# Ever been to a concert where the headliner did not play an encore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935 "2016-03-14T01:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/41 "2016-03-14T19:00:39Z")
I too remember the days where even if the crowd chanted for an encore, they weren’t necessarily going to get one. When I’ve seen the Melvins, the crowd had to work for the encore, and wasn’t always successful. The expected encore is mostly a development of the last 20 years, and it always isn’t universal. Great bands usually give their all from the first song on. When they’re done, they’re usually done. > [@polar\_bear](#): > > The second time was Dick Dale, who played for about 3 hours and then said his good bye’s… adding: “please don’t ask for an encore, we just played three hours”, or something to that effect. Yeah, the man is a machine of pure rock. Even when he was young, asking more from him than his regular set is just abuse. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/42 "2016-03-14T19:23:46Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > I saw the Foo Fighters at an outdoor festival with a curfew… I’ve been to a few shows as well that bumped up against hard curfews and didn’t (or couldn’t) play an encore. I once saw **Dead Can Dance** who for unknown reason didn’t play an encore, the lights immediately came up at their last song. It seemed planned so I always thought it was a venue curfew thing. ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/43 "2016-03-14T20:28:39Z")
The mandatory encore is a tradition i’d be happy to see go away. Just saw Titus Andronicus this weekend and they didn’t do an encore. Though i thought for sure they were gonna play one cause they brought out Craig Finn (in Minneapolis no less) to sing with them and closed out the show with 3 covers. It was awesome but i didn’t think they’d close out the show with three covers. (Bastards of young, I’m wating for my man, Stuck between stations). ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/44 "2016-03-14T22:38:07Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > It was a specialty tour, but I saw Roger Waters The Wall twice, and it was just the album (each record was a set, two sets and an intermission) and that’s it. No Encore. Isn’t this one pretty obvious? It’s a piece with a beginning, a middle and an end. It would have been really incongruous to throw in something else after the (spectacular) conclusion. And there was the whole “Outside the Wall” at the end, where everyone in the band was introduced. Of course, one of the times I saw it, this included introducing David Gilmour and Nick Mason 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/45 "2016-03-14T23:54:35Z")
I saw Chuck Berry in the mid-1970s. At first, he threatened not to play because the amplifier that was contractually supplied for him was one model number out. Apparently, the exact amp couldn’t be had and the best they could get was the following version which was virtually identical. He finally “graciously” consented to play, and gave his usual entertaining high-energy show–for 35 minutes. On the last note of the last song, he wheeled around and walked off the stage. No good-bye, no thank you, nuthin’. A few days later, I saw in the newspaper that he threw a fit at a club in Houston after being heckled. Something must have been going on his life at the time. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/46 "2016-03-15T00:00:13Z")
I saw The Beatles in August 1965. They did a dozen or so songs, then were hustled off the field. No encore. I couldn’t have cared less- it was wonderful to see and hear them at all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/47 "2016-03-15T01:18:24Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > The mandatory encore is a recent thing. I don’t recall every band doing an encore in the 90s. Of course I saw cheaper, less huge concerts then. Maybe Elton John did encores in the 90s. > > As an every concert thing, encores lost all their appeal for me. Now it’s like “jeez, just take your five minute break in the middle of the show, not right before you’re done, guys”. Speaking of Wilco, both times I saw them they said “You can pretend we walked off stage and we’ll pretend you cheered for us to come back, but here’s our final three songs either way”. > > The best encore I witnessed was Silverchair around 1996. The house lights went up, the concert was over, and people were filing out of the venue. But me and my 14 year old buddies stuck around for a few, and then the house lights went off again, and the few of us that were left were treated to a very heavy version of “Israel’s Son”. That’s how an encore should be. The band was actually done, and the house lights came on, and people were leaving, and then they surprised us with an encore. Not “duh, the house lights are still off, that’s code for ‘just wait a minute or two for the rest of the show’”. It has become expected and lame. Certainly not a recent thing and definitely before the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/48 "2016-03-15T01:30:51Z")
Rollins Band, Bumbershoot, probably in the 90’s, near the end of his set he says something like “this is the part of the show where we are supposed to pretend we are leaving and you pretend you believe it but instead we are just going to play an extra song instead” and they kept on rockin. No actual encore. Also Bumbershoot, this time it was Zero 7 who had packed along Sia and Jose Gonzalez (they sang on some of the Zero 7 tracks) at the end of the Show when they came out for an encore Sia is wearing jeans and a t-shirt, it seems she was unaware of the whole fake encore thing and was already changed out of her outfit she had been wearing for the concert. For much of the time its a bathroom break for at least one person in the band. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/49 "2016-03-15T05:19:49Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I do remember Elvin Bishop at a rock festival going off stage. The crowd went crazy and insisted on an encore. Bishop came out and clearly hadn’t planned for it, so he played the last song again. I’ve seen two shows where that happened: One was Penguin Cafe Orchestra (think they repeated Music From a Found Harmonium, Or maybe The Ecstasy of Dancing Fleas?) Clearly and hilariously unprepared for an encore. Other time was a Gentle Giant show, These guys weren’t expecting anything like the reception they got in Santa Barbara, ended up playing In the Midnight Hour. Definitely a refreshing stylistic departure. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/50 "2016-03-15T05:34:15Z")
In Monty Python’s late-70s live show (performed in NYC and later filmed at the Hollywood Bowl), the projected flashing words PISS OFF would appear when the audience began clapping for an encore. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/51 "2016-03-15T20:10:53Z")
Just this weekend, jazz trombonist Robin Eubanks and his Mass Line Big Band played in Oberlin. Good concert, but from the speed at which they left the stage after the last song, and the house lights coming immediately up, it was clear that we were not in for an encore. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/52 "2016-03-15T20:48:53Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > I saw the Foo Fighters at an outdoor festival with a curfew. Towards the end of the set, Dave Grohl just said something like “Well, we could waste a few minutes going off, and you all cheer, and we come back on again, but we’re just going to keep playing rock’n’roll!” And they did. No encore. > > The Manic Street Preachers famously don’t do encores. I saw the Foos at Wrigley Field this summer and they didn’t do an encore…same deal I think where there’s a ordinance that says they had to stop playing at a certain time, and they played up to that time and stopped. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/53 "2016-03-15T21:29:48Z")
It’s happened twice to me, and for the same reason. With Boston and KISS. In both cases, the bands were playing in outdoor arenas, in areas that had curfews. As it reached 10:30, both bands told the crowd,“Since we have to end the show soon, what say we skip the part where we pretend to leave the stage and just do our encore songs now?” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/54 "2016-03-15T22:02:16Z")
Does a Grateful Dead concert count? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/55 "2016-03-16T00:46:22Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I saw The Beatles in August 1965. They did a dozen or so songs, then were hustled off the field. No encore. I couldn’t have cared less- it was wonderful to see and hear them at all. huh. Cool. In '79 saw XTC at the acoustically amazing Farquhar Centre at the University of Victoria, and no encore - hopefully nothing related to Andy Partridge’s stage fright issues (which overcame him a couple years later and never played live again) (there’s a short youtube video of him in the middle of a song walking offstage in Paris, for good - a sad day in music history) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/56 "2016-03-16T01:33:56Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > h (there’s a short youtube video of him in the middle of a song walking offstage in Paris, for good - a sad day in music history) Actually, XTC’s final concert was a couple of weeks later, in San Diego - a fact I’m sure my fellow San Diego native **TreacherousCretin** was aware of! ---
**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:** [March 16, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/57 "2016-03-16T01:38:48Z")
Not sure if he did encores but they used to announce “Elvis has left the building” to the crowd to let them know that was the end of the show. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/58 "2016-03-16T01:48:10Z")
Dave Van Ronk at the Main Point. Came out drunk, played two or three songs, zipped up his open fly and stumbled off. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/59 "2016-03-16T02:57:47Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > It was a specialty tour, but I saw Roger Waters The Wall twice, and it was just the album (each record was a set, two sets and an intermission) and that’s it. No Encore. I saw this in Sydney, and there actually was an encore: “Waltzing Matilda”. It was a nice bit of levity. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935/60 "2016-03-16T04:33:16Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Actually, XTC’s final concert was a couple of weeks later, in San Diego :smack: In 84 if I recall correctly King Crimson went disappointingly encoreless at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, but they sure opened up cool, one at a time, like how the Talking Heads were doing then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-to-a-concert-where-the-headliner-did-not-play-an-encore/748935.md?page=4)