Acoustic house gig/coffee shop covers suggestions

camf

As well as band gigs, I'm looking to try to play a few smaller acoustic gigs over the next year and thought it might make sense to include a smattering of familiar songs to give the audience a welcome break from my own songs. What songs are you finding go down well with acoustic audiences? My set is fairly singer/songwriter based stuff but I'd like to play something a little less expected than Heart of Gold or Blowing in the Wind. Generally I prefer more alternative music but indie, country, rock, pop (yikes!) suggestions all welcome.

munckee

Hey there Delilah, anything by Travis or crowded house, how to save a life by the fray all spring to mind.

thecolourbox

Travis is a great shout, some really good tunes that translate directly to just an acoustic.

Libertines also go down well.

I'm not sure why I thought of this one in particular when I did it in an admittedly electric cafe type set up (though would work the same on acoustic), but I did Adele's Someone Like You and it translated quite well (ie didn't sound like I was doing an Adele impression)

camf

Good suggestions. These are not bands I tend to listen to, so good to get taken out of my comfort zone. 

Jalapeno

Lindisfarne (not Fog on the Tyne), Pink Floyd, anything bluesy, or something more raunchy from 1970s (Free, Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Bowie/Ronson's Ziggy output etc) or even more modern (see Nirvana's superb Unplugged - Man Who sold The World is marvelous) played acoustically often works well.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

A bit of Crowded House always goes down well - eith 'Don't Dream It's Over' and/or 'Weather With You'.

Acoustic versions of heavier songs work well. I've done both of these Foos songs acoustically and they work well:





For something more 'hip' and contemporary, try a bit of Rag n Bone Man - either 'Human' or 'Skin' are great soulful/RnB tracks that translate to acoustic well. Not easy ones to sing mind you! 

p90fool

You can do anything acoustically, it doesn't have to already be "strummy".

Amongst some more typical stuff, I've had to learn Karma Chameleon, Not Fair, Message in a Bottle and Exes and Ohs for an acoustic gig this Saturday and guess what, they're all way more fun than the more usual fare. 

KDS

SOS abba

KDS

Springsteen dancing in the dark

camf

These are all good suggestions but I'm now starting to realise I'm just maybe not really a covers/coffee shop covers kind of guy. Nobody's going to care about, or even recognise, my version of the Silver Jews "Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed" or Hiss Golden Messenger's "Heart Like a Levee". I'm stuffed. It was a rubbish plan. Back to the drawingboard. Maybe I just need to write a massive hit and then I can play that.

KDS

camf said:

These are all good suggestions but I'm now starting to realise I'm just maybe not really a covers/coffee shop covers kind of guy. Nobody's going to care about, or even recognise, my version of the Silver Jews "Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed" or Hiss Golden Messenger's "Heart Like a Levee". I'm stuffed. It was a rubbish plan. Back to the drawingboard. Maybe I just need to write a massive hit and then I can play that.

I want to hear those songs, in that environment, don’t give up

camf

@KDS You can be my only audience. Or better still... we can do a double header. 

bigjon

Heard in a restaurant today - coffee-house acoustic covers of Sultans Of Swing, Love Will Tear Us Apart, and Blue Monday

camf

Saw a busker on the Southbank in London that seemed to spend the whole day only playing Sultans of Swing. You can't really call that making a living. I think Love Will Tear Us Apart is best left to the experts... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-pWSHTQOFs

TheBigDipper

KDS said:

camf said:

These are all good suggestions but I'm now starting to realise I'm just maybe not really a covers/coffee shop covers kind of guy. Nobody's going to care about, or even recognise, my version of the Silver Jews "Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed" or Hiss Golden Messenger's "Heart Like a Levee". I'm stuffed. It was a rubbish plan. Back to the drawingboard. Maybe I just need to write a massive hit and then I can play that.

I want to hear those songs, in that environment, don’t give up

And so do I.

My mate next door and I have been doing our monthly local Open Mic - at the pub in our village. We're not an act or even a band - it's just a bit of fun supporting our pub, TBH. We were playing there last night. Our repertoire is quite obscure for most people - Little Feat, Faces, Boo Hewerdine, Paul Weller. Stuff we like ourselves. Last night, there were a few more participants than usual, so we didn't play as many tunes and decided to settle on a Floyd medley (two acoustics, one voice) of WYWH, CNumb and Brain Damage/Eclipse. The people aged over 40 were listening and told us how much they appreciated and enjoyed what we did. The people under 40 carried on talking...  

There were some really talented guitarist/singers playing covers. The event sometimes has a couple of songwriters playing their own stuff, too. Including me, sometimes. Unusually, last night, there was one excellent 15-year old with a fantastic voice singing to backing tracks - we've never had backing tracks before. Because the backing tracks made it possible, we also had several "karaoke" singers doing covers.

The pub management (who don't run the event, they just let a keen duo use their premises) loved the people singing to backing tracks so much that they put recordings up on FB. They didn't showcase any of the people playing their own instruments - who generally were rather good (not us, we're not putting the work in). That's fine, it's their pub - but our area has lots of Open Mic events where "The Voice" candidates can go and sing covers to a backing track. We started supporting our local pub because it's local, and also because it wasn't that sort of event. It was for people playing and singing live - a far rarer thing, it seems.

So - keep doing what you do. That's what I want to be hearing and what I want to play myself. It's a sharing of music, not "the entertainment", in my eyes. 

We're possibly going to suggest that our event splits into two monthly events - one where backing tracks are banned and one where they're encouraged. Or maybe find another pub - I've realised I like playing low key events like this. 

camf

It's weird! The whole singing along to backing tracks thing misses the fact that one of the best parts about music isn't the showing off bit, it's the interacting with other musicians using that brilliantly mysterious language of music. Ah well... their loss and our win. 

KDS

TheBigDipper said:

KDS said:

camf said:

These are all good suggestions but I'm now starting to realise I'm just maybe not really a covers/coffee shop covers kind of guy. Nobody's going to care about, or even recognise, my version of the Silver Jews "Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed" or Hiss Golden Messenger's "Heart Like a Levee". I'm stuffed. It was a rubbish plan. Back to the drawingboard. Maybe I just need to write a massive hit and then I can play that.

I want to hear those songs, in that environment, don’t give up

And so do I.

My mate next door and I have been doing our monthly local Open Mic - at the pub in our village. We're not an act or even a band - it's just a bit of fun supporting our pub, TBH. We were playing there last night. Our repertoire is quite obscure for most people - Little Feat, Faces, Boo Hewerdine, Paul Weller. Stuff we like ourselves. Last night, there were a few more participants than usual, so we didn't play as many tunes and decided to settle on a Floyd medley (two acoustics, one voice) of WYWH, CNumb and Brain Damage/Eclipse. The people aged over 40 were listening and told us how much they appreciated and enjoyed what we did. The people under 40 carried on talking...  

There were some really talented guitarist/singers playing covers. The event sometimes has a couple of songwriters playing their own stuff, too. Including me, sometimes. Unusually, last night, there was one excellent 15-year old with a fantastic voice singing to backing tracks - we've never had backing tracks before. Because the backing tracks made it possible, we also had several "karaoke" singers doing covers.

The pub management (who don't run the event, they just let a keen duo use their premises) loved the people singing to backing tracks so much that they put recordings up on FB. They didn't showcase any of the people playing their own instruments - who generally were rather good (not us, we're not putting the work in). That's fine, it's their pub - but our area has lots of Open Mic events where "The Voice" candidates can go and sing covers to a backing track. We started supporting our local pub because it's local, and also because it wasn't that sort of event. It was for people playing and singing live - a far rarer thing, it seems.

So - keep doing what you do. That's what I want to be hearing and what I want to play myself. It's a sharing of music, not "the entertainment", in my eyes. 

We're possibly going to suggest that our event splits into two monthly events - one where backing tracks are banned and one where they're encouraged. Or maybe find another pub - I've realised I like playing low key events like this. 

This is great. At the moment family life, kids, work, mid 40s get in the way but it won’t always be like that

KDS

camf said:

@KDS You can be my only audience. Or better still... we can do a double header. 

That would great, but right know work/life is more important than playing. We’re are you based.... I think I nearly bought a guitar off you a few years ago. We’ll get together for a jam at sometime in the future

TheOtherDennis

TheBigDipper said:

KDS said:

camf said:

These are all good suggestions but I'm now starting to realise I'm just maybe not really a covers/coffee shop covers kind of guy. Nobody's going to care about, or even recognise, my version of the Silver Jews "Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed" or Hiss Golden Messenger's "Heart Like a Levee". I'm stuffed. It was a rubbish plan. Back to the drawingboard. Maybe I just need to write a massive hit and then I can play that.

I want to hear those songs, in that environment, don’t give up

And so do I.

My mate next door and I have been doing our monthly local Open Mic - at the pub in our village. We're not an act or even a band - it's just a bit of fun supporting our pub, TBH. We were playing there last night. Our repertoire is quite obscure for most people - Little Feat, Faces, Boo Hewerdine, Paul Weller. Stuff we like ourselves. Last night, there were a few more participants than usual, so we didn't play as many tunes and decided to settle on a Floyd medley (two acoustics, one voice) of WYWH, CNumb and Brain Damage/Eclipse. The people aged over 40 were listening and told us how much they appreciated and enjoyed what we did. The people under 40 carried on talking...  

There were some really talented guitarist/singers playing covers. The event sometimes has a couple of songwriters playing their own stuff, too. Including me, sometimes. Unusually, last night, there was one excellent 15-year old with a fantastic voice singing to backing tracks - we've never had backing tracks before. Because the backing tracks made it possible, we also had several "karaoke" singers doing covers.

The pub management (who don't run the event, they just let a keen duo use their premises) loved the people singing to backing tracks so much that they put recordings up on FB. They didn't showcase any of the people playing their own instruments - who generally were rather good (not us, we're not putting the work in). That's fine, it's their pub - but our area has lots of Open Mic events where "The Voice" candidates can go and sing covers to a backing track. We started supporting our local pub because it's local, and also because it wasn't that sort of event. It was for people playing and singing live - a far rarer thing, it seems.

So - keep doing what you do. That's what I want to be hearing and what I want to play myself. It's a sharing of music, not "the entertainment", in my eyes. 

We're possibly going to suggest that our event splits into two monthly events - one where backing tracks are banned and one where they're encouraged. Or maybe find another pub - I've realised I like playing low key events like this. 

I love nights like that. I go to one, hopefully another soon too, that has completely transformed my attitude towards and interest in playing guitar.

I go to a thing once a month in a pub in Wymeswold, which is in the middle of nowhere in Leicestershire. The last one was last Monday and it's a singaround. Everyone gets a song, and if there's a duo or more, they get two. Everyone gets a go in the first half, then again after a break. It's been going a couple of years now and it's getting so busy that people are missing out on playing. 

The great thing about this place is the vast mix of stuff that gets played there. Last Monday night, we had the Eagles, Richard Thompson, Tom Waits, Guns'n'Roses, Scottish folk, Elton John, Abba, Britney Spears, some self-penned stuff and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can't remember. I've (badly) done covers of the Jacksons, 10cc, Ian Dury, Rufus Wainwright, the Travelling Wilburys, Graham Parker, Richard Hawley, Del Amitri and other stuff.

Then there's another right on the Leicester/Warwickshire border in a pub/micro brewery. Not been to that one lately because it clashed with work, but I've changed my shifts now so I'll have another go at the end of next month when they come back after the summer break. It has exactly the same idea, but the one in Wymeswold is run by one bloke, whereas this is hosted by a band.

I love these things, I think they're great. You're absolutely right, it's not about the performance (though some of the performers are genuinely excellent), it's about making music with others and communicating through songs and being with other people interested in the same things that you are without being stuck in a rut. In fact, it's been responsible for shaking me quite hard out of the rut I was stuck in.

Roland

This type of thing is great. It’s where music came from. 

I would be a regular at Wymeswold if it didn’t clash with band rehearsal. 

Roland

Songs. Know your audience. People respond to songs they knew in their early teens, and to things they can sing along with. Bowie - Space Oddity, Tainted Love where they can clap/ stamp the double beat. For something more modern try Bruno Mars - Locked Outta Heaven.