GFR doing “The Loco-Motion” came about as a funny episode. Can you talk about the joy in performing this one? It’s the definition of a feel-good tune, a pop song that you guys really Grand Funk-ized, making it heavy. “The Loco-Motion”: This song's an important one for the band, hitting #1 in 1974 on the pop charts. The song has a great R&B feel and switching up with me on lead vocal adds to the flavor for the show. “Shinin' On” was fashioned after Freddy King's great blues song "Goin' Down." After having Freddy open for us on our "Phoenix Tour," we were so impressed with his music and style that the influence was clear.
Why does the song continue to resonate for you? “Shinin' On”: This is another song that underlines how Grand Funk Railroad wrote and performed positive anthems that galvanized people. The drums, bass and organ track is a blast to play and the vocal lines are awesome: “Come on everybody, we're gonna have a good time.” The song works well as an opener or as we do it now as our second song of the show. What inspired you to include it here?Īfter doing the song live as a three-piece band, in 1971 we tried recording this song in the studio a few times until we captured the final version on our album E Pluribus Funk. “Footstompin' Music”: This song has a ferocious rhythmic groove and it's another one that pumps up the listener/concert-goer. The opening line “We're havin' a party, everybody’s invited” is a perfect opening statement. The song is truly descriptive of GFR's Rock/R&B blend. Having a top 40 hit with Rock & Roll Soul was our first step to freedom. “Rock & Roll Soul” was our first single after leaving our crooked manager Terry Knight who had stolen all our money and was taking us to court over the name Grand Funk Railroad. Why does this song light you up when you perform it? “Rock & Roll Soul”: The phrase “rock and roll soul” is an apt description of the band’s music + mission. THE GRAND FUNK RAILROAD SET LIST HIGHLIGHTS, ACCORDING TO DON BREWER In our case we could close with “We’re An American Band” and come back with “Closer To Home,” Depends on how you want to leave the audience. In other words, you can switch them and it won't really make a huge difference. The last song and the encore can be interchangeable.
Finally, what goes into choosing which song will be the last one and which song will be the encore? Our goal is to have the show flow from high to low and back to high again with a few sparkles in between. In coming up with the list, do you think about the various tempos of songs and which keys they're played in?ĭon't really worry too much about what key a song is in, but yes, tempos need to blend between songs. The two openers we do now, “Rock & Roll Soul” and “Footstompin' Music,” are classic GFR hits and always get the audience going even if they don't know Grand Funk. We have tried several different songs as openers over the years, even doing an unknown original of ours. Can you talk about figuring out which song to open with? This has to be a challenge as a band wants to come on strong but some of the audience is still finding their seats and the sound may not be at its best near the beginning of a set. We have a spot in the show that we have experimented with new songs over the years and the songs keep changing. We don't do a lot of new material because we know the audience wants to hear the classics.
I guess you could say we're all Grand Funk fans. How do you determine a set list that satisfies both the audience and the musician?Įverybody in the band loves the music we play. Spreading out the hits during the show keeps the audience involved beginning to end.
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD SETLIST TRIAL
You learn what works and what doesn't work by trial and error. We have been working on our show for over 40 years. Is there a secret sauce to creating the perfect set list? Recently, original founding member Don Brewer (vocals and drums, writer and singer of the multi-million selling hit, “We’re An American Band”) took the time to talk about building the perfect set list and also discuss highlights of the GRAND FUNK RAILROAD set list. Legendary rock & roll powerhouse GRAND FUNK RAILROAD is currently on its 2021 “Some Kind Of Wonderful Tour,” performing 30 shows this year and dynamically underlining their trademark “Rock and Soul” classics.
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