Playing the same set twice

Some of my sets are pre planned some are off the cuff but all of them are saved as playlist (I use RekordBox) so that if it’s a great set I can always use the same track list again.

Most DJ:s have an evolving playlist that changes slowly from event to event. That’s quite OK, unless you really want to go with a fresh set every time, it’s doable but you need to line up a lot of proven tracks.

What you could do, and I don’t myself… is to have a playlist in iTunes/Traktor or whatever, and move tracks in and out to this play list *and* move the outgoing tracks to an archive playlist. And have another playlist where you collect possible new tracks to be included to the playlist. You could even have multiple working playlists that you collect. Or a big playlist with let’s say 200 tracks where you only need 10-30 or so for each event.

I had a Saturday night residency for many years, I basically had a one-in, one-out policy in my playlist, which meant the set often didn’t differ much from week to week… as a poster said above, allowing things to evolve naturally is fine.

I haven’t played out yet, but I have been actively dipping my toe in the live DJ broadcasting scene.

I did a set where I got incredible feedback from a room that was basically all fellow DJs. I came with stuff that they hadn’t heard before, and I felt like it all flowed together reasonably well.

Of course, I felt like there were some misses, but I am currently doing sets with the same core set structure.

I had wondered about whether or not this was acceptable or not myself, so it’s good that you raised the debate.

Given that my crowd is basically other DJs, there is the possible backlash. But I’m running with the theory that there’s always somebody coming into the room that may not have heard these songs yet.

Also, I love all music, and I bet you do too.

Gene Simmons of KISS basically said that he’s not going to change their setlist drastically from one gig to the other, not just because of the tightly coordinated lights and pyro, but also because the likelihood is greater that there will be a greater percentage of people who have not seen their show yet.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Rock bands have been doing this kind of thing for years.

There’s a small club down the street from where I live. The DJ there literally plays the same tracks each week. As a music lover it’s real boring to listen to. But props to him, because the floor is always packed. He knows what the crowd wants to listen to.