i always start with a crowd pleaser! people will go nuts for new york new york or tenacious d tribute. depending on the vibe i got kesha rainbow in my back pocket for that too. after that it really depends on the crowd-at my regular place in seattle it was a punky dive type situation so i’d do some bomb the music industry or pup (or baby i’m an anarchist by against me, that goes over real well), but here in my hometown i’ll lean a little more country or play the hits. also, no children by mountain goats always works. if the crowd knows it they lose their shit and if they don’t they get to hear it the first time and go whoa! cool! if it’s a fun time in there i’ll toss in barenaked ladies one week which is more like a party trick than anything but it works. i’ll go elton pretty often cause everyone loves your song i guess that’s why they call it the blues.

i guess i’ll just list a bunch of my other standards here now. bones by the killers, still into you by paramore, jack vs jose by roger clyne and the peacemakers, liability by lorde if people are doing sad stuff. kiss off by violent femmes. thrash unreal or black me out by against me. maybe i’ll update this later if more stuff comes to mind