Midway through a recent Bonnie Raitt concert, a woman shouted “Play ‘Angel From Montgomery.’” The song, a John Prine cover, was an album track for Raitt 50 years ago that became what she calls “so beloved.”

Peering into the crowd Raitt slyly said, “Well, if I was a betting woman…” earning raucous cheers. While she’s not wedded to playing the hits — Raitt left out two of her biggest singles, “Love Sneakin’ Up On You” or “Not the Only One” — she cannot imagine a show without “Angel.”

“I’m lucky enough to have songs that people will be mad if they don’t hear; that’s not a drag, it’s an honor,” Raitt says. “I’m still invested every time. ”

The phrase “set list” has a double meaning: it’s the lineup of songs, but for most artists the list is also fairly set; they may rotate a few songs in and out, but they generally stick to what they’ve rehearsed.

There are exceptions, and not just jam bands like the Allman Brothers Band or the Grateful Dead. “Bob Dylan doesn’t have a set list and I don’t think Bruce Hornsby has had one for 30 years,” says Raitt, who has five Southern California shows from Tuesday to Sept. 17, including the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa on the 14th.

Raitt’s band is constantly switching instruments for different keys and tunings, so freewheeling like Dylan would be impossible. But she likes to keep the band fresh and will typically swap out a couple of songs — and sometimes she won’t tell the band until right before or even during the show. “I’ll have my guitar guy standing there with two instruments and I’ll point to the one I want.”

Raitt is impressed by her friends Jackson Browne and James Taylor, who frequently have to close with 45 minutes of nonstop classics. “But they’ll still disappoint people because there’s not enough time for all their hits,” she says. “So I don’t know how the Stones or Paul McCartney do it.”

Raitt says she keeps her most played songs fresh “because I just naturally sing them a little differently and play the guitar solos a little differently every night,” she says. She’ll occasionally try a more conscious change like performing “Something to Talk About” with a ska beat on one tour. “We had fun doing it, but I couldn’t tell what the audience thought and you can’t interview them about whether they liked it or not,” she says. “I think you’ve got to keep those iconic songs pretty close to what people came to hear since they’re paying for the tour bus.”

While Raitt chooses songs that interest herself and her band, she never forgets her audience, conscious of not playing too many consecutive songs without something familiar.

“I’m also cognizant of how many repeat concertgoers I have,” she says. “There are people that haven’t seen me in 20 years, but a lot saw me my last two times. You have to rotate enough songs so people don’t see me wearing the same shirt or playing the same song last time I came through town.”

Raitt also talks about “setting a pace and then ramping up,” noting that playing at an outdoor festival where everyone is standing in the sun requires an emphasis on livelier tunes. “I love playing for people seated in a theater because I can get quiet and contemplative and deeper emotionally for a longer period,” she says. “It feels like a sacred space and you can get that unity of vibe with the audience.”

Generally, she works in a few songs from her latest record that resonate with fans and sets aside an acoustic section for blues and folk songs — “but I won’t put that too early” — but she’s especially conscious of spacing out her ballads like “Angel” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”

“I don’t play too many sad songs in a row,” she explains. “It just bums people out, including me.”

That means some of her favorite ballads like “Going Wild for You Baby” and “The Bed I Made” don’t make the cut because they aren’t known enough to bump the big ones.

Raitt’s biggest single, “Something to Talk About,” is poppier than most of her set, but her fans love it “and it’s a palate cleanser, a bit of relief between the other songs. So it makes me happy to play a song that brings people joy.”

She also ends her show on a high, frequently a cover like B.B. King’s “Never Make Your Move Too Soon,” or Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House.”

“I can’t play ‘Dimming of the Day’ and then say, ‘See you later,” she says. “I want to send people out with something up-tempo.”

About The Author

Stuart Miller

Stuart Miller is a writer based in New York. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Guardian.

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