YOU REALLY LIKE ME!

I would probably not complain if these guys insisted on playing an encore.

I see a lot of live music. I used to go to school in Philadelphia and I now live in New York, so it is pretty rare that an act I like has gone on tour and I haven't at least had the opportunity to go see them. Besides that, my boyfriend plays in a death metal band. I frequently see them play in scuzzy bars with tons of character and basements encrusted in band stickers.

Seeing a lot of concerts means I've also seen a LOT of encores. I've stood there patiently, applauding and hooting and hollering, while bands put down their instruments and walk off stage. We, the audience, massage their egos for a little while, pretend that we don't know where they've gone, and then the band walks back out. They wave magnanimously at us, their fans. After all, they're being incredibly generous in giving us two or three whole other songs! I mean we definitely didn't expect that, right? Right?

The encore arose because audiences witnessed an incredible single performance and demanded more. Now bands plan encores. Some bands even play more than one. According to a Wikipedia article on the history of the encore (... devoid of any sources, so take this with a grain of salt), some bands have played as many as four or five articles in a single concert. The encore no longer has anything to do with how well a show has gone. I'm certainly not the first person to grumble about this, nor will I be the last.

Encores are blissfully absent from the shows my boyfriend's band tends to play. The show usually takes place in a small enough room that the audience occupies much of the same space that the band does. Instead of the encore, bands announce that they're going to play one more song. Sometimes people shout for another, and sometimes bands oblige. There's none of this ridiculous play-acting.

Some of the better concerts I've been to in the past few years have had encores. People expect to see them, so artists do them. However, there are artists who are refusing to perpetuate this bizarre masturbatory ritual. They range from confrontational and influential to commercially successful. Some artists preface their last few songs with a short rant about the practice of encores. Regardless of the how or the why these artists are moving away from the encore, it's refreshing. I hope to see more artists adopt this practice in the coming years.