The guys are defnitely conscious of the experience level of the audience and often open the set accordingly. Formula in new cities, anything goes in New England and other strong cities.
I\'m still not sure what is the best way generalize what people want, especially when you\'ve got a room full of fans who you don\'t know. Kroop always said, along with some posts in this thread, that you gotta play simple versions of catchy songs at the beginning of a set to draw people into it. While I\'m certain that this will work for some people, I\'m not sure that it will turn on more people than a 2-5 minute jam into WUIAC or Sundance or Escher\'s etc. would. When I think about who, at the end of the day, is really going to flip out over this band and go to lots of shows, I think it\'s the people who are turned on more by jam > x. When I see a band for the first time I get much more involved by seeing them open with a creative jam into a nutty tune rather than 3 5-minute songs. The key is learning whether that puts me in the majority or minority. Variety is important as well.
