, with its about 600,000 inhabitants the 25th largest city of the United States. It also hosts some nice concerts every now and then. 

The biggest arena for that is the Sommet Center (Formerly known as Gaylord Entertainment Center - was a good idea to rename the place, wasn't it? ;-) with a capacity of 20,000 for concerts. Check out the setlists of the following gigs that took place there:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers at Sommet Center in 2007
• Bon Jovi at Sommet Center in April 2008

A slightly smaller place is the Ryman Auditorium with a capacity of 2,362 where R.E.M. played in 2004:

• R.E.M. at Ryman Auditorium in 2004

An even smaller location is the Cannery Ballroom where 500 people rock the house. And they surely did last year when The White Stripes played there:

• The White Stripes at Mercy Lounge/Cannery Ballroom in 2007

hope you enjoyed the post. If you did, consider subscribing to the feed

rock and roll!

Photo under CC license from flickr (Sommet Center)

Pop idol of the week: Pink

Another week, another Pop idol for all you rockers out there: crazy 29 year-old Alicia Moore from Pennsylvania, called Pink or P!nk - both pronounced pink" has been in business for quite a while now.

She just got out her fifth studio album called "Funhouse" on October 24 and announced a world tour for 2009. It's also the fifth tour she'll be on - and with her ever-growing success it's supposed to be the biggest tour ever. 

For those of you who can't wait for the tour to come and wondering what Pink's concerts are like, here a fine selection of some previous P!nk gigs of her "I'm Not Dead Tour" in 2006:

• Pink at Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany
• Pink at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany
• Pink at Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland

Pink and roll!

Photo by flickr (CC Licence)

Pop Idol of the Week: Britney Spears

If you're among the small audience who reads this blog, you might have noticed that the topics are quite rocky (rocky as in Rock & Roll). But there are however, in case you didn't know, pop concerts too - where they usually dance more, change clothing more often and sing less ... and playbacks aren't rare too.

So I thought a pop section would fit good into the blog. Let's kick off with one of the most successful pop idols of recent years ... well mostly successful as far as sales are concerned: Britney Spears

The now 26 old girl from Louisiana has, after a few tough years, finally an album out and is back with a hot video ... Womanizer ...

Here's a selection of some of their setlists played in various years:

• Britney Spears at Pompano Beach, FL in 1999
• Britney Spears at Schottenstein Center, Columbus, OH in 2001
• Britney Spears in Oberhausen, Germany in 2004

Rumour has it that she'll be on tour in 2009, so stay tuned. You certainly gonna find her setlists on setlist.fm then!

rock and ... well pop today ;-)

Photo by flickr w/ CC licence

It's Amy Macdonald

Nowadays there are only a few artists who succeed both in peeking the charts of a lot of different countries and being liked by those who neglect the charts. One of those artists definitely is the 21 years old scottish girl Amy Macdonald.

Among the many singers/songwriters that have been emerging in recent years, she's one of the most sympathetic and natural ones ... ok there are many sympathetic ones, that's one attribute I generally like about singers/songwriters ;-)

Nonetheless, here some recent Amy Macdonald setlists - thanks to Konzerttagebuch.de for sharing them on setlist.fm!

• Amy Macdonald in Leeds, England in May 2008
• Amy Macdonald in County Kildare, Ireland in June 2008
• Amy Macdonald in Cologne, Germany some days ago in October 2008

rock and ... folk today!

Photo shared with CC by flickr

Festivaltime: Nova Rock

The festival season is over, well at least in Europe it is. It's just too cold here too sleep in a tent ... drunk. One of the finest rock festivals in Austria is the Nova Rock Festival in Nickelsdorf near Vienna. Existing since 2005 it's also one of the youngest festivals in central Europe. Compared to bigger ones such as Rock am Ring or Southside it has a quite intimate atmosphere. But that doesn't hinder top bands to play there. Among the headliner were names such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, Placebo or Metallica. 

But today I'd like to list some lesser known (but also famous ;-)) acts' setlists:

• Rise Against from Chicago in June
• Cavalera Conspiracy with members from Brazil, France and the United States also in June
• one of Vienna's best rock bands Julia last year
• there are plenty more Nova rock setlists!

Thanks to TheDom for adding the setlists on setlist.fm! Feel like adding a setlist of a concert you've been to? Rock ahead!

rock and roll!

relevant links:

Julia - Official Homepage

Cavalera Conspiracy - Official Homepage

Rise Against - Official Homepage

City of the week: Kansas City

I'm sure you as a loyal and regular user noticed the change of this section's title. It's City of the week rather than City of the day ... hope you don't mind.

This week's city is Kansas City in Missouri. The city itself has an estimated population of about 447,000 and hosts a many fine concerts each year. Although mostly known for jazz and blues, Kansas City also rocks the night away!

Here a setlist selection of some cool concerts of the last years taken place in Kansas City, MO:

with a capacity of 1,700 the Uptown Theater is a rather small venue - nonetheless giants such as Beck is one played there

• Beck at Uptown Theater last month

slightly bigger with 7,929 is a beautiful open-air venue, the Starlight Amphiteather, that hosted a Depeche Mode concert in 2006 during their Touring the Angel Tour

• Depeche Mode at the Starlight Amphitheater in 2006
  

The biggest of the three is the new home of the Kansas City Brigade, the Sprint Center with a capacity of about 18,500. Among many others, The Boss and Bon Jovi played there this year

• Bruce Springsteen at the Sprint Center in August
• Bon Jovi at the Sprint Center in April

And of course, feel free to add more setlists on setlist.fm!

rock and roll!

Weekly setlist roundup

Another week's over and a new one's just begun ... ok, got me. I stole that line from a very famous artist. Among the many setlists setlist.fm has got for you, there were some more popular ones in the last week. Here's a selection of popular artists with their setlists ... call it 'charts' if you like ... 

• Coldplay in Rotterdam setlist
• Tina Turner in Chicago setlist
• In Flames in London setlist
• Queen in Berlin setlist
• R.E.M. in Madrid setlist

But of course, that's only a selection. Check out more Coldplay, Tina Turner, In Flames, Queen and R.E.M. setlists on setlist.fm if you want!

And if you're really cool, you add and edit setlists on your own! ;-)

rock and roll!

Great reunions of great bands

There has been a tendency to reunions of big stars of the 60s and 70s recently. There are people who say that they're only doing it for money and there are others that say they're doing it to make even more money. Be it as it may. I love reunions as they give me the chance to see those faces and hear those voices I've known for so long live before they ... well ... meet Jim, Janis and the gang.

Here a fine selection of recent reunions' setlists:

• Simon & Garfunkel in Rome, 2004
• well not quite 60s but a reunion anyway Take That in Belfast, 2007
• Genesis at the Stadium in Stuttgart, 2007
• and of course Led Zeppelin at O2 Arena,London, 2007

rock and roll!

Lollapolooza setlist highlights

Today I'm gonna show you some setlists of the finest acts of the famous Lollapolooza festival in Chicago of the last years

• Jack White's Raconteurs rocked back in 2006
• Iggy & The Stooges last year
• Nine Inch Nails this year
• Iron and Wine, also in this year
• and last but not least the never aging Pearl Jam in 2007!

That's only a selection, checkout setlist.fm to find a whole bunch more Lollapolooza setlists!

rock and roll!

Depeche Mode announces tour

With a title that raises high expectations (Tour of the universe) Depeche Mode announces a stadium-tour through Europe in 2009. They didn't tell much about the upcoming tour on their press conference in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. They didn't even answer questions about the setlist :-) so here's what they played on their last tour ... some really fine tunes!

• Depeche Mode at Bowery Ballroom in New York 2005
• Depeche Mode at LTU-Arena in Düsseldorf 2006
• ... some more Depeche Mode setlists

your own, personal, setlists ;-)

rock and roll!

Free setlists of free concerts

Every once in a while some artists decide to do a free concert ... or some, mostly governential, institutions decide to organise a free event featuring a famous artist. Here's a selection of some nice and free concerts over the years. 

• 500,000 people attended the Metallica concert in Moscow back in 1991
  
• more than 500,000 saw Paul McCartney performing outside the Colisseum in Rome in 2003
  
• 100,000 people were at Bob Dylan's Concert for Peace in the Basque Country in 2006
• more than 400,000 people saw Manu Chao at Rock al Parque in Bogota in 2006
• some 50,000 people were at R.E.M.'s free concert in Athens yesterday!

rock and roll!

City of the day: Munich

Munich, or München in German, is Germany's third largest city with about 1.22 Mio people living there. It's not only famous for one of the world's best football teams but also for the world's biggest beer fest currently taking place: the Oktoberfest.

But apart from kicking and boozing they also hosting some great gigs there. Here's a selection of well known artists' setlists of gigs they played in Munich:

• Nirvana at Terminal 1, Airport in 1994 setlist
• AC/DC at the Olympic Stadium in 2001 setlist
• U2 at the Olympic Stadium in 2005 setlist
• Bon Jovi at the Olympic Stadium in 2008 setlist

phew what a load of rock and roll!

A little hippie spirit to warm your heart

All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey ... at least here in central Europe. Winter is approaching fast and there's no escape. So I thought a little summer feeling from the summer of love will do fine. I'm proudly presenting some selected setlists of great Woodstock acts

• Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock 69 setlist
• Janis Joplin at Woodstock 69 setlist
• Joe Cocker at Woodstock 69 setlist
• Country Joe and the Fiash at Woodstock 69 setlist
• ... and some more

... and yes I know apart from the real Woodstock, there was another one. Here's a setlist from that one in the summer of ... well not love but 1999 

• Limp Bizkit at Woodstock 99 setlist

rock and roll!

Chicago, New York and San Diego Rock Cities!

Some folks consider Detroit as the ultimate Rock City, but one setlist.fm user has a slightly different point of view and added some fine setlists of gigs taken place in Chicago, New York and San Diego ... bobbysox86 you really rock!

Here are some selected Chicago setlists:

• U2 at United Center on September 21, 2005
• The Decemberists at Metro on October 18, 2005

here some selected New York gigs:

• Arcade Fire at Randall's Island on October 6, 2007
• Arctic Monkeys at Central Park on September 5, 2007

and some San Diego concerts:

• Death Cab for Cutie at Bayside on August 15, 2006
• Radiohead at Bayside on June 27, 2006

you've been to a concert and you want to share your setlist? Rock ahead!

rock and roll!

It's getting cold, concerts and setlists move to south

Bologna in Italy and Murcia in Spain were being rocked these days. Some fine artists, namely Coldplay and R.E.M., played there.

The Bologna gigs:

• R.E.M. at Bologna setlist
• Coldplay at Bologna setlist

The Spanish gigs:

• R.E.M. at Murcia setlist
• and be prepared for today's evening gig ... R.E.M. at Las Ventas, Madrid setlist

rock and roll!

Big ones on tour: Paul McCartney, Madonna and Coldplay setlists

Seems like the big ones have an agreement to save the world with rocking simultaneously! Despite terror and murder threats, ex-Beatle, living legend Paul McCartney rocked Tel-Aviv yesterday after personal invitation as the Beatles were not allowed to play in Israel in the 60s.

View Paul McCartney's Tel-Aviv setlist!

After Madonna's great gig on Vienna's Donauinsel she did an amazing performance in Montenegro yesterday

Get Madonna's Jaz Beach - Budva setlist!

And last but not least Coldplay rocked Vienna the day before yesterday just one day after Madonna.

Here's Coldplay's setlist from Stadthalle Wien

rock and roll!

We're on! Setlists as far as the eye can see!

Now it's official, setlist.fm is online. We not only filled the database with recent events such as

• R.E.M. in Munich
• Madonna in Vienna
• Coldplay in Budapest
• and many more!

but also with real classics such as

• The Beatles at Shea Stadium, NY
• The Rolling Stones at Marquee Club, London
• Frank Sinatra in Melbourne
• and many more!

As setlist.fm is completely free and wiki-like, you're warmly welcome to add setlists of concerts you like, review existing setlists and discuss about them!

Rock and roll!