Thoughts on bands debuting new songs live?

What do you think when a band decides to debut a new or even previously unreleased song during concerts?

From a fan's point of view, it's a treat!  Who doesn't want to be the first to hear some new music from a favorite band?

I'd rather hear something I know when it comes to live music, especially after combing through their catalog before the concert so that I know every song.

Stavesacre used to do this a lot and I didn't appreciate it at the time, but, now that I listen to the song on cd in retrospect, I think, yeah, I remember when Stavesacre played "Night Town" to start off their concert before they put out on an album.  And it creates an interesting memory.

Extol also used to use an unreleased song to start off their concerts and later it would be the instrumental "Paralysis" on an EP of the same name.

It's kinda music's version of focus groups.

I wouldn't open a show with a new song because that's not what people are wanting.  As a fan, that would be disappointing as my expectations would be set on something familiar.  I would put a new song in the middle of the set and ask the audience if they would like to hear a new song before performing it.

I'm okay with it as long as there are maybe 1-3 at most.

My beef is with bands that don't play the songs I actually want to hear at concerts.
I don't go to many shows, but if it is a band I am considering seeing, I look at tour set lists now.  
If I don't care for the tour set list (or the You Tube clips), I don't go.  Most recent example is Yes.

Diddo. Most recent example is Dream Theater.

Sevenoneself wrote:Diddo. Most recent example is Dream Theater.

Exactly.  Dream Theater would be my 2nd best example.  I remember they came to Madison Square Garden in the mid-2000s and I was thinking of going but then I looked at the setlist...it was mostly from Train of Thought and almost nothing from the albums prior that I liked.

Seeing Obituary perform The Wrong Time before the new album came out this year was pretty awesome.

I saw Petra at Jesus Northwest, must have in '87, and they played This Means War before the album was released.  That was cool to hear.

I think it’s great. When bands play songs live, they get a better feel for them and the studio recording is then better.