Songs
Every song has a second life after the record: the night it was first played, the tour it vanished from, the encore it came back in. These stories follow songs through their live history, night by night, with the setlists to prove it.
A song's studio version is fixed the day it comes out. Its live life isn't. Bands drop songs, bring them back, rearrange them, or play them every single night for decades, and the setlists fans have logged over the years tell that story better than any interview. We count performances from setlist.fm, leaving out tribute acts, and check every number on the day we publish.
Some songs get put away. Radiohead haven't played “Creep” since April 2018, while 762 other acts have played it nearly 4,000 times between them. Depeche Mode played “Useless” at almost every show in 1998, then went 19 years without it. And “Stairway to Heaven” closed almost every Led Zeppelin show for nine years, before its singer spent most of four decades keeping his distance.
Others never leave. The Killers have played “Mr. Brightside”, the first song they ever played live, more than a thousand times, and both Gallagher brothers kept “Wonderwall” in their sets through sixteen years apart. The Goo Goo Dolls have played “Iris” more than 1,500 times since April 1998, and it still isn't quite their most-played song. Neil Diamond played “Sweet Caroline” 1,550 times before the crowds took it over.
Songs bands walked away from
The song Radiohead gave away
Tears for Fears, Macy Gray, a covers band and a jukebox orchestra have kept “Creep” alive on stage. The band that wrote it hasn’t touched it since April 2018, the longest silence of its life.
Useless: the Depeche Mode song that disappeared for 19 years
In 1998 Depeche Mode played “Useless” almost every night. Then it vanished for four whole tours, came back for one, and was last heard on the final night of that tour in Berlin.
Stairway to Heaven: the song Robert Plant stopped singing
For nine years it closed almost every Led Zeppelin show. Then its singer spent most of four decades keeping his distance. The live life of Stairway to Heaven.
Songs that never left the set
Mr. Brightside: the song that never left
It was the first song The Killers ever played live, it peaked at No. 10, and it simply never went away. How Mr. Brightside became the longest-running hit in UK chart history.
The song neither Gallagher would give up
Radiohead walked away from their most famous song. The Gallaghers did the opposite: through sixteen years of not speaking, both kept playing "Wonderwall", hundreds of times between them.
Iris: how many times the Goo Goo Dolls have played it live
A song written for a film about an angel became the band's signature, and 28 years later it's still in the set most nights. Here's its live life, year by year.
Sweet Caroline: the singalong that outgrew its singer
Neil Diamond has played it more than any other song he wrote. Then he stopped touring, and ballparks, boxing arenas and football crowds kept singing it without him. The live life of Sweet Caroline.