Encores

Every time I go to a concert I think of this and intend to ask you all your thoughts and then I forget. Thankfully, came across this article and it jarred my memory.

I'm so tired of the lame, predictable encore. Why does anyone still do them? It is sometimes embarrassingly awkward when no one is really cheering loud enough to warrant an encore and the band has to come back out anyway, acting like it was demanded. And it seems so silly that everyone pretends like we didn't know this was going to happen. Can we just implement a rule that encores are dumb? Or am I just getting old??

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2011-03-31/music/why-do-we-still-bother-with-encores/

Couldn't agree more - it's a complete waste of time - the amount of time the band spends going off stage ... waiting a bit then coming out and playing the crowd-favourite songs that should have been played already, they coulda got another song or two in there ... pisses me off.

Especially as these days the venues have an allotted period of time, beyond which a band cannot continue to play, by law, or they will be breaching their license agreement ...

Case in point - at last year's Sonisphere festival in the UK. All the bands have a very strictly allotted time schedule they must keep to - this is GOOD, because us in the crowd have a copy of the schedule on those laminated gig guides you can buy - and we are racing about between stages to make sure we get to see the bands that we shelled out all that hard-earned money for ...
If a band over-run's you can easily end up missing another band entirely due to the scheduling clashes (High Voltage festival - TAKE NOTE) ...

The scheduling is, I am sure, quite a nightmare to set up and get right ... Now I'm remembering that Karma to Burn were scheduled to be the last band playing on one of the smaller stages (Jeigermeister Stage) at Sonisphere. They were scheduled to finish at 9.30pm I think ... however, as there was no more bands coming on after them on THAT stage, they carried on playing - we in the crowd were delighted with this, but the powers-that-be pulled the plug on them and forced them to leave the stage ... *sigh* I'm sure a lot of that is to do with the time set aside for the roadies to clear away the equipment blah blah blah ... and they don't wanna pay anyone for longer hours that they have to, right?


Anyway ... the entire concept of THE ENCORE has gotten completely lost along the way. The whole point of the encore was that the performer had put in SUCH an awesome performance that the audience couldn't bear for the show to finish yet. But this is not totally obsolete since venues are very heavily regulated on the time beyond which loud music cannot be broadcast. I would have MUCH more respect for a band who played a full set right up through to the end of their allotted time. We want value for money!


Going back to Sonisphere ... Rammstein, for once, left me disappointed, as they were the final act on the Saturday night, and were scheduled to play until 10.45 or 11.00pm I think ... they finished their show about 20 minutes short of this - shows poor organisation on the part of the band setting up their playlist for the evening - you have a very limited window of opportunity to get out there and play your music for the crowds. If you are scheduled to perform from 8.30 - 10.30pm, then I bloody well expect you to get off your arses and play stuff to FILL that period of time.


.... and my final rant on this ... and a LOT of people are NOT gonna like what I have to say here, but I am SICK of going to see DOWN play, when Phil Anselmo spends at least a THIRD of the time on stage, rambling, talking and sending out his fake platitudes to the crowd. They could easily fit another 10 songs in the time that he wastes. I LOVE hearing DOWN play, but there's so much BOLLOX spouted by Phil inbetween the songs that I find going to see Down a aggravating and frustrating experience. Play the FUCKING music you dumb-ass ... *sigh*

Anyway - Doka - I agree with you and the article you put up. Thanks for letting me vent

encores are now a part of the show...if they don't do this little bit...going off stage then coming back on to roaring applause...then when they actually do get off and NOT come back on (if no encore)...then they risk pissing off thousands of fans....I think band are trapped into the facade of encores


and Phil does talk to much

Bogle the Dark Angel wrote:

Couldn't agree more - it's a complete waste of time - the amount of time the band spends going off stage ... waiting a bit then coming out and playing the crowd-favourite songs that should have been played already, they coulda got another song or two in there ... pisses me off.

Every time I play a show (and it's been ages, sigh), I get the feeling that you wait all day, and then when you get on stage you feel...kind of distant, not in the now, then the show rushes past you and the very moment you feel comfortable and are really having fun, it's over.
You go backstage and all you think is "Shit, if I only had a chance to run back on stage and really lose it now, I would". Everyone I've played with feels the same, especially guys like me that are not that instant one man rock and roll show, but rather a little shy in front of crowds in the beginning.
Encores change that completely.
If you get a chance to get off stage and take a breath, you can take a step back and realize the situation, and then you can actually come back and spend the best time of the evening on stage, now feeling fully connected. That is sooooo nice!

As far as predictable, unwanted encores are concerned, I have to agree.
When we satrted to play with Dusty Miller, we didn't even understand the whole encore thing, and at one show we actually played one that only two people had called for, and half-heartedly. That was embarrassing as hell, so we made a rule only to play real encores that people really want and stuck to it, sometimes pulling off jams or covers or, when we ran completely out of material, we'd just ask people if they wanted to hear a song again (with a little change maybe), which surprisingly always works and nobody seems to be offended by.

Bogle the Dark Angel wrote:

.... and my final rant on this ... and a LOT of people are NOT gonna like what I have to say here, but I am SICK of going to see DOWN play, when Phil Anselmo spends at least a THIRD of the time on stage, rambling, talking and sending out his fake platitudes to the crowd. They could easily fit another 10 songs in the time that he wastes. I LOVE hearing DOWN play, but there's so much BOLLOX spouted by Phil inbetween the songs that I find going to see Down a aggravating and frustrating experience. Play the FUCKING music you dumb-ass ... *sigh*

Oh yeah!
I saw down at two dates in a row on their 2006 tour.
In Tilburg, he did the whole 'let Pep start the riff, interrupt, start the following rant:"switch on the lights in the back row...don't stare at me unless you want a fight...and you'll lose etc etc" thing, plus the stairway to heaven spoof in the end, and many, many more.
I was very disappointed in him when he did the exact same routine the next night in Wiesbaden, though it was still a killer night.

When the DVD came out, a friend said "Hey, I liked that particular rant" and I had to break the news to him that it was fake and just part of a routine he seems to have followed during the entire tour. I've seen a couple of bands do this and I don't like that at all. For me, it's part the wrong kind of professionalism. I prefer the frontguy shutting up when he has no idea what to say, and only talking when he really honestly feels like it. I think it was a tactic though, since he did struggle with his voice a bit, and ranting will fill up space that he won't have to fill with singing.

The shows were still kickass (though 2008 was so much better), and Down is still one of the ten best bands of all time, but yeah Phil's whole attitude thing can get on your nerves.
Though it is OK when you think of it in comic terms. You know the music will be kickass, and you know Phil is gonna spend some time talking bullshit, so you can lean back and enjoy it

i don't think i'll try to tackle the encore section, but i'll throw out a thing bout phil....

and maybe i'm getting old, but i find that the crowds have become so lame as a whole, theres no real community going on anymore. you fall down, someone MIGHT pick you up, but for the most part all a show has become is trying to elbow enough room to breathe, and that just isnt fun (anymore) so while yes phil talks wayyy too much, it does give you a chance to breathe a bit and reset your feet, so at the show i don't mind it so much. dvd, it gets old hahaha. and i say this befor ei mention that down shows (at least the last couple i went to) were among the coolest crowds as far as not getting too agrrro over bullshit. they let me mosh during jail.....they looked at me like i was a loon, but no one gave me shit about it! haha. again maybe i'm just old and these kids who were born in the 90s just don't know any better.

and maybe the encore thing is to let you breathe as well.....although since you gotta chant and do all that shit, it doesn't really work hahaha

High on Fire played no encores last time I saw them

Zakk does not do encores.

He fills the time with solos.

Berzerker wrote:

Zakk does not do encores.

He fills the time with solos.

aint THAT the TR00F

Actually this happen at the COC show at Deventer............... the band didn't came back on. It was just not the end everybody expected after the lights turned dark for several minutes and then suddenly the curtains were closed, end of the show. You could feel the crowd was kinda down by it mostly coz it was pretty strange.

........I think it had to do with Mike's left arm. While we were backstage in Belgium (day before Deventer) Mike cut open the inside of his arm at some spike sticking outta the wall. It wasn't looking very bad with much blood or so but the place of the cut was ugly (muscle) and he said it was pretty deep. Before the Deventer show I asked him about the cut and he said it was so-so, which I would translate (seeing his face) to not that good but it was good enough to do the show coz it wasn't noticed during.

Interesting story. I always find it impressive when artists just give everything for their art, they don't even care about their health!

By the way, did Alice in Chains have an encore on the last tour? I'm not quite sure, I think they ended the show in Austria with Rooster (which was incredibly good) but I think they didn't have an encore… I'm not certain though maybe Rooster was the encore…

Anyway, encores suck. Why would you leave the stage if you intend to come back anyway? That's stupid. Stupid Rockstar stuff

True encores are absolutely great. People call for it and and the band want to give them what they want and have some more fun.
Only fake encores suck.
Sometimes, your regular set is simply exhausted but people still want more.
Playing that jam or cover or repeating a song belongs in the encore section. Or changin the setup and playing an acoustic encore.
I actually love encores
Of course, there are too many fake encores, yeah...

Berzerker wrote:

Zakk does not do encores.

He fills the time with solos.

and Phil does talk to much AMEN!!!

Just wanna know if DOWN rolls back through are ya gonna come out?

Phil is full of shit.

But he is our Phillip.

Berzerker wrote:

Phil is full of shit.

But he is our Phillip.