The recent thread on songs played again in the encore prompted the thought about the whole idea of encores. It seems to be established that there should be at least one encore – sometimes with as many as 5 or 6 songs, but recently I’ve rarely seen more than one return to the stage. Is a second encore acceptable? I can remember Southside Johnny at the Brook in Southampton doing at least 4, by which time most of the audience were drifting off. Personally I prefer the approach of the late, great Jackie Leven, who made it very clear that there would be no encores – are there any others who take that approach?
Encore Etiquette
New Order used to, famously, never play encores. Except when they did*
Legend has it that Blue Monday was written for the machines to play as an encore, but then Barney sang on it. And Hooky played bass. So they ended up on stage anyway.
(*) “Print the myth”, to paraphrase Tony Wilson.
I remember seeing them at the SFX around 1986 and they came back on stage for an encore about 10 minutes after they finished at which point the house lights were up, the venue doors were opened onto the street and most of the audience had gone. Contrary feckers!
When the obvious hit song is not delivered in the set, you know an encore is coming. I remember seeing a Spice Girls live show on the TV. They went one better – they finished the encore and said goodnight etc … and then, Mel B asks the group to hold on a minute. She cups one ear to hear what the audience are screaming about. “We’ve forgotten one…?” she says. They stand around shrugging and looking confused – saying “…but that’s the end of the show!”. And then the penny visibly drops simultaneously that they haven’t done “Wannabe” yet! And of course they launch into it straight away, while the audience go nuts. It was fun.
I asked a similar questions a little over a year ago https://theafterword.co.uk/how-do-we-feel-about-encores/
Sorry – must have missed that. Will check it out.
Not a gripe – everything gets discussed at least twice around here.
I recently took Mrs Tkd to see The Weeknd in Manchester, and he didn’t do an encore as such. His approach is to do a final block of bangers with the fireworks thing, and that seems to have been understood in advance. The fans seemed happy, but the real winners were the sparkly cowboy hat sales team.
Many venues are not geared up for a leave and return protocol; Hare & Hounds and Kitchen Garden Cafe in Brum, for two. Most performers explain that they will be playing their last song and then the encore, if people want to cheer extra loudly between them.
At festivals there is usually no time for encores if stage changeovers are to go to time. But you can sometimes guess that someone is hoping for one, by “finishing” 10 mins short of the scheduled end. All the truer for the headliners who will stop well ahead the curfew, in expectation of playing their last song, the “hit”, obviously and ostentatiously absent in the main set.
June Tabor, with the Oak boys, dispenses with the performative return charade by announcing that they are about to perform their last song, and that it will really be their last song.
I have seen many different versions, playing the hit, playing an obscure or unreleased track, encoring for an hour and a half, not doing one, doing one, but whole band staying on stage during applause etc.
I saw Robyn recently & her 3 song encore was as below.
Missing U
Call Your Girlfriend
Dancing on My Own
Possibly the best encore i’ve ever witnessed.
DOMO alone would have been the best encore ever.
Abbey Road medley by Macca was a good one (first time I saw him)
The best encore I can recall ever witnessing was this celebratory blast delivered by the superb Heart at the end of a gig as part of their UK Dreamboat Annie tour – an utterly fantastic way to send an audience, already sweaty and elated from a top class performance, off into the night amazed at the band’s chops and at the sheer chutzpah needed to encore triumphantly with THIS SONG:
I quite like the performance of a band leaving bthe stage for a bit and being so delighted and humbled to be called back. Bonny Light Horseman told us that they were ‘just going in behind this curtain for 15-20 seconds or so’ and they would be back out to play the encore. It worked.
John Otway usually announces the intent “I go off stage for a bit, you cheer, and I’ll be back for an encore”
Second band I saw were Free – it was at the time of Fire and Water and they didn’t have a lot of material to choose from. They played Alright Now in the set and then as an encore.
Longest encore was Steve Gibbons band at Birmingham Odeon about a week before Xmas many years ago. They finished at 9.45pm then came on for an encore that lasted until about 11.30pm. It was a party of Beatles songs and old rock and roll and it was fabulous.
I recall when I was at school, some guys went to see Roy Harper in Liverpool.
Unfortunately I hadn’t discovered him yet. I think it must have been the Lifemask tour.
They said he played a half hour set (probably The Lord’s Prayer and one other song), went off and then came back and played an hour and a half encore.
Arf! Contrary old sod!
I saw This is the Kit last week and they didn’t do an encore, with Kate Stables making it quite clear beforehand that that was going to be the case as she just didn’t get the whole walk off, walk on routine.
I was convinced by Brian Fallon’s “I’m not goin’ anywhere, why would I waste my stage time back there?” until I saw @FentonSteve’s tall friend, who came back on and said he’d just had a request on Twitter.
Here’s my man David Ford in Austin Texas some years ago explaining why he doesn’t do encores. “I have to forewarn you now we won’t be entering into the indignity of the encore process…”
Encores are fakery. A game that is played. Extremely rarely are they spontaneous.
A song is rehearsed and then it’s held back to be played as an encore.
Completely transparent.
Many venues have a strictly-enforced cutoff time they don’t want artists to play past, because it’s a risk to their music license if they get a complaint.
Bands/performers who do play encores will play their last “official” number and leave enough time to play an encore if the audience call for one.
Hank Wangford calls the time when the audience call’s out for more “The Modesty Moment”. You know they’re going to want an encore so you plan ahead for it.
I saw PSB last night and their encore seemed to go on forever – aside from a nice solo Neil at the piano* for Your Funny Uncle, it was basically just a continuation of the show complete with an introducing-the-band bit.
*well, laptop or whatever he was poking at
I totally get the idea of acts not wanting to go through the “encore performance” – but for fans, is it an essential part of the live performance? The chance to show how much you love them, shout and holler, etc.
No. With no genuine spontaneity the pretence is disingenuous and rather tiresome.
I noticed that if the instruments were left on stage then the band would come back on for an encore. If they played an encore and walked off waving instruments over their heads (grand pianos, drum kits etc not included) and the red lights on the amps were off they wouldn’t be coming back.
I mentioned that to my other half a solo Richard Thompson gig once. ‘Is he coming back?’ ‘He’s left his guitar on stage, and always means he’s coming back. You’ll know he’s done when he takes it with him.’
Sometimes instruments are left onstage to be packed up after the audience are gone.
If you see a guitarist/bassist turn their amp off before they go offstage, the gig is definitely over.
How far are we all willing to go to play our part in the ritual?
I’ll applaud for maybe 30 seconds after the ‘final’ song and perhaps give a cheer a 2.
But if the house lights stay off and it’s clear the performers are going to come back irrespective of what the audience does, I’ll let others do the heavy lifting to ‘persuade’ them to come back.
China Crisis passed though here some four years ago. Gary Daly announced “Look, you and I both know this encore thing is a sham . We’re going to play the song that we would’ve played as an encore, then we’re going and won’t be back, okay?”
The Wedding Present haven’t done encores for decades for these reasons, according to frontman David Gedge:
“It’s contrived. It’s a hackneyed rock and roll ritual. When a band first starts out it’s exciting to be called back for more. We used to do encores, but it never felt completely right so we abolished it. People like it. There’s no hanging around and they don’t have to worry about missing their bus!
“John Peel compared it to an artist drawing an extra picture of a dog or something on a work of art, and I agree. It works for me.”
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11584556.we-rotating-door-policy-wedding-presents-david-gedge-changing-line-ups-peeved-fans-dislike-encores/
I recall seeing them live back in the 1990s and Gedge saying something like: “We don’t do encores. These are our last couple of songs tonight so if you like encores just pretend we left the stage and came back on again.”
I’d imagine this explanation is no longer necessary at each gig by The Wedding Present since it’s likely to be regular attendees.
I’m not a great fan of the whole “say goodnight, walk off, listen to some cheering, walk back on and play some more stuff that’s on the blinking setlist, for God’s sake” rigmarole.
A clearly unplanned encore sometimes happens.
Notably Mr Osbourne at Sheffield City Hall in February 1986 for me, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned before.
Paranoid ends an incredible show, as it always does. The band take their plaudits and a bow, and go off, but the crowd are still going bananas. Ozzy fetches the band back and they play Over the Mountain. As far as I can tell, the only post-Paranoid encore that entire tour?
The worst thing of course, is band conclude set, walk off and audience leave. Then band come back on whooping, to a half empty hall
I remember Eels doing that on the Daisies of the Galaxy tour, prompting everyone to rush back in. A bit annoying really, seemed to be increasing the risk of injury for no good reason (not that I saw any such accidents at the time).
First time I saw Springsteen in 81, it was getting close to midnight, house lights were on and we were filing out in an orderly manner, then he came back on stage and did “Rockin’ All Over the World”, the previous songs in the encore had been Born to Run (which he sometimes opened with) and the Detroit Medley
My conclusions from the thread:
1. Encores are pointless for small venues and small stages.
2. Quite acceptable otherwise
3. No one seems to favour more than one encore.
I am happy to have multiple encores if I am enjoying the show and don’t have a train to catch!
I saw Brian Wilson in Dubai. He was helped to a seat at the back of the stage by Al Jardine where he sat in full view for about 5 minutes before coming back to play an encore it was very sad.
Yes I saw similar last time I saw him in 2018. In earlier shows after Pet Sounds in full he would get out the bass for the encore and stand up for a rocking finale of the early Beach Boys surf songs, Barbara Ann, Surfin’ USA etc. Wonderful! I was also on the front row once and slightly “refreshed”, I took the opportunity when he returned to the stage to get close to him and shake his hand (Security!!). He had a very strong handshake
That’s a bass player characteristic.
Good point
Just back from Jim Moray. So convinced he was that he wouldn’t be doing an encore he didn’t even put one on his on floor setlist. Played the last song, pre-announced it as such and said goodnight, hot footing it to the merch table, as the house lights came up. I’d have liked an encore.