# Encores at concerts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 14, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661 "2019-08-14T15:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/21 "2019-08-15T13:51:03Z")
I went to see Elvis Costello in 1987 (I believe), when he was touring with Nick Lowe. They were both playing solo. Lowe did his set, then Costello took over and did a decent set of about 45 minutes. (Remember, most of his songs are quite short.) The couple we were with left before the encore to beat the traffic. When Costello came back on stage after a few minutes, he brought his big wheel out and invited audience members to come up and spin it to select what songs he would play. (One bright guy, when asked what his name was, replied, “Declan MacManus.”) Anyway,Costello continued this for at least another 30 minutes. He finally left the stage and the reappeared with Lowe to do “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?” as a second encore. When they learned of this, the couple who left earlier went absolutely nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/22 "2019-08-15T16:39:28Z")
Honestly, I think they’re kind of dumb and wish they didn’t exist. I totally get why the artist does it though. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/23 "2019-08-15T16:47:18Z")
It would be funny if a performance sucked so bad that when the band came out for the obligatory encore, folks started booing and yelling “Get off the stage!” ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/24 "2019-08-15T17:23:13Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#): > > I remember seeing Dick Dale in Amsterdam some years ago. When he finished the set, he said: please don’t ask for an encore, we just played three and a half hours…there isn’t going to be one. > > Verstuurd vanaf mijn moto g(6) met Tapatalk I’ve seen Dick Dale. He’s great but Sheesh. I bet he could have improved the show by 50% if he took a little break at 3 hours and called the rest an encore. No harm no foul nothing to gripe about. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/25 "2019-08-15T18:50:30Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > I think for some bands it gives them a chance to put on a clean shirt, stop at the bathroom, and then play 3-5 more songs. Many bands will have an extended drum solo and then an acoustic part somewhere in the middle, which also gives the rest of the band a chance to get off the stage for a few minutes. Or, more famously, gives the band a chance to have sex with groupies under the stage. I’m looking at you, Def Leppard! ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/26 "2019-08-16T02:22:43Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > On one of Marillion’s live albums, towards the end of the show the singer says something like “instead of playing this little game where we go off stage for a few minutes then come back out, we’re gonna just keep playing. Is that ok with you?” Don Henley did the same thing. He said instead of playing two more songs they could play three. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/27 "2019-08-16T03:01:04Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > When did James Brown start doing his cape routine? I know you’re asking what YEAR, but when I read this I was reminded of when I saw him. He started the cape routine about halfway through the first song. A LITTLE too early for a, “Can’t do no more!” routine, in my opinion. The crowd’s as well, it seemed. He was the headliner at an all-day show and ppl were leaving. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/28 "2019-08-16T05:31:42Z")
I’m not sure that there’s any particular etiquette or expectations of encores at classical music concerts. If there’s a “big draw” soloist, it’s more likely than not, but not always. I was at a performance with Joyce Di Donato as the star soloist in the first half, but though the audience loved the performance and didn’t want to let her go - no encore. But the orchestra (the National Youth Orchestra of the USA as it happens ) did at the end of the whole concert. I’ve been at BBC Proms concerts where both happened - and sometimes the encore can be even more memorable than the performance that inspired the audience applause in the first place: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpN2k5zz81o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpN2k5zz81o) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/29 "2019-08-16T07:06:52Z")
the stones voodoo lounge tour at the rose bowl the “encore” was the second half of the concert … what they did was play all the mid 80s and 90s new and newer stuff first it was about 90 minutes and they said good night and everyone was looking like WTF… wheres the old stuff everyone went for? … that was the encore they played the old stuff in 3-4 song burst and acting like it was over every 20 minutes for an hour in a half until mick said …" anything else we missed? no? ok goodnight for real and thanks fir making this fun ater all these years … ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/30 "2019-08-16T10:42:44Z")
I heard about Boston after they only had 1 album out played all the songs and then did an encore with a few more songs. Then they said “we don’t have anything else to play” and left. ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/31 "2019-08-16T18:04:11Z")
Led Zeppelin comeback in the 90s (actually Page and Plant No Quarter Unledded era). 20 000 people in the arena, fantastic atmosphere, fantastic concert. After the set, people were clapping and screaming, screaming, _screaming_ for 45 minutes, refusing to leave, but the band did not come back. I heard later that Jimmy Page saw a red dot from a laser pointer on him and got scared. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/32 "2019-08-17T01:54:49Z")
saw Willie Nelson last year, no encore. 80 minutes and then he shook hands of the people in front. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/33 "2019-08-18T00:22:23Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > It would be funny if a performance sucked so bad that when the band came out for the obligatory encore, folks started booing and yelling “Get off the stage!” My favorite encore story, which I’ve probably told here before, isn’t quite like that, but still insulting (and deservedly so) to the band. This would have been at the WHFStival in 1999 or 2000, a full day of one band after another, each doing just a handful of songs before relinquishing the stage to the next band. The concluding act was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They’re a good band, but they pretty much phoned it in that evening. The stadium was already starting to empty during their last number, and by the time they came out for their encore, the stadium was maybe half empty, and the half that was still there were mostly trying to leave. Nobody was making noise to try to get the band to come out for the encore, but it must’ve been in the contract, because they came out after the usual wait, and played their encore as what was left of the crowd headed for the exits. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/34 "2019-08-18T16:00:41Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > It is not universal, although it happens as you describe 98.5% of the time, at least with the vast majority of the bands I see live. Blue Man Group lampshades this in their _How to be a Megastar_ tour: Rock Concert Movement #78 – [The Fake Ending](https://youtu.be/LZvYLbeBBjk?t=3530). It provided a break between the high-energy _I Feel Love_ and the elegiac _Exhibit 13_. The images are papers that fell from the sky at BMG headquarters in Brooklyn on September 11, 2001. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/35 "2019-08-18T17:14:19Z")
Several years ago I saw John Lee Hooker play in a small club, and he did the expected encore thing and left the stage. But the audience was having none of it, we kept stomping, cheering, and carrying on for several minutes after he left the stage the second time (and the house lights had come up) until he finally brought the band back out, said “Y’all are crazy” and played Boom Boom again (probably because they were out of songs that the band had practiced). I think it might have been the most genuinely spontaneous encore I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/36 "2019-08-18T17:40:46Z")
_Martin Mull Live! In Your Living Room_ plays with the concept. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/37 "2019-08-18T21:59:51Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > It would be funny if a performance sucked so bad that when the band came out for the obligatory encore, folks started booing and yelling “Get off the stage!” I guess you’ve never been to the opera, where critical audience members (the fanboys of the operatic world) will either boo unmercifully or worse, make the hapless performer sing a problematic aria over again until they get it right. Miles Davis didn’t do no damn encores. Jenny your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2019, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/38 "2019-08-18T22:51:40Z")
Has anyone seen an opening act do an encore? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/39 "2019-08-19T14:57:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Has anyone seen an opening act do an encore? I saw **Lynard Skynard** open for **ZZ Top** in Pittsburgh years ago. I was with a friend who worked for RCA. She said we could go backstage after the show “if I wanted”. It was a weeknight show. Near the end of ZZ Top’s set, she told me the bands would be doing a combined encore, and it would be a full set. She had to get up early the next morning, was tired, so she left. I stayed for the entire show (it was great) but without her I couldn’t go backstage.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661/40 "2019-08-19T17:10:31Z")
> [@zoog](#): > > Several years ago I saw John Lee Hooker play in a small club, and he did the expected encore thing and left the stage. I was fortunate enough to have gotten the chance to see John Lee Hooker twice before he passed, both times in San Francisco, both times alongside Van Morrison, the first time only as an unannounced special guest who Van brought out for just a couple of songs, but the second time in June of 1999 was at a one day music festival in Golden Gate Park, sponsored by Guinness that featured “Irish” music and culture. It was quite a day, with music simultaneously on 3 different stages, including John Prine, Ben Harper & Innocent Criminals, Dave Alvin, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, Martin Sexton, Taj Mahal and a dozen others. I remember that nearly every act that I saw made a point of mentioning what an honor it was for them to share a stage with a living legend like John Lee Hooker, which I am sure made Van Morrison really happy… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/encores-at-concerts/838661.md?page=3)