Best upbeat songs to request at Jellyrolls

[Buckeye218]

My DW and I are heading to Jellyrolls in January and we'll be hitting Jellyrolls on our first night. Trying to come up with some great, uptempo songs to request. I know they play pretty much any genre, but just trying to figure out some great songs that realistically translate to a piano bar without drums, guitars or even saxophones.

Any insight from people who have been?

 

[brad813]

My DW and I are heading to Jellyrolls in January and we'll be hitting Jellyrolls on our first night. Trying to come up with some great, uptempo songs to request. I know they play pretty much any genre, but just trying to figure out some great songs that realistically translate to a piano bar without drums, guitars or even saxophones.

Any insight from people who have been?

Haven't been to JellyRolls yet, but have been to other piano bars, and think piano based pop, piano based rock, and some r&b for best results. There is a lot of stuff between the 50s and today that would make good choices, though I am partial to Billy Joel and Phil Collins, but hey, I grew up in the 80s. I hope this gives you some direction at least.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

"Red, Red Wine"?

 

[StageTek]

I request my favorite songs.

You could go with the usual: Piano Man, Sweet Caroline, Rocket Man - those always get everyone singing (and have been requested 20 times that night). Go more modern with Firework or Crazy In Love.

Are you looking for crowd pleasers or for less requested songs? What are some of YOUR favs?

 

[Wubar]

Big fan of "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel. If they play the entire thing, it's almost like 3 different songs wrapped into one!

 

[brad813]

I request my favorite songs.

You could go with the usual: Piano Man, Sweet Caroline, Rocket Man - those always get everyone singing (and have been requested 20 times that night). Go more modern with Firework or Crazy In Love.

Are you looking for crowd pleasers or for less requested songs? What are some of YOUR favs?

Not sure about Crazy In Love, but Firework is a great choice. Still, there are a lot of piano oriented modern pop and rock songs. Although I would argue 80s as modern, but I also use 80s stuff to inspire my own music. Any song by Imagine Dragons would work extremely well.

 

[StageTek]

Not here to argue about what is modern. I guess I should have said, "Go for more recent with..." A poor choice of words.

I mention "Crazy In Love" not because I think it's a great song but because it's a song I hear requested at piano bars often. Which is what Buckeye asked for.

 

[brad813]

Not here to argue about what is modern. I guess I should have said, "Go for more recent with..." A poor choice of words.

I mention "Crazy In Love" not because I think it's a great song but because it's a song I hear requested at piano bars often. Which is what Buckeye asked for.

Point well taken. Music is a complex and subjective thing.

 

[Buckeye218]

I like a lot of 80's and 90's music, especially songs with strong guitar melodies. Two of my favorites are Roll with the Changes by REO Speedwagon and Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen. I like U2, R.E.M, INXS, The Cars, Blues Travellers...

 

[brad813]

I like a lot of 80's and 90's music, especially songs with strong guitar melodies. Two of my favorites are Roll with the Changes by REO Speedwagon and Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen. I like U2, R.E.M, INXS, The Cars, Blues Travellers...

Then Imagine Dragons and similar bands would be right up your alley as well. The sound very similar to U2 to me. I did get to see REO with Def Leppard and Tesla last year. REO would definitely be a good choice for piano bars. Request things you like. You'll have a blast.

 

[georgina]

Was at Jellyrolls last week. They basically rolled their eyes at Piano Man and played it while the audience sang the words. They did Scenes from an Italian Restaurant and New York State of Mind too. They bang on the top of the piano for percussion, have harmonicas and I think one even played a tin whistle-like instrument.

Tom Petty "American Girl' was a rocker. They played some Elton John, Hotel California, Sweet Caroline. They even played Like a Virgin by Madonna for someone. We requested U2 (played With or Without You), Warren Zevon (played Werewolves of London) and Coldplay (can't remember what they played). They played some southern rock/country songs - Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jerry Lee Lewis, plus other stuff I didn't know. Several requests for Celine Dion songs which they played but I did not know. Someone requested a Disney Princess song and they played Part of Your World, also Rainbow Connection in a Kermit voice. We were there for hours and had a great time.

Apparently one way to get your request played right away was to include a $20 bill with it (most of us were giving $5).

 

[StageTek]

I like a lot of 80's and 90's music, especially songs with strong guitar melodies. Two of my favorites are Roll with the Changes by REO Speedwagon and Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen. I like U2, R.E.M, INXS, The Cars, Blues Travellers...

Looks like you've got some great songs to request! Request those two favorites and hit them with "Hook". And who doesn't love "Just What I Needed"? I bet they never get asked for "Moving in Stereo" and most people in the bar will know it. Sure it's guitar driven but the whole point of a piano bar is to see what they can do with songs. You should see what happens when "Hot for Teacher" is requested.

Are you looking for crowd pleasers or for less requested songs?

 

[Buckeye218]

I'd definitely like for them not to groan inwardly when I make a request. I'd like to give them something fun and challenging, but not something so obscure that people aren't following along.

 

[georgina]

Someone asked for some obscure song last week and the youngest guy (Jordan?) looked it up during his break and printed out the words and music and came back and took a stab at it. They said they couldn't do 99 luftballons though.

 

[StageTek]

I wonder if they know there is an English version....

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

My sister asked for The Devil Went Down to Georgia and that was super fun! Really the best way to ensure that your song is played is to give them money - they'll either play it or give your money back because they can't do that one or ask you to choose a different song, haha. I've requested some classics sans money and they didn't get played.

 

[DisneyaHolic23]

Once I saw them do a compilation of Schoolhouse Rock songs - it was really fun!!

I love this post - wish I had asked before one of the many times we visited!!

 

[beesly]

"The Time Warp" is a really fun song to see them perform because the entire bar staff participates. I requested "Can't Stop the Feeling" once and they asked me to choose a different song. I think it was because it was really new at the time, and it going to be the last song of the night so they didn't have time to learn it.

 

[katt789]

As someone who has worked in a piano bar previously, here's the go-to's that EVERYONE LOVES
-Don't Stop Believing
-Bohemiem Rhapsody
-Sweet Caroline
-Fishin in the Dark
-Roxanne

Not sure about Jelly Rolls but where we worked the players would pretty much do anything, or at least try to, they had iPads to look up stuff they might not've known. They did a lot of Disney stuff too lol

 

[Lauren Giddins]

Haven't been to Jellyrolls but I went to a dueling piano bar in Gainesville and when they played American Pie by Don McLean everyone went crazy! The whole bar was singing loudly, "Bye, bye, Miss American Pie!!! Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry!!!..." Aaahhh, the memories...