Bruce Hornsby setlists 2024

Here is our list of Bruce Hornsby 2024 setlists. Please feel free to e-mail Si with any additions or amendments to this list. Thanks to those who have contributed below!

Setlists will be added as Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers hit the road and begin their 2024 tour. Also don’t forget to check our live concert archive for downloads!

01/31/24 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall – Glasgow, UK
Set One: Soon Enough, The Road Not Taken, Never in this House, Every Little Kiss, 20/20 Vision > Night on the Town,  Lost Soul, Country Doctor, End of the Innocence
Set Two: Sneaking Up on Boo Radley > L’`Escalier du Diable, Meds, Resting Place*, The Way It Is*, Halcyon Days, Lost in the Snow, The Show Goes On< This Too Shall Pass
Encore: Mandolin Rain*
Notes:  solo piano concert. *denotes with Bela Fleck.
Hide Bruce's notesAnd so we were back at the Celtic Connections Festival twelve years later, at the same lovely hall, with (I think) the same exemplary piano, with a desire to create something special. Sound check was solid, felt good, and then the first set came, with a slightly different feeling; everything I was doing felt disturbingly loud to me, to deleterious effect. I was able to conquer it a bit, and got through the first set (they ask for two sets here, possibly to sell more drinks) in solid fashion with a few highlight moments. At the break I asked my long-time sound man partner Wayne Pooley for a few sonic adjustments, mostly “turn everything on stage DOWN!, went back out there for round 2 and voila- instant correction, and the second set soared from Boo Radley/L’Escalier to the end, including a shouted-request final five-song run (actually starting earlier with a large on-stage piece of paper yelling for Meds, right before a beautiful reunion moment with my long-time musical partner Bela Fleck, who was sublime throughout) to end the concert. It’s a rather fragile job we do, and intangibles and the ineffable rule our world.

03/07/24 University of Illinois – Urbana, IL
Set One (solo): 20/20 Vision > Night on the Town, Sneaking Up on Boo Radley, The Show Goes On, Country Doctor
Set Two: (with yMusic): The Wild Whaling Life, (My) Theory of Everything, Every Little Kiss, Platypus Wow, Phase Change, The Way It Is, Foreign Sounds, The Wake of St. Brendan, End of the Innocence > Song C > End of the Innocence, Cast-Off, Never in This House, Mandolin Rain, (Paint it Black), Deep Blue, Deep Sea Vents
Notes:  first set solo piano; second set with yMusic.
Hide Bruce's notesN/A

03/09/24 Center for the Performing Arts – Carmel, IN
Set One (solo): Song C > Harbor Lights, Sidelines, Valley Road, Halcyon Days, Song C > Sad Moon
Set Two: (with yMusic): The Wild Whaling Life, (My) Theory of Everything, Every Little Kiss, Platypus Wow, Phase Change, The Way It Is, Foreign Sounds, The Wake of St. Brendan, End of the Innocence > Song C > End of the Innocence, Cast-Off, Never in This House, Deep Blue, Deep Sea Vents, Mandolin Rain
Notes:  first set solo piano; second set with yMusic.
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03/09/24 Pick-Staiger Concert Hall – Evanston, IL
Set One (solo): Cyclone, Preacher in the Ring Part One > (Barber Booty), The Show Goes On, Sneaking Up on Boo Radley
Set Two: (with yMusic): The Wild Whaling Life, (My) Theory of Everything, Mandolin Rain, Platypus Wow, Phase Change, The Way It Is, Foreign Sounds, The Wake of St. Brendan, End of the Innocence > Song C > End of the Innocence, Cast-Off, Never in This House, Deep Blue, Deep Sea Vents
Notes:  first set solo piano; second set with yMusic.
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03/14/24 Herzberg Hall – Kansas City, MO
Set One (solo): Harbor Lights, My Resolve, The Show Goes On, Preacher in the Ring Part One
Set Two: (with yMusic): The Wild Whaling Life, (My) Theory of Everything, Every Little Kiss, Phase Change, Platypus Wow, The Way It Is, Foreign Sounds, The Wake of St. Brendan, End of the Innocence, Cast-Off, Never in This House, Deep Blue, Deep Sea Vents, Hooray for Tom
Notes:  first set solo piano; second set with yMusic.
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03/15/24 J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts – St Charles, MO
Set One (solo): Sneaking Up on Boo Radley, Here We Are Again, Soon Enough, Country Doctor
Set Two: (with yMusic): The Wild Whaling Life, (My) Theory of Everything, Mandolin Rain, Phase Change, Platypus Wow, The Way It Is, Foreign Sounds, The Wake of St. Brendan, End of the Innocence, Never in This House, Deep Blue, Deep Sea Vents
Notes:  first set solo piano; second set with yMusic.
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03/21/24 Ferguson Center for the Arts – Newport News, VA
Set One (solo): Country Doctor, Sneaking Up on Boo Radley, Continents Drift, Night on the Town
Set Two: (with yMusic): The Wild Whaling Life, (My) Theory of Everything, Mandolin Rain, Platypus Wow, The Way It Is > Changes (Tupac), Phase Change, Foreign Sounds, The Wake of St. Brendan, Song B > End of the Innocence > Song A, Never in This House, Deep Blue, Deep Sea Vents
Notes:  first set solo piano; second set with yMusic.
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06/18/24 South Bank Centre – London, UK
Days Ahead, Soon Enough, Look Out Any Window, Cast-Off, Country Doctor > (L’Escalier du Diable), End of the Innocence > Song A, Fairytale of New York (w/Olivia Chaney), Schoenberg Gavotte > The Way It Is > Goldberg Variation 1 > The Way It Is, Halcyon Days, Love Me Still > Dreamland > Hooray for Tom, Preacher in the Ring Part One > Webern Variation #2 > Preacher > (Cherokee) > (Catenaires), Mandolin Rain (w/Olivia Chaney)
Notes: solo piano show.Hide Bruce's notesWhat a special night in London. Playing solo at the Royal Festival Hall, the vaunted venue inside the Southbank Centre, was a real joy. Starting with “Days Ahead”, from the ‘Flicted album was the right first move judging from the response, and continued with “Soon Enough”, which I always seem to play in the U.K. because it has, to me, a very Paul Brady-esque Irish-British Isles flavor. Then went back and forth from the old to the new with 1988’s “Look Out Any Window” into 2019’s “Cast-Off”, then on to the “blues meets two- handed independence meets the modern” combo of my “murder ballad” “Country Doctor” into the Ligeti Etude 13 excerpt. A 90-minute set limit was a challenge, but I tried to cover as many stylistic bases and eras of my career as possible, and was able to find time for a cover, The Pogues’ “Fairytale Of New York”, sung with my British friend and fantastic artist Olivia Chaney, who also helped out on “Mandolin Rain” for the encore. There were so many requests and so little time that I decided to run a few together for a spontaneous medley, highlighting songs sung on record with several of my English musical mates through the years, plus the song written with Festival curator Chaka Khan (whose invitation led me to play this concert) back in 1994. Special thanks to Chaka for making this happen, and to the audience for being so interested and receptive.

06/27/24 Memorial Hall – Plymouth, MA
Living in the Sunshine, Line in the Dust, Sneaking Up On Boo Radley > (Ligeti Etude 13), Across the River, Song C > Meds, The Way It Is, MIA in M.I.A.M.I.*, Valley Road*, Over the Rise*, Pete And Manny**, Halcyon Days, Chad/John/JV solo-duo-trio > Great Divide, End of the Innocence
Notes: * denotes with dulcimer. ** denotes with accordion.Hide Bruce's notesOur 2024 opening night was really special. Totally engaged audience, played mostly requests (lots of Spirit Trail devotees in the house), and the sound on stage had surprising clarity for a big old-time community hall. Fully six of the fourteen songs (we stretched a good bit on several) came from the featured old 1998 record, all requested, and “Over The Rise” achieved serious lift-off, starting strong and rising and rising from there. The band was in total mid-to late-tour form right away, and I hope we can sustain that all the way into early October!

06/29/24 Ulster Performing Arts Center – Kingston, NY
Preacher in the Ring Part 1 > Variation #2 > Cherokee > (Ligeti Etude #13), – all BH.Chad Wright duo, Preacher In The Ring part 2, Song C > Sad Moon, Fields of Gray, Rat King, Bucket List (first public performance), The Way It Is > Goldberg Variation #1, LIDAR*, Every Little Kiss*, Prairie Dog Town*, Jacob’s Ladder**, In A Gadda Da Vida > My Favorite Things Variations, Funhouse, White-Wheeled Limousine, Rubber Band Rainbow
Notes: * denotes with dulcimer. ** denotes with accordion.Hide Bruce's notesToward the end of our first concert Thursday night in Plymouth, MA I started feeling a slight vocal deterioration, enough to decide to have a silent off-day on Friday. Saturday’s soundcheck arrived and I still felt there was an issue, and sure enough there was, and I had a vocally difficult time on an otherwise very strong band night in Kingston. By the last half of the gig I had lost my lower and upper range and was just gutting it out, caressing and being careful to try to keep it at least semi-acceptable. By the end my voice was virtually gone, shot, and damaged. We will have to pause, postpone some dates, and try to regroup (including a mostly silent extended vocal time) for the last few shows of this run. Too bad, because the night was really good in every other way. Great requests from a knowledgeable crowd, mostly Spirit Trail and White-Wheeled Limousine requests. We played two first-time performances, “Bucket List” from ‘Flicted and our new “Rubber Band Rainbow” version – you’ll just have to come see us to find out what that one’s about!

07/11/24 Meijer Gardens – Grand Rapids, MI
Life in the Psychotropics, Cast-Off, Every Little Kiss, Here We Are Again, Meds, Schoenberg Gavotte >  Hymn in C, Mandolin Rain > That Would Be Something, Country Doctor, Prairie Dog Town, Rubber Band Rainbow, The Way It Is
Notes: Psychotropics – Meds with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra. Whole show with Noisemakers. Hide Bruce's notesThis concert was one of the craziest, most unpredictable and wildest ever. The weather called for a very nice night, but right before we went on (7:30) the sky started rumbling and lightning was seen in the distance. We went on with the orchestra, an extremely adept Grand Rapids Symphony led by the very capable and collegial conductor Bob Bernhardt, and started playing for a big-ass sold-out crowd. We were rolling along well, playing the first five songs of our orchestral set. Then I played a semi-lengthy intro to precede The Way It Is, got fairly deeply involved with it, finished and looked up to cue the ensemble and saw….. no conductor, virtually no orchestra! They had been pulled from the stage because of the imminent weather barrage. I stopped, looked around, laughing, band still with me, then our long-time beautiful tour manager Matt Clery came on to tell us that they wanted us to play some more (the orchestra has a policy of stage removal when weather threatens). At this point the rain was hitting hard and a solid number of audience members were bailing, but we played a couple of songs before WE also were removed. My voice was still not all there, so I asked the remaining hard-cores to sing the high Mandolin Rain choruses for me, and they lustily joined in; I never do that “audience-participation” thing, but it made for a very nice moment in the rain. After a wait of around 15 minutes, we were asked to play a few more (we had been getting bulletins from Matt regarding how the powers-that-be wanted to proceed), so we played three more songs for the existing audience, which was still fairly sizable given the downpour and threatening lightning in the now-nearer distance. Prairie Dog Town, the new Rubber Band Rainbow and finally Way It Is, and then we were pulled by the venue. The crowd was just fantastic, so vociferous in a great, positive way, and we hope to be able to come back and complete the job sometime in the future.

07/12/24 Orpheum Theatre – Madison, WI 
John M intro > Bright Star Cast, See the Same Way, Sneaking Up on Boo Radley > L’Escalier du Diable, End of the Innocence, Circus on the Moon, Mandolin Rain (Skaggs-Hornsby version), No Limits – first public performance, JT Intro> (BH Hymn in C) > The Way It Is > Goldberg Variation #1, Tipping*, Every Little Kiss*, Mirror on the Wall*, Prairie Dog Town*, Jacob’s Ladder**,  La Fiesta (Chick Corea) > Walk in the Sun > On Broadway > This Magic Moment,  Rubber Band Rainbow, (Absolute Zero), Valley Road*
Notes: * denotes with dulcimer. ** denotes with accordion.Hide Bruce's notesThis being our third night in a row (including a four-hour orchestral rehearsal on Thursday night), there was a concern about the beleaguered and besieged voice, but surprisingly it kept getting stronger by the night! I pretty much had most of it (such as it is haha) and felt confident all night that I could hit the notes needed. The Madison crowd came especially armed with requests, possibly the most ever; at least 200-250! So most best-laid plans flew away and almost every song played was from the fairly massive request pile. The band was on their toes and our collective memory was almost completely served all night (almost!). Another first-time-ever performance occurred with the unveiling of “No Limits”, the last song on 2020’s Non- Secure Connection, upbeat and exciting and a very nice new addition. “Rainbow’s Cadillac” was the most-requested song, so we gave them our new arrangement at the end to nice effect. JT was back in the Intro saddle before “Way It Is”, which was NOT a request during the night (which actually happens not infrequently, I think because a lot of requesters are looking for deeper, less well-known but personal favorite cuts), and John-Gibb “Prairie Dog” breakdown is developing with each new version. JV’s spontaneous entrance at the end of “Same Way” totally kicked it to a new higher level, as did Chad’s washboard solo in”Valley Road” (as always!!). We can’t wait to come back to Madison.

07/14/24 Corson Auditorium – Interlochen, WI
Intro > Study #22 (Charles Ives) > Preacher in the Ring Part 1 (Chad-Bruce duo) > Variation #2 > Cherokee (Bud Powell) > (Catenaires), Preacher in the Ring Part 2, Living in the Sunshine, Line in the Dust, The Way It Is > Goldberg Variation #1, Absolute Zero, Bucket List, End of the Innocence, Shadow Hand*, Is This It*, Over The Rise*, Pete And Manny**, Across the River, Funhouse (with Wayne Pooley on guitar and vocals), Hooray for Tom (BH solo)
Notes: * denotes with dulcimer. ** denotes with accordion.Hide Bruce's notesFor the last concert of this run we returned to Interlochen, the legendary summer music camp destination, two years after we last played there. I often try to nod to the location, so in this case I opened with the Chad-BH duo version of Preacher 1 with the astringent Charles Ives short piece “Study #22,” then followed with the usual modern music intrusions that we Chad and I play together on the song; Anton Webern’s “Variation 2” and Elliott Carter’s “Catenaires”, with a new entrant, some of Bud Powell’s solo on “Cherokee”. It’s possible that very few in the audience had any idea about this music, but it works well capturing the anxiety-riddled, dangerous environment of the song’s subject matter, at least to me.
The response was very strong, and continued through the set, and the sound of the hall was clear and lovely (I often mention hall acoustics because it’s so important to our approach and presentation).
This was a Spirit Trail box set night, where the venue accepts the set being included in the ticket price, so we featured a sizable number of songs (6!) from the collection. “Living In the Sunshine” and “Line In The Dust” achieved lift-off, as did “Over The Rise” (as usual) with Gibb and John and the band hitting soaring heights in the dulcimer set. Next we move out West, two weekends from now for the first time in two years, starting at a Casino in Reno. We’ve always been very good at packin’ ’em out on the Casino circuit (as opposed to packin’ ’em in), and this gig will probably prove to be no different! Seriously though, we have lots of very enjoyable gigs coming up out there, from California and Arizona to Montana and Oregon, and really look forward to them.