Encores: An Extinct Idea

I hate encores, I find the false and stupid

Raff wrote: ..... In my own experience, encores have always been the rule, rather than the exception.

Same here. Never been to a shown where there were not an Encore.

clarke2001 wrote: Almost everytime I went to a concert, there were encores. Also, my band was always cheered for an encore. Overhere, if audience really likes a band, they will shout, chant, whistle, applaud and what not just to get a band back. I remember a Led Zeppelin reunion tour in Zagreb, people were shouting for 45 minutes, refusing to go out, even after roadies started unplugging the equipment. But LZ never came back on stage. Later we heard some dumbass was pointing the laser pointer on Jimmy Page while playing, he got scared thinking it might be a gun, and refused to perform an encore.

What LZ reunion tour? Do you mean the Page-Plant tour from around 96-97? From what I know there was never a LZ reunion tour.

Regarding the topic, I go mostly to club concerts and it's a lot easier there to understand how everything works. You can easily walk to the stage before the concert or during the intermission (if there is one) and look on the stage floor to see the papers with the set list placed near each musician. Usually there's one encore planned and if you get a good look you'll even be able to read the tracks to be played in the encore. If the band has loyal fans then sometimes there are even two encores written on the set list. I've come to know very easily how the concert is going to end. If the band members just leave their instruments and walk out then there's going to be an encore and sometimes even more encores. If after the band walks out there is music coming from the audio system and/or the personnel is starting the clear the stage then there is no chance for another encore.

The maximum number of encore I've had in a concert is 3. Some of them were not planned (I'm talking about the second and the third), but not many.

I've always thought it was in the 70s when there weren't many encores, because the shows were long and exhausting. Led Zeppelin often played between three and four hours, which is unimaginable today. Why call for a second encore after such an exhausting show? (for both band and public).
Also, since the 80s the shows became business and with business came standardization. Now a show last from 1 hour & 1/2 + 15-20 minutes of encore up to 1 hour & 45 minutes + 15-20 minutes of encore. Now, due to business standardization, if you ask a band manager how much does the band cost, he'll email you the prices for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 1& 1/2 hours, 2 hours. What you pay is what you get...

kingfriso wrote: The stupid thing about encores is the way bands comes up on stage again. The look bored like "yeah here we go again, let's play our second set". They never look overwhelmed or something, or there is no song material left.. it's so fake. Some bands come back with an unplugged song: how do you mean planned?

Whether musicians choose to endulge in drugs or remain straight through the whole tour, the road will catch up to them either in performance or socialism. An encore is a pre-planned thing in this sense: The more encores you recieve, the better of a presentation you will have with the record executives.If Talent scouts or A&R people from the staff witness mass encores they will report this kind of positive activity back to record company headquarters. It's a plus for business profit and it's a definite indication that the record companies profits will grow. So the band is under pressure with this business concept and of course all the other garbage that goes with the territory. Sometimes people in the band have disagreements over this issue and it just becomes a snowball effect.

 

^I don't think it's stupid or fake, it's just different than decades ago. Things change, encores are an everyday thing for headliners, they know it and act accordingly. Stupid and fake would be pretending to look overwhelmed or something.

Moatilliatta wrote: I now recall that bit at the end of School of Rock where the band gets called for a legitimate encore and I wonder if smaller gigs still get those kinds of encores. It would be great to be an unknown band and get called back like that.

DT usually does a "medley" then the Rudess vs. John battle... 

Edited by Plankowner - September 12 2009 at 23:25

J-Man wrote: The Mars Volta are just (if truth be told) a horrible live band

Are you joking??? They're one of the best live bands of all time! TMV Live >>>>>>>>>>> Any of the music they've ever recorded in the studio!

I never cheer, because I think it's incredibly annoying and cliche how bands handle encores now.  I haven't been to a concert in my life where there wasn't an assumed encore, bands do it regardless now it seems.  It's pretty obvious when bands are going to encore, since they walk off the stage without playing some of their most famous songs, surpisingly coming back with them.

Almost everytime I went to a concert, there were encores. Also, my band was always cheered for an encore. Overhere, if audience really likes a band, they will shout, chant, whistle, applaud and what not just to get a band back.

I remember a Led Zeppelin reunion tour in Zagreb, people were shouting for 45 minutes, refusing to go out, even after roadies started unplugging the equipment. But LZ never came back on stage. Later we heard some dumbass was pointing the laser pointer on Jimmy Page while playing, he got scared thinking it might be a gun, and refused to perform an encore.