The show must go on and on and on… (Encores)

[BetaKarraTene]

Gigs are where music is meant to be heard. The rawness, the musicianship and the spontaneity are the elements that make a great gig superior to simply sitting at home with the albums. Why then do playing encores always seem to ruin this dynamic?

Encores began with artists responding to a particularly great set/crowd which merited returning to the stage to give something extra. They were spur of the moment, one-off responses and borne of the outstanding passion that was felt on the night. These days they're pretty much routine for gigs. When the artist leaves the stage after the 'final' song, there is always the crowd response for the band to come back on, who duly oblige and carry on with their pre-planned encore setlist - pretty much the antithesis of what encores are about.

That's not to say that the old style of encore doesn't exist. When I went to see Erin McKeown, she played a great gig with a good crowd and she was genuinely surprised at the crowd baying for her to come back on, and so quickly worked out a song to play (which was great by the way). Despite this however, I'd argue that there is never an excuse to play an encore.

What makes a good gig into a great one, is one that manages to build and build the songs and the atmosphere to a climax which should be the final song. Most of the best gigs I've been to have all had no encores; The Music, The Libertines, Cooper Temple Clause, Spiritualized and The Coral.  In the case of The Coral, I saw them play for an hour, building up to the climax of a 10 minute Goodbye, and then they fucked off. Perfect.

Playing encores completely ruins this dynamic. It feels a bit shallow to build to a climax after an hour, and then trundle back on stage for a few more songs. What's the point of doing a 60 minute set, leaving the stage and then carrying on for 15 more minutes when you can just do a straight 75 minutes? To go to the other end of the scale, when I saw Kraftwerk at Brixton, they played for an hour then left the stage. I reckoned they would come back on for an encore for about 20 minutes and that would be that. However, - although the robot mannequins and light-up suits were impressive - 3 encores and 60 more minutes later, the whole occasion was beginning to feel like a farce. Because I expect the end to be near during an encore, there's always that thought clouding my mind in spite of however good the gig is, so you can imagine that having that thought in my head for over an hour was more than off-putting.

The only reason I can think of to keep encores is because it's expected from all corners. At said Coral gig, at the end it seemed as if I was one of only a handful of people who knew they didn't do encores. As the crowd were still waiting and the stage lights stayed down, (even the venue staff didn't know what was going on) it took a good few minutes to make my way out through the crowd, the majority of which were still waiting by the time I got out of the place. I overheard some people saying that they felt ripped off because there was no encore. My thoughts on this were 1. It's a competition winners gig so that's impossible and 2. It's a sad state of affairs when people think that encores are a requirement of gigs.

So what do you think of encores? Is there any point to them and have you seen any genuinely spontaneous ones? What are the most ridiculous encore circumstances you've witnessed?

[chand]

It seems a bit daft when bands go off at 10.40pm before the 11pm curfew, having not played their current single/biggest song/live favourite, seems a bit patronising. Often they come back regardless of how much or little people actually applaud. I never bother cheering for encores cos they happen anyway.

[non capisco]

I like it when bands play right up to the curfew and apologise for having to stop, like Toots and the Maytals did earlier in the year.

[mayer]

to be fair, i didn't see the Kraftwerk bits as encores, just time for costume changes (flashy red light ties!) and splitting up the set into different parts.

ummm... i agree with you about Encores... New Order never used to do them, and i think that bands should only bother if the response especially demands it.

obviously they want to play something good/unexpected/not too popular for the Encore, so it can't really be the Big Hit... i think covers are perfect for an unexpected Encore, or the great underrated album track.

MISTER PINK: i don't buy into this routine "Encore" shit... maybe if the crowd does something special...

MISTER  BLUE: like what? take you backstage and suck your dick?

NICE GUY EDDIE: i'd go over 2-songs for that....

[BetaKarraTene]

to be fair, i didn't see the Kraftwerk bits as encores, just time for costume changes (flashy red light ties!) and splitting up the set into different parts.

I suppose, but they didn't start the changeovers until after an hour, and so I was expecting the gig to be almost over by then, and the first encore they did had no changes to the set/outfits.

My mate saw Radiohead at Earls Court on the first date when they had a few minutes drinks break mid-way through the set (on stage), and then carried on without an encore at the end. The next day though, they did 3 encores which probably would have been a bit tiresome (even for Radiohead).

That reminds me, I saw The Streets at the comeback gig earlier this year and towards the end of the set, they kept having 2-minutes fag breaks every few songs because they said "They hadn't done gigs for a while." although I suspect something else might have been the cause...

[chand]

My favourite was seeing Ash around the time of the release of 'Burn Baby Burn', and they went off early without playing either that or 'Girl From Mars'. Hmmm, I wonder if they'll do an encore? Oh what a surprise! They're back onstage!

[Partridge's Love Child]

There was a David Baddiel routine on The Mary Whitehouse Experience some years ago about "the false encore", wherein he cited the example of EMF playing a gig, they've not played Unbelieveable, ooh, will there be an encore?

I saw The White Stripes earlier this year and predicted that Seven Nation Army would be wheeled out for the encore.  I was disappointed to be right.  A case of the above from a duo you'd expect to know better.

[Hornet]

In 30 years of gig going I have only ever seen what I believe to be two "genuine" encores.  The first was by Bruce Springsteen at Hammersmith Odeon (as it was then) in 1975, his first gig in the UK.  There was obviously no curfew then because he played his set from 9 until 1030, then came back on and didn't leave the stage for good until midnight.

Also I saw Ryan Adams at the Manceshester Academy play a solo set a couple of years ago - in the end my daughter and I left cos it just became so rambling - a case of too much of a good thing methinks.

I always remember Dr Feelgood in 1974 play at Chatham Central Hall - 50 minutes of high octane rock'n roll, Wilco Johnson in full manic stride.  Finished - fucked off.  It was amazing.

Fuck, now I've written then I feel so old....

[mrpants]

I quite like the encores.  If it's been a really good gig and I know that it's going to end pretty soon, I like the way I can look forward to an extra bit later.  It does feel a little bit silly when you think about it, but usually at the time I quite enjoy it.

Is the curfew a recent thing?  When I saw DJ Shadow at Brixton a couple of years ago, I'm sure he came on really late and played until about 1:30 in the morning.

[chand]

Is the curfew a recent thing?  When I saw DJ Shadow at Brixton a couple of years ago, I'm sure he came on really late and played until about 1:30 in the morning.

It depends on the type of venue and the type of licence, I think. I believe you need some kind of licence to play live music after 11pm, with DJs it's different obviously cos clubs can go on and on.

I remember seeing Oasis at the Leeds festival a couple of years ago and they came back out to play past the curfew and told us how much they were going to have to pay in fines to play over the 11pm limit.

[Frinky]

Back in the old days, bands like Led Zeppelin (oh, really, Frink? Led Zeppelin, you say, you've never mentioned them before?), would play 3 + hour sets with 4 or 5 encores, depending on how much the audience wanted them. They'd pretty much play till they ran out of songs, then cover some more, and when they'd done that, give up and go home, such was Page's dedication to giving the fan "thier moneys worth" - and they kept doing that for a good 10 years, which I think is pretty amazing.

I'd love to see a lot of modern bands go 3 hours for £14, I don't think it'll ever happen, though.

[Captain Crunch]

I went to a gig back in July, it was great.  They finished the set and wandered back on after about five minutes but rather than play more stuff they pelted their guitarist with sandwiches and threw him into the crowd for a bundle.

But yes, against them on the whole.  As much as I love Dio, he must've done about five encores and by that time you're just thinking 'ok he's milking it properly now'.