Dave's ace in the hole are his vocals..
He can 2-5 his way with a strong bass line.

I've done piano bars too. After playing for 50 years, you learn thousands of songs. I fake nearly all of 'em. Between two experienced players, there won't be much, if anything, they can't do!

If I've learned anything in all these years of playing, it's not what you do, as much as HOW you do something. If you play a request, even a skeleton version, they feel like you tried. The nature of this type of show suggests a certain repertoire that most piano guys know, or can at least fake a verse or two. It's bar room sing a long stuff - Sweet Caroline, Brown Eyed Girl, Buttercup, Twist and Shout ... etc. Each player takes a lead, and the other supports him. It's high energy, but you only sing every other song, so you get a break every 4-5 minutes to prepare for your next selection.
Fran's right - I can fake most things, as long as I'm singing the right words, and singing is my strength, so ... the piano is just a backing rhythm. Use ii V I chords and you always find your way home!

Dave
Thanks for the info. Usually you can guess what the requests will be but I hate it when someone feels they have to play "Stump the musician" and there's always one drunk who does that. Then you look like the bad guy because you can't do it.
One other question. Your setup is the most novel thing I've seen in years. Who made the piano shells? Doing curves like that takes some skill and the finish is very nice.
I've seen companies online that make dummy case but your idea of the folding tables is unique.
Put up some more pictures and maybe some songs.

Bill, through the years I have always tried to maintain a goal of learning at least one new song every week. In doing this, you are constantly introducing new songs to your act, but additionally, you are constantly adding to the list of song you perform. After a while, you will have so many songs swimming around in your head that you will be hard pressed to be stumped by any request.

I was deeply moved and honored when my son and daughter in law asked if I would provide the music for their wedding. My son was 49 and his new wife was 48, and the vast majority of the guests at the wedding were a bit younger. At the onset, I always tell the audiences that if anyone has a special song they want me to play, to write the name of the song on the back of a $20 bill and I'll be more than happy to do it. This usually draws a chuckle, and once in a while someone comes up with a $20 bill and a song written on it, which was the case at the wedding. One of the relatively younger guys wrote "Anything by ZZ Top" I fired up and performed Sharp Dressed Man, which put a dozen young ladies on the dance floor shaking their booties. While I was doing the song, my nephew said to my son "Jesus, your dad is doing a ZZ Top song!" After that song, I went right into New York, New York, and some of the older ladies were on the dancefloor doing the Rocketts High Step.

I guess my point is, with experience, and learning a new song weekly, you will rapidly get to the point where you can easily fulfill those requests.

All the best,

Gary

Sharp-dressed Man came out 34 years ago!! Still popular though!

Yeah, but when you're the age of the youngsters at the wedding, it's one of the songs they grew up with, and when you're my age, a 34 year old song is akin to something that came out last week.

Gary

Bill,
The table design is genius. It's a simple, plastic, folding banquet table. I'm guessing 48" x 24". The Curved, top part is plywood, and is mounted on wooden blocks that are bolted to the table top. The entire inside is empty, with a cutout for wires to drop through. The sides are just cloth. I think it's a kind of canvas. It's simply stapled the to edge of the Top, and drapes down to make the appearance of a piano shell. With legs folded, I can carry both at once; one under each arm.
(not MY legs, of course ... lol)
If there's a down side to the lightness, it's that people still seem to think they are more sturdy, and sometimes try to jump up on them. (Crazy people) Movies, like "The Fabulous Baker Boys" glorified a performer on top of the piano. Sheesh. So, we're always aware when someone gets too close for comfort.

We've both got iPads on the job, and a few times a night we have to look up a lyric that we need, but 90% of the routine, is just that ... routine. The key is to look like we know what we're doing - fake it 'till you make it mentality. The performer taking the lead usually gets most of the attention, so the other guy can search for something relatively unnoticed.

Some major crowd pleasers include:
Most Beatles esp. I Saw her standing there, and O Bla Di, O Bla Da
Most Billy Joel esp. Piano Man, and Italian Restaurant
Most Elton John esp. Benny and the Jets, and Crocodile Rock
Johnny B Goode
Build Me Up Buttercup
Jack and Diane
The Joker
Whats Up ( heeeeyyy, eyyyy, eeeyyyy)
Brown Eyed Girl
Maragaritaville (This lets Capt. Russ out!)
Sweet Caroline
sooooooo many more...

Pick songs with a universal hook, or simple chorus that they crowd can sing easily. The show is really ALL OF THEM, and no one in particular. It's very different from Karaoke, where singers are ego driven, and spotlighted. This is a party - plain and simple. The crowd is unified in song. It's really fun when it's the whole room singing along. The dueling aspect helps keep the energy up, but this type of sing a long can absolutely be done my a single performer. It's just harder on your chops, and less fun to watch because the banter is missing. There's LOADS of comedy and interaction between performers, as well as the connection to the crowd. Doing it alone is VERY tiring, and you can loose the crowd easily when you make all the decisions yourself.

As far as I know, this routine started in Baltimore (or New Orleans, maybe?) and was built on a concept called "Little Ditties" back in the 80s where you never got to finish a song. The people would tip to hear a song, and someone could tip 1 dollar more to STOP the song. We once got over $70 to finish Sweet Caroline. Funny stuff.

This was my FAVORITE setup ... EVER. Then again, I'm rhythm player, so ... yeah.

I would have paid $71 for you to STOP playing it ...