The Josh Innes Show - Terrible Concert Setlist

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

I see that Styx and Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon are touring. The tour kicked off yesterday and both bands are playing certain albums in their entirety. I hate when artists do this. Most artists don't have an album with enough hits to warrant playing all the cuts. There is an arrogance about bands that do this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Truck Month is on at Chevrolet. Get 0% financing for up to 72 months on a 2025 Silverado 1500 Custom Blackout or Custom Trail Boss. With Custom Trail Boss' available Class Exclusive Duramax 3.0L Diesel Engine and Z71 Off-Road Package with a 2-inch factory suspension lift, you get both on-road confidence and off-road capability. Dirt road ahead? Let's go! Truck month is awesome! Ask your Chevrolet dealer for details. It's a giant pet peeve of mine, and it's something that I probably am irrationally angry over all the time,

but it's something that just ticks me off. And it's when bands don't play all of their hits in a concert for whatever reason, and a lot of times it's for selfish reasons It's I'm tired to play in that song and sometimes it's like there are times They don't play certain songs just because they know the audience wants to hear them and they are assholes for it Like I went to see Kenny Chesney. I guess right before I got fired. This was in June I guess of last year, but a year ago

I went to see Kenny Chesney There are a couple of Kenny Chesney songs that I think are ultimate Kenny Chesney songs that are must plays. One is She Thinks My Tractor Sexy. He might think it's goofy and gooberish and whatever, but She Thinks My Tractor Sexy is a staple. It is legendary. Everybody wants to hear She Thinks My Tractor Sexy. The other one is Anything But Mine, which is my favorite Kenny Jesney song. In the morning I'm leaving, making my way back to Cleveland, so tonight I hope that I will do just fine. And every time I've seen that dude, he's played that song. Went to see him last

year, didn't play either one of those damn songs. And you're like, and I get you got to try to sell some new music. And if you're an artist like Kenny Chesney, who still puts out new music that makes it to the radio, fine. But that doesn't mean you avoid the hits. And I get that some bands just have a thousand hits and you can't play them all. Well, if it comes down to, hey, play this song that we like, but no one really cares about or a hit that the

25,000 people who bought tickets know, you play the hit that the 25,000 people know. There was a scene in the best music documentary I've ever watched called The History of the Eagles. It's fantastic. It's like three hours. It's one of my favorite movies ever, actually. I just love it and I love the Eagles. And at one point there's a fight between Randy Meisner who was you know the high the high voiced guy before Timothy B Schmidt, Randy Meisner and Glenn Fry. And basically Randy's like I don't want to sing Take It To The Limit tonight. He's like there are people that have paid money to hear you sing Take

It To The Limit. Do you think I want to sing, you know, peaceful easy feeling every night? No, but that's what they're here to see go out and sing it and Randy Meyers is like I don't want to sing that song blah blah blah and they eventually kicked him out of the band. Point being in all of this is that you play the hits for people. People buy the tickets to hear the songs they know. They want to go to the show. They want to sing along with the show and

they want to have a good time. They don't want to be standing there like, yeah, I don't really know this song. I'm just kind of you know, whatever. Let me play a couple commercials and we'll continue this. There's a reason for this discussion and I'll do that after we play some commercials. So yes, this discussion wasn't just plucked out of the air. This is something that I read today about a Sticks and REO Speedwagon tour.

And it's not even Sticks and REO Speedwagon. It's Sticks without Dennis DeYoung, so it's not really Sticks. And it's Kevin Cronin, who is the voice of REO Speedwagon, but it's not the rest of REO Speedwagon because he's battling them in a lawsuit. I love the drama with these old rock bands of like the 70s and 80s that no one gives a shit about unless we're talking about

their music from 1979. No one cares but they all fight each other. There's infighting from the biggest bands in the world like Pink Floyd there was infighting, REO Speedwagon all the way down to like I'm sure Kajagoogoo had beef at some point. It's just funny watching these dipshits fight with each other. But I bring up the idea of playing your hits, because Styx and Kevin Cronin and Don Felder, speaking of the Eagles, Don Felder is on this tour, and he sings some of the Eagles songs, although he's not the original singer of those. You want to talk about an odd situation.

Again, this is totally random. But in St. Louis, there is this Pink Floyd tribute band, and they're called El Monstero. And I had never heard of this before. So we're in a meeting at the radio station when I first get there, and it's a promotions meeting. So all the disc jockeys and promotions people are in there, PD is in there and they go well big week we got you know El Monstero coming up and I raise my hand I'm like I don't know what the fuck El Monstero is like am I missing something and they're like well it's the ultimate Pink Floyd tribute band

and when I tell you that this Pink Floyd tribute band puts in 20,000 people at the amphitheater when they play there and at Christmas they play like two weeks worth of shows at this little theater and they sell it out every time, it's a fascinating phenomenon that people care this much about a tribute band. To a degree I get it only because most of their favorite bands for these old people, most of the members are dead so they're not even the band anymore. So you might as well go see a tribute band that sounds like the bands used to sound, not like they currently sound, which most of them is like shit. So I go see this show once because they're like, you have to go see it. I'm not a huge Pink Floyd guy.

I'm fine with Pink Floyd. Everybody at this show is like all hopped up on shit. That's how you have to enjoy Pink Floyd. Weed, gummies, all that that shit and I'm just kind of like all right this is fine whatever the opening act was Don Felder think about the absurdity of this this is Don Felder this is an original member of the Eagles this is a guy that was shredding on Hotel California and this guy is the opening act for a local tribute band. Like, holy shit. It's one thing for Don Felder to open for Styx and REO Speedwagon.

Like, it's Styx and it's REO Speedwagon. Imagine being the opening act for a local tribute band. They said, but I tell this to people and they go, dude, every year some act that you would think shouldn't be opening for a local tribute band is opening for this band. Last year or this dude, every year some act that you would think shouldn't be opening for a local tribute band is opening for this band. Last year or this year, I guess it would have been. I think that show already happened or it might be on the verge of happening. Blue Oyster Cult.

Like imagine you're Blue Oyster Cult and you're like, all right, we're booking you for a gig. What is it? We're going to play in St. Louis. All right, well with a headliner? No, you're opening. Well, who's the headliner? It's got to be like John Mellencamp or something like some big name guy? No, you're opening. Well, who's the headliner? It's got to be like John Mellencamp or something, like some big name guy. No, it's a Pink Floyd tribute band called El Mon-Stero and you're going to open for them. Like, it's got to be a pride shot to a degree. It's a good tribute band. They

sound great. The show is great. I'm not knocking the band. It's just funny that that's kind of what it comes down to. But anyway, again, I bring on this up because I see a story about the set list for Sticks and Kevin Cronin. And one of my big pet peeves is when bands do a tour and they play an entire album, it's a very vain thing to do because you're insinuating that your album, that every track on your album is one that people like and that people are into, right? So like you look at Stix. Stix on May 28th, so that was yesterday, played the entire, I think they played the entire Grand Delusion

album, alright? So let me see if I'm reading this right. Let's see, Felder opened the night with an evening largely comprised of songs from his time in the Eagles. Yeah, no shit. It's not like he had anything else. The Kevin Cronin band began their set by playing the classic album 1980s High Infidelity in full. Now High Infidelity was a huge album and it had a couple of really good songs in it. Don't Let Him Go, Keep On Lovin' You, really that's and Take It On The Run. Those were like the three big songs from that album. The three, then really don't don't let him go. keep on loving you. Really that's and take it on the run. Those were like the three big songs from that album, the three then really don't don't let him go. I wouldn't even consider to be a big top 40 song. Keep on loving you, take it on the run. Those ones are the two. My man went out and

sang the entire album and I don't know like I when I saw REO Speedwagon last year, they were opening for, I forgot who they, actually, you know what's funny? They were playing in like the Yacht Rock Tribute Band was their opening act, Yacht Rock Revue, who's fantastic. If you gave me the option to see one of these old foggy ass bands with crappy lead singers and sounding like shit, like Foreigner,

if you were like Josh, you can go see Foreigner or you can go see the Yacht Rock Revue, I'd see the Yacht Rock Revue anytime, but anywho. Like outside of don't let him go and Foreigner or you can go see the Yacht Rock review. I'd see the Yacht Rock review anytime But anywho like outside of don't let him go and keep on loving you I have no idea what follow my heart in your letter tough guys out of season shaking it loose someone tonight And I wish you were there like this album sold a shitload of albums because it had two really good songs that were gigantic Radio hits it did not have 10 really good fucking songs. Yet you go out there and you play all 10 fucking songs from this album. It doesn't make sense.

Like there are very few albums where there's like 10 songs that were just hits that the whole world knows. You know what entire album you should be playing if you're Ario Speedwagon? Ario Speedwagon's greatest hits. That should be the entire album that you play. Like I'm trying to think of albums that had like cuz I'm looking at hits. I'm not looking at like oh big diehard fans of the band know these songs. I'm looking at hits straight up hits like Katy Perry Teenage Dream seven fucking radio

hits. You want to sing you want to do Katy Perry Teenage Dream in its entirety. I'm okay with it. Go do Katy Perry Teenage Dream. There's like 10 hits you want to do Thriller. If Michael Jackson was like you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna come out and I'm gonna do Thriller. Well you know what Thriller had Thriller had like 13 hits on it actually probably like seven or eight hits. But like if you look at the album Thriller. All right just just look at the

tracks on the album Thriller. right, just look at the tracks on the album Thriller. If Michael Jackson was like, I'm going to do it in order in its entirety, here is Thriller. Well, here is the track list for Thriller. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Baby Be Mine, The Girl Is Mine, Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, PYT, and The Lady in My Life. There are nine songs on that album. Seven of them are songs that if you've listened to the radio ever, you know them. The other ones I don't, but The Girl Is Mine was with Paul McCartney, Billie Jean, everybody knows, Beat It, Wanna Be Starting Something, Human

Nature, PYT and Thriller. It's amazing that the last single was Thriller. What a world. But like there's seven hits on that album. There's nine songs, seven of those, seven are hits. And then you got REO Speedwagon who's like, well here's an album of 10 tracks. It has, I don't know, two hits on it. And the argument would be, well these were guys, the more these songs are played on album-oriented rock and their diehard fans really know these. That's great, but even their diehard fans like the fucking hits, the songs that people know. And then they finish it off with a couple of other

songs from their other albums. I don't need like it's such a vain thing. It's a vanity thing to do to be like, well, we're playing this album in its entirety. Yes, it was your highest selling album, but it wasn't your highest selling album because 10 songs were good. It was your highest selling album because two of the fucking songs were good. Most people, at least in this era, no one's sitting down listening to an entire album unless you're like a Taylor Swift weirdo. Let's see, then Don Felder just played all these Eagles songs. Already Gone, One of These

Nights, Victim of Love, Seven Bridges Road, a couple of his own ones, Heartache Tonight, Life in the Fast Lane, Hotel California. And in that I'd be like, I feel cheated here. You're Don Felder. You're not the Eagles. And then you look at the Sticks set list. Let me see here. Sticks set list. I believe they did the entire Grand Illusion album. So you look at these. If you're just someone who knows them from the radio, you know the Grand Illusion, which is a banger, Fooling Yourself, the Angry Young Man, Don't Know

Superstars, Know Come Sail Away, Don't Know Miss America, Man in the Wilderness, Castle Walls or the Grand Finale. Then they go and do some of their other ones after that. Like, I don't want to sit in a show where there's like four or five songs in a row that I don't know, or where there's like three songs I don't know and then there's a hit. Like I'm not here for that. You've been around for 50 some odd years. Go out and just play your hits and look I get that it's a difficult thing for some people to do. I understand that a lot of people sit around and they're like well I mean I want to still try to innovate and do something new and it's hard to just acknowledge that no one wants to

hear what you're doing that's new but friends no one wants to hear what you're doing that's new. But friends, no one wants to hear what you're doing that's new and no one wants to hear shit they didn't like to begin with. They just want the hits. Like Def Leppard does a pretty good job of just playing the hits. Although when I last saw Def Leppard about a year ago, Def Leppard did sing a track or two from some new album. The positive is all of their new shit just sounds like their old shit so you can like close your eyes and pretended something else. But I'm listening to this and I'm like I don't really give a shit.

That's a bathroom opportunity, right? But like if you're like now if I don't know if Def Leppard wanted to do hysteria in its entirety, then I'd be like, okay, there's something there because you had animal and women and pour some sugar on me and hysteria and Armageddon and love bites and rocket. So if like they just decide or or if ACDC said we are doing back in black in its entirety back in black is basically a greatest hits album. It's fucking sick. How

many hits are on this album if Shania Twain was like, well, you know what we're going to do. We're going to do the entire come on over album. You'd be like, okay, I get it. Shania Twain was like, well, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna do the entire Come On Over album. You'd be like, okay, I get it. There is not one REO Speedwagon album where I would go, you know what, I really wish REO Speedwagon would play every one of the songs on this album in order.

There is not one Styx album. I do not wanna hear Killroy Is Here in its entirety. There are very few albums all time. Now, there are plenty of albums that people like and they like every song on them, but that doesn't mean that those are songs you should be playing in concert constantly. So if I bought tickets to see this show,

I'd be pissed off if I sat there and I'm like, that's four straight songs I don't know. And I've lived that life. I've been to those shows before. I've seen those shows. I've experienced those shows where you're sitting there and you're like, I don't want to hear these songs, like play the songs.

Like I remember seeing Hall and Oates, my dad had a concert and Hall and Oates was there. And they're playing like some shit I didn't know. I'm like, you're fucking Hall and Oates, give me a little man eater here let's go little out of touch out of time let's go little she's gone let's go I'm here for hits man I'm not here for like vanity plays of well here's the fourth track off our 11th out no that's not what I'm here for I'm here for the hits

and to go home I'm here to sing along with songs that I know. There's an album by Jimmy Buffett. It's a yellow CD with red writing just says Jimmy Buffett. It's called Songs You Know By Heart. There are 10 songs on that album. And in fact, I know those songs by heart. When I go see Jimmy Buffett, every... well, he's dead rest in power King but if I go see Jimmy Buffett like the time I went to see him in Camden New Jersey you better play every fucking song on the songs you know by heart CD every last one of those sons of bitches not just oh I'm playing this cuz I enjoy it there better be a cheeseburger in paradise there better be pirate looks at 40 there better be Pirate Looks at 40. There better be He Went to Paris. There better

be Fins. There better be Boat Drinks. There better be Margaritaville. There better be Come Monday. These are the jams that need to be there, but some of these bands neglect that because they get bored playing them. Like I want to say that last year when Green Day was touring, I think they did the entire, they did two full albums. They did Dookie and American Idiot. And I guess if you're a big fan of those bands, maybe that's cool to you, but not everybody is a fan of a band based on every single song they've ever done. Some people are just fans of bands based on the songs that they've done that everyone knows. And perhaps it's a weird thing to bitch about and I get it.

But I think I speak for people. You know what I'm saying? Like I think I speak for the average person when I'm like, I'm okay with you doing one or two songs I don't know, because I need an opportunity to take a leak. I need an opportunity to tinkle. Now, if you're a new group, it's different. If you're someone still making new music, it's different.

But if you're like sticks, you can put out 400 songs tomorrow and no one will listen to one of them. People are here for Come Sail Away, Mr. Roboto, Babe Lady, that's what they're here for. So you better make sure you get all of those. There should never, there's never an excuse for a band whose biggest heyday was in the 70s or 80s or 90s to not sing every single song of theirs that everyone knows. There is no excuse for a hit to be left out. Even if you're a huge band like Def Leppard or one of these bands, every song that was a radio giant hit for

you should be played. There should never be a time you're skipping a hit song ever. Like I went to see Luke Bryan last time and he skipped one of the songs I really like. I'm like, Luke, you have a billion hits and I get it. Make sure all billion of those hits get in there, bud. Be like, hey, Garth Brooks just played, but he didn't do the dance. Like why? I just got bored doing it. Well, you can't. Now Garth has had some albums where you could argue the entire album

could be played and you'd be into it. Or you know, Brooks and Don has had some albums like that, but there aren't that many. There are very few albums where you're like every fucking song was a gigantic hit. Basically every Michael Jackson album because we brought up Thriller, then you know what was the next album? Bad. So if you look at Michael Jackson Bad, that's another album where you could go, all right, probably if you played that album in its entirety, it probably be banger after. I mean, look, Jesus fucking Christ. For the most part, this is stupid, by the way. Like, here's the track listing for Bad. Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Speed Demon, I

don't know that, Liberian Girl, I don't know that, Man in the Mirror, Just Can't Stop Lovin' You, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Leave Me Alone. So out of the 11 songs, like probably eight of those are songs that you would know so you could live with okay there's one song i don't really know and don't care about but here's like you know eight other songs that i do know what was the other album after that uh there was bad what was the album that came after bad it was uh what the hell was the other michael jackson album that came after Bad. It was, what the hell was the other Michael Jackson album that came out in 1991? Dangerous was the name of that album. And like even that, like, even like that one doesn't have as many but like, there's enough of them

that you would know. This album would not be a good album to hear live in person though, because a lot of the songs are kind of like dull. They got black and white and remember the time but then you've also got like heal the world and gone too soon and will you be there and that type of shit. My point being in all of this, I'm not trying to rattle off album data here. I'm just letting you know that if I'm going to a show and you're like, I'm playing an album in its entirety, it better be a

fucking album that's got 10 hits on it and I'm not sitting there pulling my putt for three songs in a row. But these old bands tend to kind of be, I don't know how you put this, like they're very arrogant in the way they do things. Like, ugh. Anyway, more to come.