Bonnie Raitt on what goes into building the perfect set list
Bonnie Raitt has a lot of songs in her catalog that fans will want to hear when she’s out on tour, and she doesn’t see that as a bad thing.
“I’m lucky enough to have songs that people will be mad if they don’t hear; that’s not a drag, it’s an honor,” she tells the Los Angeles Times for an article about creating a concert set list. “I’m still invested every time.”
Bonnie says that while some artists like Bob Dylan will completely change up their set from show to show, it isn’t as easy for her to do since she’s constantly switching instruments during her concert. But, she says, she still likes to swap out songs when she can, sometimes making the decision in the middle of a performance.
“I’ll have my guitar guy standing there with two instruments and I’ll point to the one I want,” she says.
And while playing the same songs every night can get boring, Raitt says she’ll change things up in order to keep things fresh, although that doesn’t always work. For instance, on one tour she performed her hit “Something to Talk About” with a ska beat, which may not have gone over that well.
“We had fun doing it, but I couldn’t tell what the audience thought and you can’t interview them about whether they liked it or not,” she says. “I think you’ve got to keep those iconic songs pretty close to what people came to hear since they’re paying for the tour bus.”
Raitt is currently on the latest leg of her Just Like That… tour. She plays San Diego on Wednesday. A complete list of dates can be found at bonnieraitt.com.
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