Oct

7

Breaking all of my usual rules… Another open mic night…

Filed Under Music, The history of me 

When I do open mic nights, I have a fairly simple rule: mix covers and originals. Always make sure that I can healthily mix the two so that I get my personal stuff out into rotation. After what I felt was a less than stellar performance last week, I felt that it was time to shake up my own rules. I came into the night with a set that I thought looked pretty good, and as you’ll notice, it’s not set off like my normal sets in the formatting here, so I’ll explain after I write it out:

Not Another Butterfly
Slide - Goo Goo Dolls
The Fall of Autumn
October - Mike Garrigan
Four
Growing
Faithfully - Journey

As you can see, there are two interesting things about this set:
1) No 7M3 cover, which I’ve had as a strong point of all of my sets the past few outings up here. Its a way I can hang my hat on a familiar cover that lets me take out a bit of frustration and let it loose.
2) “Trying So Hard” was left off. And intentionally so. I wanted to let it rest. I needed to let it rest. I’ve played so many nights over the course of the 5 years since writing it where its always found its way into the set in one form or another. And it had been in every night I had played up here.

I did a dry run this afternoon of some of these, especially because I hadn’t played “Not Another Butterfly” or “The Fall of Autumn” in a while. And “Faithfully” I’m still just barely re-learning. And the more I played some of these, the more they didn’t really fit. See for me? A set needs to have some high energy points. These songs all were fairly slower, lighter, softer. I’ve got no problem with that, but I know how I’m coming across when I’m playing them.

And while I was listening to Jeremy play, I took out my sharpie and started scrawling a little on my piece of paper. I wasn’t happy at all. So here’s what my final set ended up being:

October - Mike Garrigan
Slide - Goo Goo Dolls
Cumbersome - Seven Mary Three
Faithfully - Journey
Free Bird/Semi Charmed Life - Lynyrd Skynyrd/Third Eye Blind

Now, I have to say that I broke every rule in my book. I played straight covers, I played “Cumbersome,” which I haven’t practiced or played in year or two, and I just all around just cut it loose. And you know what? It was right. It was just right.

Sometimes, you need to take every rule that you make for yourself and rewrite them to get what you need out of it. I’m slowly going to be integrating in more covers into my sets just to get some new songs out there. Especially being in a new atmosphere, I’m still trying to get some recognition on the stage. And I appreciate all at Memphis on Main for their hospitality and welcome each week. I’m enjoying it, folks, and I’ll be back as long as you’re having me…

Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.
Sign up for free and comment away!

    About The Site


    Thanks for stopping by, folks! My name is Adam J. Cohen, and I'm a guitarist/songwriter in Champaign, IL, recently relocated from Orlando, FL where I'm a UCF grad. Here, you'll find vignettes on my life, setlists from open mics and reviews, and whatever else crosses my mind. Enjoy!