Which songs get a pub singing along?
Songs the room already knows, placed at the hour when people are ready to join in. The 32 titles below are grouped by how a crowd takes part: songs for while the pub is still filling, choruses the room takes over, songs people clap and stamp to, songs for the last half hour, and spares for a title shouted from the bar. The list draws on British, Irish, American and Australian pub standards. Swap in the local favourites of the town you are playing.
The notes under "Where it fits" are our suggestions for where a song can sit in a set. They are not facts about the song, and the list is not a ranking or a measure of popularity. Titles, artists and years were checked against MusicBrainz or Wikipedia when this page was written. We list no keys or tempos, because bands change both.
Early set, while the room fills
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown Eyed Girl | Van Morrison | 1967 | Easy opener over the chatter |
| Mustang Sally | Wilson Pickett | 1966 | Warms up the backing vocals |
| Have You Ever Seen the Rain | Creedence Clearwater Revival | 1970 | Gentle singalong for a half-full room |
| The Boys Are Back in Town | Thin Lizzy | 1976 | Lifts the pace before the break |
| Dakota | Stereophonics | 2005 | Newer song for a younger early crowd |
| Hotel California | Eagles | 1976 | Long one for a settled room |
Big choruses
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweet Caroline | Neil Diamond | 1969 | Mid-set, once the room is loud |
| Take Me Home, Country Roads | John Denver | 1971 | End of set one |
| Piano Man | Billy Joel | 1973 | Slow sway late in set two |
| Daydream Believer | The Monkees | 1967 | Short and bright for mixed ages |
| Delilah | Tom Jones | 1968 | Suits a British room; rehearse the stops |
| Friends in Low Places | Garth Brooks | 1990 | One for a country-leaning bar |
| You're the Voice | John Farnham | 1986 | One for an Australian room |
| Don't Look Back in Anger | Oasis | 1995 | Let the room take the chorus |
Clap-alongs
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) | The Proclaimers | 1988 | Stamping song to open set three |
| Come On Eileen | Dexys Midnight Runners | 1982 | Dance-floor lift; rehearse it properly |
| We Will Rock You | Queen | 1977 | Room joins from the first bar |
| Twist and Shout | The Beatles | 1963 | Short burst when energy dips |
| Chelsea Dagger | The Fratellis | 2006 | Chant-along for a rowdy room |
| Is This the Way to Amarillo | Tony Christie | 1971 | Clap-along for an older crowd |
End-of-night songs
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. Brightside | The Killers | 2003 | Late peak in the last set |
| Don't Stop Believin' | Journey | 1981 | Second to last |
| Hey Jude | The Beatles | 1968 | Long ending the room can carry |
| Angels | Robbie Williams | 1997 | Slow one before the closer |
| Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen | 1975 | Encore, if the whole band knows it |
| Closing Time | Semisonic | 1998 | Last song as the bar shuts |
Spares for a shout from the bar
| Song | Artist | Year | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sex on Fire | Kings of Leon | 2008 | Loud swap for a flat moment |
| Teenage Dirtbag | Wheatus | 2000 | For a younger table that asks |
| Down Under | Men at Work | 1981 | Ready for Australians in the room |
| Khe Sanh | Cold Chisel | 1978 | Have it ready in an Australian pub |
| Whiskey in the Jar | Thin Lizzy | 1972 | For Irish bars and March gigs |
| Sweet Home Alabama | Lynyrd Skynyrd | 1974 | Standby for a guitar-loving crowd |
Start a setlist with these 32 songs
Opens StageFloww with the titles typed in. Free plan, no card. Search can miss a song, and you can add it by hand.
What does a three-set pub night look like?
Set one is for a room that is still arriving, so it stays easy and asks nothing of anyone. Set two brings in the choruses. Set three is the loud one, and it ends on songs the room can finish for you. Below, songs 1 to 8 are set one, 9 to 16 are set two and 17 to 24 are set three. The spares and the encore stay out of the order until someone asks.
This running order is one suggestion built from the list above. Change it to suit your band and the room.
- Brown Eyed Girl
- Have You Ever Seen the Rain
- Mustang Sally
- Dakota
- Daydream Believer
- Hotel California
- The Boys Are Back in Town
- Take Me Home, Country Roads
- Twist and Shout
- Is This the Way to Amarillo
- Delilah
- You're the Voice
- Come On Eileen
- Piano Man
- Sweet Caroline
- Don't Look Back in Anger
- I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
- We Will Rock You
- Chelsea Dagger
- Mr. Brightside
- Don't Stop Believin'
- Angels
- Hey Jude
- Closing Time
How does a band hand a chorus to the room?
The moment a pub remembers is the one where the band stops and the crowd keeps going. It works when it is planned and falls flat when it is improvised.
- Choose the chorus in rehearsal. Usually a late one, after the room has heard it twice. Write the cue on the chart.
- Keep the pulse. The drummer stays on the kick or the hi-hat so the room holds the tempo. Guitars and bass stop together.
- Give one clear signal. The singer steps back from the microphone and lifts a hand. Nobody else decides.
- Agree the way back in. Count the bars. If the room does not take it, come back after two and carry on as if that was the plan.
- Ration it. Once in set two and once or twice in set three. In set one the room is not ready.
The singer keeps singing away from the microphone, so there is always a voice to follow.
What do you do with a shout from the bar?
Decide before the gig which songs you will say yes to. The spares table is that list: songs the band has rehearsed but left out of the order. When one is called for, swap it for a planned song. Adding it on top pushes you past the finish time. One person in the band makes the call. Our guide on taking song requests at a gig covers the rules to agree first.
Ask the bar staff when last orders are called and when the music has to stop. The final three songs depend on that answer.
What does StageFloww do for a pub set, and what does it leave to you?
StageFloww, the setlist and stage-lyrics app, keeps the running order on the screen you read from. In the setlist builder you drag songs into order, label the opener and the encore, write the chorus cue in a song's notes, and see the total minutes of the night. This list is sized to fit the Free plan, which allows 40 songs per setlist.
Song search finds a song by its title. It needs a connection and can miss a song, so add your songs before the gig and not between sets.
StageFloww does not rank songs or measure what a crowd likes, and it does not play backing tracks. The choices on this page are yours to make. To check how many songs fill your three sets, use the set length calculator. For how the app fits a band on mixed phones, see StageFloww for cover bands.