Many musicians play gigs where they are asked to perform songs that people love. This seems to happen on all sorts of gigs: rock; jazz; blues, etc. I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve played some tunes. This has never bothered me all that much. I love playing music and I don’t mind playing Mustang Sally or Take Five again. Not everyone has this same feeling. As a matter of fact, some bands/musicians will actually refuse to play certain requests. I take it as a challenge — try to bring something new and fresh to a well-known song, and make it feel good.
I was on a gig recently and the bandleader actually called Mustang Sally before it was requested. This rarely happens. Like I said, most musicians are somewhat tired of this tune in particular. Well, the crowd loved it. Other tunes were called that were also tried and true with a similar outcome. There was lots of dancing, smiling faces, and the bar did very well that night. The band had fun playing these tunes and at the end of the night our tip jar was overflowing. Having fun playing music with good musicians with a great attitude AND getting nice tips — keep calling these tunes!
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