Six songs each band should almost always play in their shows.

karljant

Ancient Mariner
Let's see what songs you think are the must plays regarding several bands. It's not like they're your favorite half a dozen songs by each band but the ones you consider to be more iconic. Since this is also merely an exercise it doesn't matter if the a band can no longer pull song x or y live.. Let me start with some of metal most well known names.

Iron Maiden:
Fear Of The Dark
Wasted Years
Aces High
The Trooper
The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden

Judas Priest:
Painkiller
The Sentinel
The Hellion/ Electric Eye
Breaking The Law
Hell Bent For Leather
Victim Of Changes

Black Sabbath:
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Snowblind
War pigs
Paranoid
Iron Man
Black Sabbath

Helloween:
Eagle Fly Free
I Want Out
I'm Alive
Future World
How Many Tears
Ride The Sky

Bruce Dickinson:
King In Crimson
Chemical Wedding
Trumpets Of Jericho
Road To Hell
Darkside Of Aquarius
Tears Of The Dragon

Halford:
Resurrection
Made In Hell
Hell's Last Survivor
Silent Screams
One Will
Betrayal

Motorhead:
Orgasmatron
Killed By Death
Ace Of Spades
Bomber
Overkill
Motorhead

Metallica:
Enter Sandman
Blackened
One
Battery
Master Of Puppets
For Whom The Bell Tolls

Slayer:
War Ensemble
South Of Heaven
Angel Of Death
Reign In Blood
Hell Awaits
Black Magic

Megadeth:
Symphony Of Destruction
Holy Wars
Hangar 18
Tornado Of Souls
In My Darkest Hour
Peace Sells

Anthrax:
In My World
Be All End All
Among The Living
NFL (Efilnikufesin)
I Am The Law
A.I.R.

Testament:
D.N.R.
Low
Practice What You Preach
Disciples Of The Watch
The New Order
Over The Wall

Kreator:
When The Sun Burns Red
Coma Of Souls
Extreme Aggression
Terrible Certainty
Pleasure To Kill
Tormentor

Overkill:
Coma
I Hate
The Years Of Decay
Hello From The Gutter
Feel The Fire
Rotten To The Core

Pantera:
Strength Beyond Strength
Becoming
Walk
Fucking Hostile
Mouth For War
Cowboys From Hell

Sepultura:
Roots
Refuse/ Resist
Territory
Arise
Desperate Cry
Innerself

Fear Factory:
Shock
Self Bias Resistor
Replica
Zero Signal
Scumgrief
Martyr

Death:
Symbolic
The Philosopher
Lack Of Comprehension
Leprosy
Pull The Plug
Zombie Ritual

Carcass:
Keep On Rotting In The Free World
Heartwork
Buried Dreams
Impropagation
Corporeal Jigsore Quandary
Incarnated Solvent Abuse

Entombed:
Chief Rebel Angel
Out Of Hand
Wolverine Blues
Sinners Bleed
Stranger Aeons
Left Hand Path

In Flames:
My Sweet Shadow
Pinball Map
Only For The Weak
Jotun
Gyroscope
Moonshield

Dark Tranquillity:
Final Resistance
The Sun Fired Blanks
Dreamlore Degenerate
Zodijackyl Light
Punish My Heaven
The Emptiness From Which I Fed
 
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Iron Maiden:
Fear Of The Dark
The Trooper
The Number Of The Beast
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Iron Maiden
Run To The Hills

Judas Priest:
Breaking The Law
Living After Midnight
Hell Bent For Leather
You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Painkiller
Metal Gods/Victim Of Changes/Turbo Lover
 
Frankly I don’t think any band has six whole songs that they should play every concert because that removes room for creativity in the setlist. If we reduced this to ONE song that really shouldn’t exit, then I’d say for Maiden it’s “The Trooper”, because to experience it live was something else. Nightwish probably shouldn’t stop playing “Ghost Love Score” as long as Floor remains in the band. And then, I dunno, I guess Gordon Lightfoot has to play “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” pretty often.

Also what’s with the arbitrary number of 6?
 
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6 too high. I think any song can and should be dropped (only occassionally dropped for the real hits though, and in rotation). Only 1 from Maiden that can't be dropped is Iron Maiden and that's purely for the tradition and pantomime.

However, if you are talking about an act without a lot of good deep cuts then by all means. Ozzy probably would get away with playing only Bark at the Moon, a couple from No More Tears and then anything from the Randy Rhoades albums as his entire sets for the last 30 years.
 
I think I would be upset if I saw Anthrax and didnt hear Caught in a Mosh...
Yeah. But The same can be said about Antisocial, Indians or even Got The Time or Madhouse to a certain extent. And when it comes to Thrash Metal bands (namely the "big 4") I think this is a common trait. All Slayer songs I pointed out seem absolutely legit but there's still Chemical Warfare, Seasons In The Abyss and Mandatory Suicide missing. When it comes to Metallica one can make a point about Nothing Else Matters, Creeping Death or Seek And Destroy and regarding Megadeth there's also A Tout Le Monde and Trust. Even when it comes to Maiden and Priest there are songs like Hallowed Be Thy Name, Wrathchild, Run To The Hills, The Evil That Men Do, Two Minutes To Midnight or The Ripper, You've Got Another Thing Comin', Beyond The Realms of Death, Living After Midnight, A Touch Of Evil or Metal Gods that are normally played. So it's quite tricky.
Also what’s with the arbitrary number of 6?
6 too high.
Well, that can actually be true for some bands but in other cases it's quite the opposite. Just check the examples I gave for the bands above.
 
Well, that can actually be true for some bands but in other cases it's quite the opposite. Just check the examples I gave for the bands above.

Yeah the more I think about it, it's only Maiden and that's because I'm a Maiden nerd. I'd be raging if I went to Slayer and there was no Hell Awaits, W.A.S.P and there was no I Wanna Be Somebody, Metallica no Puppets etc.
 
Yeah the more I think about it, it's only Maiden and that's because I'm a Maiden nerd. I'd be raging if I went to Slayer and there was no Hell Awaits, W.A.S.P and there was no I Wanna Be Somebody, Metallica no Puppets etc.
Exactly. I really think the same goes for Animal, Wild Child and (although I don't like it that much) Blind In Texas. No matter how much one likes 'em or not it just seems like something's really off if the band skipped any of those tunes
 
a little late to the party, but here's my list for Iron Maiden:

Dance of Death
Blood Brothers
Fear of the Dark
The Evil That Men Do
Powerslave
Iron Maiden

I think a guitar solo section involving the 3-amigos should be added to their live set as well. I don't know why they never do this. It used to work pretty well in 86 - 87 when Adrian and Dave played Walking on Glass.
 
Alter Bridge
  1. Blackbird
  2. Calm The Fire
  3. Words Darker Than Their Wings
  4. Shed My Skin
  5. Fortress
  6. Broken Wings
Dream Theater
  1. A Change Of Seasons
  2. Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle and The Sleeper
  3. Finally Free
  4. Lifting Shadows off A Dream
  5. Breaking All Illusions
  6. Raise The Knife
Guns N Roses
  1. Rocket Queen
  2. Civil War
  3. November Rain
  4. Prostitute
  5. Madagasgar
  6. Coma
Iron Maiden
  1. Wasted Years
  2. Hallowed Be Thy Name
  3. Powerslave
  4. Aces High
  5. Hell On Earth
  6. The Clansman
Judas Priest
  1. The Sentinel
  2. Victim Of Changes
  3. Beyond The Realms Of Death
  4. Painkiller
  5. Nightcrawler
  6. Breaking The Law
Nightwish
  1. Over The Hills and Far Away
  2. Ghost Love Score
  3. Ever Dream
  4. Sleeping Sun
  5. Dead Boy's Poem
  6. The Poet and The Pendulum
HM: I want my tears back and High Hopes (w/ Marko of course)
Opeth
  1. Bleak
  2. Harlequin Forest
  3. Lovelorn Crime
  4. When
  5. April Ethereal
  6. Demon Of The Fall
Pink Floyd/Roger/David
  1. Echoes
  2. Wish You Were Here
  3. Time
  4. Mother
  5. Comfortably Numb
  6. High Hopes (David)
  7. Happiest Days Of Our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall Parts 2 and 3 Medley (Roger)
Porcupine Tree
  1. Arriving Somewhere Not Here
  2. Even Less
  3. Sleep Together
  4. Deadwing
  5. Trains
  6. Herd Culling
Yes
  1. Heart Of The Sunrise
  2. And You And I
  3. Changes
  4. Gates Of Delirium
  5. Starship Trooper
  6. Roundabout
 
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