"When I first started playing in a band, before the Beatles, working bands played standards and they saved their rock material til the end of the night when they were really stretched out. It could be pretty lame"

Wayne Kramer reflects on a pivotal moment in the evolution of live music performance preceding the British Invasion and the rise of rock as the dominant musical force. He observes that, during the early days of band culture in America, most working bands adhered strictly to setlists filled with "standards" – recognizable, well-worn songs from the broader pop and jazz repertoire. These were songs expected by audiences, often linked to an earlier era, and played with a certain professionalism but little room for originality or improvisation. At the time, rock and roll was still emerging and carried a certain rebelliousness, perhaps considered less sophisticated or respectable compared to standards.

The structure of the evening, as Kramer describes, relegated rock material to the end of the night. Bands would reserve these energetic and potentially less-polished numbers until later in their sets, possibly under the assumption that by then the audience, for many of them a bar crowd, would be more loosened up, forgiving, or eager for something livelier. The phrase "when they were really stretched out" suggests that after hours of performance, both musicians and listeners were exhausted, affecting the quality and enthusiasm for the music being played. Rock songs were not yet the main attraction; rather, they were an afterthought, almost a novelty or a treat to close the evening.

Kramer’s final remark, "it could be pretty lame", hints at the lackluster energy and half-hearted approach that often accompanied these late-night rock performances. Musicians were fatigued, and the music risked sounding uninspired. This statement encapsulates both a critique of the period’s musical conventions and an acknowledgment of the constraints placed on artistic innovation, before the full embrace of rock’s transformative potential. The scene would soon shift, with bands like the Beatles elevating rock music to the primary focus, but for a time, energetic experimentation happened only at night’s end, often failing to capture its true spirit.