Encores: An Extinct Idea

Went  to see Steve Hacket in  2004 and the crowd gave him 3 encores. I somehow picture a band like Jethro Tull doing well in this area. even today

Dellinger wrote: I guess then, that "true" encores were lost because fans start asking for the band to come back, and the band comes back, then the fans start to expect the band to come back, then the band has no option but to come back, and then, since the band knows before the concert that the fans will ask them to come back, and that they will come back, well, they rather plan the encore.

As you can hear on the "Instant Delivery" CD/DVD from The Flower Kings, the encore of "Stardust we are" was 'sort of not planned'.

Guns N' Roses was of course known for cancelling shows, starting very late or stopping the show after a couple of songs if someone in the audience happened to wear a wrong kind of a shirt or something, but when they were having a good time they didn't want to leave the stage at all. One show in LA in 1991 lasted for over three and a half hours and 37 songs. I don't know how many of them were encores but I guess most of their shows at the time were almost two hours shorter.

Encores just seemed so 'manufactured' to me anymore. I know it's all part of the show, but it doesn't seem genuine when it's pre-planned. It's all part of the dance.

I didn't attend this particular show, but I have a live FRC disc of Marillion' performance in Philadelphia on the Marbles tour when they left the stage after their final encore. The houselights come up, they start playing the closing music over the PA (in this case it was Cat Stevens because they were on the same infamous flight with him when he was detained), but nobody left. The cheers persist for what seemed to be 5-10 minutes until they came back on and played "Easter". Now, it's moments like this that really are special, IMO.

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i guess we've established then, that the 2nd encore is the real encore now

i guess we've established then, that the 2nd encore is the real encore now

I think encores in these days lack spontaneity. As we're discussing different kinds of music, I have a great example for this. One of my favourite bands in the old days, when I didn't know what prog is, was Depeche Mode. Their setlists usually consists of 20-23 songs, mostly with two encores. The thing is, after playing the basic set, the band just quits the stage and comes back after 5 minutes. I think they don't care if the people are cheering or not, they just have a scenario writeen that after a certain amount of songs they do a short break. In this case the idea of encore dissapears.

Edited by hirszu - September 12 2009 at 13:06

Plankowner wrote: What he is referring to I believe the idea is different than it used to be... now its more like an obligatory intermission instead of a "true" encore.. in the past the bands used to HAVE to come back out because the crowds would not disperse until they did... Was a different thing than it is today..   Guess the closest thing today would be a "double" encore .. If the band comes out a second time, I would think this would be closer to the old days..

Exactly. I've seen many planned encores. What I have never experienced is what someone above me described with Marillion, where the lights went on, the closing music was playing, and people didn't leave. I guess this could be because I go to a lot of metal concerts where the band (or, more like the drummer and vocalist [if he has been screaming his head off for an hour]) is worn out, as is the crowd.

Yes, the concept of an encore is somewhat obsolete now. It has been for years. I recall growing up and hearing blink-182's live album where they talked about how they were going to say goodnight and stuff but everyone knows they're coming back and yadda yadda (only more elaborate and comical), and that's basically how it is nowadays.