I was talking tonight about encores & how at every show it's expected now. But I was wondering when that expectation became the norm. Or was it always that way?
I was talking tonight about encores & how at every show it's expected now. But I was wondering when that expectation became the norm. Or was it always that way?
I don't remember exactly when that started happening. I hate it. It's not an encore, it's just a planned break before a final song or two. Lame. And we even do it- you have to. If you didn't come back and play another song (as a headliner, anyway) people would think it was weird.
True. Exactly what my friend said.Originally Posted by trurl
"The Fake Goodbye" as Blue Man Group called it when I saw them perform. What's even worse is when the performers come back onstage and act like they got drawn back onstage because "You wouldn't let us leave" or whatever. I forget which comedian who said he went to a concert where the performer actually said that onstage and he responded, "Shut up! You wouldn't turn the lights on!".
Now, there was that one NEARfest, I think it was the first time Banco Del Muteo Soccorso played, they actually left the stage after their traditional finale, and this was this impossibly long pause before the band came back on. I think that was a genuine encore, where the band came back on due to the demand of the audience. I think the same thing happened with Magma the second time they played NEARfest, there was that pause before they came back out and played Lïhns.
There was also a story I once heard about a Bruce Springsteen show back in the early 80's, where the house lights had been turned on, the audience was starting to leave, the crew started dismantling the stage, and Bruce decided he wasn't finished for the night, so he jumped back onstage, and started singing again.
“we're going to skip the ‘leave stage / return / surprise audience by playing another unexpected numbers’ bit; we are playing one more song now and after that we won't return. thank you all for coming here tonight.” mike vennart/OCEANSiZE – hamburg, logo club, 2005. i was impressed by so much forthrightness.
Yup
but a lot of British bands are nowadays only playing one encore nowadays...
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I was at a gig about 2 years ago, when just before a song the singer said words to the effect of "we're not going to go off then come back on a few seconds later to play more songs, that's just stupid and wastes time , we're going to play them now, then when we go off, we stay off"
Brilliant!
Last edited by PeterG; 11-09-2013 at 09:28 AM.
I've seen more of this lately than ever before...
Yeah, it's a ritual, and it doesn't really bother me. When Klaus Schulze plays, he typically plays two long numbers followed by a shorter number. I think of concerts with an encore kind of like that.
It's just the whole conceit of leaving the stage and then acting like you're being called back. And 95% of the time the audience does want to hear more, but if you plan to play those songs anyway, just play them. Or if you want a break say "We're taking a quick break, see you in 5 minutes".It's like now you need an anti-encore: if you don't want the band to come back you have to boo them off the stage at the end of their show *lol*
It is silly, but every band does it, it's just the way things are. The real eye-rolling moment though is the obligatory "Thank you, goodnight!" and the band all waving and running off stage when they (and we) know damn well they're coming right back. Ahh well, what can you do?
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I've stood there whooping and applauding for the inevitable encore, all the while thinking, "Oh come on, get on stage and get this over with, you know you're GONNA!"
Yup
We don't....as a matter of fact, there has been a time or two when the audience yells "One more! One more!" and I have gotten on the mic and said "OK, Im going to show up at all your jobs at the end of your work day and yell 'Flip another burger! Hammer another nail!' "
I saw Phish last week and, while they did do an encore, it was only one song and it lasted only about 3 minutes. However, the encore came at 12:45 am and they started the show at 8:15.
There was a story I remember Flea telling, I don't know if this ever actually happened, but he told of a Red Hot Chilli Peppers show where they came out for their encore and the entire band played one single staccato note, and that was it.
Conversely, it's been said Husker Du once did a show where, for the encore, they played one chord continuously for 45 minutes.
In the early 70s we had to EARN an encore with loud clapping and stomping. Now it's a joke. I wish artists would LEAVE without doing one - it would serve their lazy half-engaged audiences who weren't really listening anyway right.
I saw them in 1990. The encore they did was a nonsense jam, but they all switched instruments: Flea on drums, Anthony on bass, Chad on guitar, John fronting....Flea was the only one that knew how to play the "switched" instrument (drums). Anthony plucked a few notes on the bass like a guy whose been playing about a week. Chad fumbled through some power chords and John freestyled vox....It was .....bizarre
I saw Peter Gabriel at Kleinhans Music hall in Buffalo NY, in 1980 and he finished the show with an encore of "On
the air" and "DIY" and then the house lights were switched on but the crowd refused to leave and stayed cheering on. After a few minutes of this they switched the houselights back off and he came out and sang a solo version of "Here comes the flood". As he sang two fans lept onstage and wraped him in their spray painted homemade bedsheet banner and the crowd went nuts. I was thirteen at the time but I remember it like it was yesterday, one of the greatest encores I ever saw.
Yeah? Who said that?
Re: The Husker Du one chord/45 minute encore:
It was something I recall reading in an interview with Bob Mould way back in the 80's.
It's just the whole conceit of leaving the stage and then acting like you're being called back. And 95% of the time the audience does want to hear more, but if you plan to play those songs anyway, just play them. Or if you want a break say "We're taking a quick break, see you in 5 minutes".
That reminds me a Brian Auger & Oblivion Express concert around 95 in Brussels' Fool Moon
The man did five encores (and two songs in everyone of them)... Of course he played some songs twice over the evening... And when the crowd was leaving the place (over 75% empty), he came back for a sixth (the crowd was dead and not askinf for more)... You could see the man wanted to play all night (unfortunately, he couldn't since after midnight, the place was a disco)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Embarrassing. That story should be the official cautionary tale for concert encores.
Maybe I should rephrase that... The public was simply quite content and extatic that they'd gotten five encores... It was way more than they could've expected, and a lot of the crowd knew of the place turning in a night club and its policies (double price for drinks)... so it (public) got caught off-gard when a sixth one was comming...
So alsolutely nothing embarrassing.... the few lucky ones still inside the place (I had a buddy looking for autographs on his vinyls) had another freebie...
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Trane, that reminds me of the first time I saw Marillion (well, it was actually just "Los Trios Marillos", the band minus Kelly and Mosley), at a place called The Mod Club in Toronto. There was a similar curfew for the band to be finished before it shifted into nightclub mode, and I always remember the young clubbing girls all spilling into the venue (Marillion ran a tad late) and looking unimpressed with whoever these British musicians were. After the show, the guys all stayed for a drink or two at the bar and it was amusing to see them in the middle of this sudden chaos, so utterly different from the show they had just played.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
i don't understan the cynicism. or bands trying to be sarcastic and make smart remarks about the process. this isn't our first concert thanks, i think we understand how it all works.
some artisist blow it right up and yes it's stupid when there's more music after the encore than before. lol
when bands don't leave the stage before the encore, it's usually more because they are humble, or realistic about the fact that maybe they are playing a club with 75 people in attendance. I've seen many an artist just take off instruments, stand for the cheers, then pick them back up again. that's cool. but each band and each performance is different and you gotta remember, no matter what, if a band says it's last song, and that's it, fans might be clamoring for another song anyway. it's a form of closure. once a band comes on for one or two more songs, then it's done and people walk out of the venue. there's practical reasons
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