Bad Religion is letting you pick their set list. "Freebird" is not one of the choices.

So apparently Bad Religion is letting fans pick the set list for each night of their tour. They’re using a site called pickRset that allows users to choose the show they are going to, choose the songs they like, and hopefully get to hear them at said show.

It’s a cool system if it works. In order for it to work, the band actually has to look at the site and take the requests into consideration.

I’m not calling the integrity of Bad Religion into question on this. I’m simply saying that there really is no way to know if what they play is based on what one requested. Requesting a tried-and-true favorite will almost always yield positive results, I’m sure. For example, I’m going to see them on Thursday in Pontiac. I want to hear “American Jesus”. They’re probably going to play it either way, but if I request it, I’ll have the satisfaction of thinking I held sway somehow. For the record, it is currently the #1 pick for the Pontiac show.

Alternately, I also love the older stuff, like pretty much everything on Suffer. Choosing an obscure track would give me the satisfaction of hearing it if they played it, but I’d still have no way of knowing if they were going to play it anyway.

A hole might be opened up if there were a write-in category, where one could request obscure covers by bands nobody has heard of, but that would put undue pressure on the band. Bad Religion doesn’t want to roll into town thinking they need to quickly learn a cover by a local hardcore band that only pressed 100 copies of said song.

There are also the negatives of such a site as well, though. Unexpected gems are part of a great punk show. Hopefully, they don’t allow the site to choose their entire set.

I do encourage you to check out pickRset, though. Currently there are a handful of bands on there, many of the screaming variety that the kids find so popular these days, like Alesana. The bands that one would benefit most from, however, are bands like Reel Big Fish and NOFX, who are also on there; these are bands with a thick discography and a ton of songs. If they have an old B-side that you’d really like to hear, this method may be more effective than simply yelling it out at the show.

You can peruse Bad Religion’s schedule and make requests here, as well as use the link to scope out the other bands on the site. Bad Religion’s next show is here in Pontiac on Thursday, but the remaining dates of the tour are all called out as well.

If you are going to see Bad Religion this tour (with Gallows and the Briggs), let me know if pickRset helps you hear any particular songs (or any others from any of the other bands on the site as well). And if you’re going to the Pontiac show on Thursday, let me know and I’ll keep an eye out for you. We can sing along to “American Jesus” together.