My mate has a home recording studio, and uses my remedial guitar playing and frankly effin awful vioce (which is usually re-dubbed by the Mrs) to practice on.
The last few recordings done have been:
Daydream Believer
Streets of London
Halleluljah
Alternative Ulster
Whats So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding
and
The Wild Rover

No knuckle-crunching chords (if I can play 'em, anyone can)

Good luck to you and enjoy the performance
I applaud anyone prepared to perform

The Verve are easy to play and have good singalong value.Harry Hill is on,Ill get back to you after.

:-)

that I wouldn't mention Del Amitri on here again but "Nothing Ever Happens", "Tell Her This" and "Be My Downfall" are very easy, trust me I'm hopeless a guitar but even I can get close to what they should sound like.

If all else fails find the acoustic version of "Livin On A Prayer".

Get yerself a copy of Neil Young's "Comes A Time" and then learn "Human Highway". 'Barely adequate' guitar and vocal technique a positive advantage. On the upside, it wil also teach you everything you will ever need to know about writing a song.

In Your Arms by The Lemonheads is a piece of piss but probably not much of a crowd-pleaser.

Summer Of '69 is a good 'un. A few simple arpeggios and the odd easy barre plus a non-tricky key-change. Get in.

On And On by Longpigs is a lovely song. Easy to play but a bit of a bugger to sing, though.

If you want to show off, stick the axe into open G and go all Big Star. Like this.

I want to do this. I really do.

Simple pimple and always a crowd pleaser

I once heard it played under exactly the situation you described (open mic etc) and even though I'd heard it a hundred times it suddenly became one of my favourite songs. It was just perfect for the situation. Not much of a singalong though.

Gotta be "wonderwall" these days surely.

I always find "Folsom Prison Blues" goes down well!

....but I'm over 50 so you might not know any of the songs.

Happy To Be Here - Todd Snider .....this is sort of an introductory song as the last line is "I'm happy to be here with y'all".
Alright Guy - Todd Snider
My Old Friend The Blues - Steve Earle
Someday - Steve Earle
She's No Lady - Lyle Lovett
Spookin' The Horses - Fred Eaglesmith
The Outdoor Type - Evan Dando(might be The Lemonheads)
Poor Boy - Steve Earle
Jerusalem - Steve Earle
Master Of Disaster - John Hiatt
Pride And Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan

There is a little method in this setlist....the first two are both in G and require heavy strumming. The next 2 though both still in G are much quieter. The next 3 are all quite funny and if anyone is actually listening I might get a laugh or 2. Poor Boy goes to a 12 bar shuffle which usually wakes up the folks that are sleeping and the next 2 are a bit depressing but I like them. The last one is the highlight and lets me show off my limited guitar skills.

I have done this on 3 occasions in public but mostly it's performed to my bedroom mirror. I learned these songs because I love them all but the sad fact is that nobody else knows them and I always get asked "Do you not know any Queen songs?" or "play something we all know"???????

Have a ball....you'll get a huge kick out of it.

I've done these before - quite easy, even after a few light ales

Climbing To The Moon (Eels)
I Wouldn't Believe Your Radio (Stereophonics)
Toxic (Britney Spears)
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
Teardrop (Massive Attack)
One Love (Bob Marley)

they all worked well for me anyway

you'll either get pint glasses thrown at you or receive much love from ladies of a certain vintage if they are 'in da house'.

What kind of music do you like playing / listening to, and just as important: what's the venue like? Can you get away with playing something a bit different, something people might not have heard before?

Open mic nights can vary wildly. At the best kind, you can get away with playing pretty much anything and people will listen attentively. But at some, you have to play something recognisable and upbeat to get people's attention.

I started out playing Ryan Adams and Neil Young covers before dropping in cheesy stuff like Summer of 69 for a laugh. Then I noticed that people were completely ignoring the Ryan and only really responding to the Bryan. I empathise with bigsteviecook getting asked for Queen. Having since progressed from open mic to my own acoustic gigs I get a similar thing except it's normally Oasis - or, simply, "Wasis!" You can spot the type as soon as they come in. As a rule, if they're wearing an England shirt, they want Wasis.

Anyway, I find that an unlikely cover often works well - like Travis's version of Baby One More Time. Or seek out Ben's Brother's great version of Poker Face (simple to play, too). It can be a bit tongue in cheek, but often there's a beautful melody at the heart of these songs that makes them worth doing, and the recognition factor gets people's attention. Or if you feel like being silly, Hey Ya only has three chords and is a great call and response song.

Alternatively:

I Saw Her Standing There - never fails. Has two hooks: 'how could I dance with another, ooooh' and 'held her hand in miiiine' (see the Catchiness: the greatest gift that hits possess thread). The original's in E, and a bit hard to sing, but it works just as well in D (which has fewer barre chords) or even C.

Ziggy Stardust - easy to sing and fairly easy to play, but to non-guitarists it looks harder than it is.

Tainted Love - capo on the third (or 2nd, 1st, or not at all), Em, G, C, Am for the verse, E major, G, C, Am for the chorus. Easy, and it gets people banging the tables to the '*Duh-duh* tainted love!' bit.

If you haven't already, try www.chordie.com - great source of song chords (if sometimes inaccurate) with a clever gizmo on the right hand side of the screen which lets you choose which key you want to play in.

Finally, at every open mic I've played in, the newbies always get a fair hearing and a warm reception - so however you do, you'll go down a storm. Enjoy it!

On the topic of set lists......

Get yourself a copy of the "Backbeat" soundtrack......learn, then play. Add "Seven Nights To Rock" as your final song for some audience participation and BINGO....you and band get standing ovation and your pint pot is nicely filled with shiny £1 coins.

Believe me, this works. Fail safe. You cannot go wrong...

For info, the "Backbeat" soundtrack comprises of RnR staples such as "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Money", "Twist and Shout" and "Please, Mr Postman". 35 minutes of audience man love.

In Southampton was a great pub. Filled with pissed students and a bloke with a guitar trotting out the standards, with standard responses which I was reminded of by Mike Wazowski's "Miiiieeeeeeennneeee" comment. Others included The Sloop John B "I feel so broke up (OMNES:"SHIT!!") I wanna go home" and, of course, My Generation "Why don't you all F..F..F..(OMNES:"FUCK OFF!!!")F.. Fade away.." Plus, of course, You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're Mine which would be shouted down with "You're fourteen, you're jailbait and you're fine"

Wouldn't sing that now, of course.

A good night was had. Much food for thought above on future setlists too.
Ta.