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Sandy • After Monday night's show at the Sandy Amphitheater, I've seen Collective Soul about eight or 10 times now (I've lost official count). Back when the missus and I did not share much overlap in our musical interests, the not-quite-grunge '90s radio staples proved a solid sonic Venn Diagram for her favored '70s and '80s yacht rock and my proclivities toward melodic metal.

The thing is, seeing Collective Soul eight or 10 times is not the same as seeing, say, Pearl Jam eight or 10 times. With the latter, you virtually never get the same setlist from show to show, and seeing them dive into the darkest corners of their catalog is half the fun.

With the former, you mostly know what you're going to get. I guess that's to be expected. Given frontman Ed Roland's professed love of vinyl, the band practically can't help but stay in the same groove.

And so, Roland whirls and struts around the stage, tossing his mic stand from hand to hand, intermittently strapping on an acoustic guitar and busting out a still-high-quality falsetto. Rhythm guitarist Dean Roland and bassist Will Turpin remain largely rooted in place. The setlist is dominated by tracks from their second studio album and by new or newish stuff (they played just two songs from the four albums they put out between 2000-2014).

Which is not to say predictable is bad. CS know what they're good at, and they stay reliably in their lane.

The packed house in Sandy certainly didn't seem to mind. The early hits were still anthemic. The newer stuff didn't yield a precipitous dropoff.

If you go to a Collective Soul show, it's really hard to have a bad time.

But, if you've seen them enough, it may also be hard to have an exceptional one.

Opening song • The Georgia boys kept things "Simple," leading off with the leadoff track from their biggest album, 1995's self-titled "Collective Soul."

Highlight • If the overall set was familiar, the trio of new songs bound for a new album next year proved the pleasant surprise Ed Roland hoped for. The band busted out "Right As Rain," "All Our Pieces," and "Rule No. 1" right in the middle of the set, and they did provide a welcome dose of the unexpected.

Lowlight • OK, two minor quibbles, then one serious problem. The small stuff: Hey, lead guitarist Jesse Triplett, I love Gibson Les Pauls too, more than any other guitar out there, but the one you're using for "Why Pt. 2" ain't working; the tone is just off. And hey, Ed Roland, there are literally billions of songs out there to cover. Why would you pick one — say, Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down" — that you don't know all the words to and which requires a tech to bring you a music stand with the lyrics? C'mon, man.

Now, as for the legit gripe: What kind of world are we living in when, at a Collective Soul show, the lights have come on, the house music is playing, the roadies are tearing down the stage, and the crowd is streaming to the parking lots, but "Precious Declaration," "Hollywood," and "Needs" have not been performed? Egregious and scandalous! Don't let it happen again!

Crowd favorite • It's certainly fair to say "Shine" hasn't lost any of its luster for audiences. The track's muscular riffage helped to break the band way back in 1994, and it still does its part getting people out of their seats today.

Best quotes • Roland remains a charmingly goofy banterist. He claimed CS loves coming to Utah because he has family here: "My Uncle Dave is here. Uncle Dave took me all around and showed me the city and the state. And he didn't even charge me that much!"

He prefaced the first of the new songs by joking the crowd had no choice but to listen: "So, with your permission, we're gonna play something new. I mean, we're gonna play it anyway, but we'd like you to appreciate that you're hearing something that's never been played for anyone!"

And, before closing out the set with "Run," he channeled his best happy hippie stoner rocker dude, capping it off with some fuzzy math: "We're a rock 'n' roll band. We live our lives by having fun and giving love. That equals peace, man!"

Up next at Sandy Amphitheater • Michael Martin Murphey, Thursday, 8 p.m.

ewalden@sltrib.com

Twitter: @esotericwalden —

Collective Soul setlist

1. Simple

2. Hurricane

3. Heavy

4. Listen

5. Why Pt. 2

6. Shine

7. Better Now

8. Contagious

9. Right As Rain

10. All Our Pieces

11. Rule No. 1

12. Are You the Answer

13. December

14. The World I Know

15. Gel

16. Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover)

17. Where the River Flows

18. Run