My best gigs always involved engaged fans. I love it when an audience has a burning desire to hear and sing along to their favorite songs, even if it's Mustang Sally.  

The worst gigs always involve band leaders, and musicians focused more on the clock, their overtime pay, and not repeating songs - especially Mustang Sally. Almost always, the audience becomes upset and disengaged.  

Your fans have problems and needs. They see you, and the experience you create, as the answer to these problems. They are not attending to satisfy your need for recognition. They show up because you give them something they crave.  

They desperately crave this connection with you, and other fans, that they'll ask for the same songs over, and over, and over again. It's not dull, repetitive, or lacking in ingenuity for them. For them, it's reliving an experience you had once given them. For them, you allow them to feel part of something bigger than themselves.  If that's the case, why do we buck our audiences?

Why do we call sets at the time we're supposed to stop when our audiences want more? Why do you tell your fans, "I'm sorry, we played that song earlier, how about this song?" Are you the answer to their needs?   

Empathy sets us free. The ability to see another's problems earns us the right to be their answer.  

• When we can be someone else's answer, we demonstrate care.

• When we show care, we help build a better world.

• When we make the world better, others will reward us with their respect, attention, support, and even their money.

But first, you must be an answer.  

So yes, repeat the song. Play the music that may not artistically fulfill you. Don't play the gig for yourself. Serve others who came to receive from you an answer to their problems. Be their answer.  

Repeating is fine.