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Encores

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sjbrot:
I've been to a few concerts in the past while, and I always find myself pissed about the encores. They are no longer something spontaneous and special and are now just assumed. The band walks off of the stage, the lights in the venue stay down, and everyone knows that the band will just come back out. It's like some big illusion that everyone pretends is real.

Does this bug anyone else? Am I the only one who wishes that the band would just play their set and stop kidding with everyone?

La Creme:
Not when its the Eels. And they play 3 encores. The third of which is a 20-minute jam on Mr. E's Beautiful Blues.

And also not when its the Bad Plus, and they come back and play Big Eater REALLY FAST.

Or when its the Aquabats, and they throw marshmallows to the audience.

So basically I am saying NO!

Inlander:
If you've got a significant number of people in the audience shouting out "more" or "encore", you'd have to be a bit of a bastard not to come back and play another two or three songs.  And when people make an effort to go and see bands that they like, naturally they're going to want to get as much out of the experience as possible.  So, encores happen at every major gig because there will be people at those gigs who are major fans of the band.  To suggest that the band or the audience or whoever are somehow charlatans just because they play an inevitable encore is just absurd.

If you want to go to a gig and not have to worry about any "unspontaneous" encores, go down to your local pub and have a listen to the unknown band playing to a crowd of indifferent drinkers on a Wednesday night.  They'll appreciate it.

Everest:
I'm with you, sjbrot, that generally annoys the hell out of me. Encores should be spontaneous, but in nearly all shows I've seen, it all just happens because the general sentiment of both bands and audience is that "that's the way it has to be done". Lame. Is it the audience's fault, for yelling "we want more!"? Is it the band's fault for trying too hard to end their set in a "memorable" way?

I don't know, but if there's going to be an encore, the least a band can do is to not fool the audience with the whole "hey look, the stage lights are out, we're off-stage, so see you later, we're gone!... Or are we?" charade. We know you're not gone, you left your instruments plugged in onstage, for fuck's sake, your roadies aren't moving in to clean up. You're only drinking a beer, and chatting about how it went so far, and wondering if the audience is still dumb enough to know that it's an illusion, even after all those shows they've seen. So very lame.

That said, I suppose there can be good encores, but they are very rare. I've never seen any. Maybe it's not the greatest reference, but Blink 182's Tom, Mark & Travis Show (their live album) was a good, straightforward effort in the matter: at least they said their "encore" is just a fake.

(Yes, I have that album. Shoot me.)

Rizzo:

--- Quote from: Everest ---I don't know, but if there's going to be an encore, the least a band can do is to not fool the audience with the whole "hey look, the stage lights are out, we're off-stage, so see you later, we're gone!... Or are we?" charade. We know you're not gone, you left your instruments plugged in onstage, for fuck's sake, your roadies aren't moving in to clean up. You're only drinking a beer, and chatting about how it went so far, and wondering if the audience is still dumb enough to know that it's an illusion, even after all those shows they've seen. So very lame.

--- End quote ---


When Interpol came to New Zealand in August they did an encore of sorts, it was fake because it was the setlist but they left and the roadies started packing up and so on.
People started to move off but after about 3 minutes of general cheering they came back out and played another three songs. It all ended with the singer (Paul somthing?) playing a 5 minute feedback solo on his own on stage.. it might have been fake but it was damn cool.
But there should definately be more spontaneous encores.

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