The Encore

Dave Simpson over at the Guardian has written a great piece on the encore. According to Dave the encore has become the bane of his existence. It's definitely worth a read and brings to light some very interesting points. Gander on for the article.
We've all been there. You've stood watching a gig for an hour or so. The band say their farewells and wave their goodbyes. There's a ripple of applause. Then barely 30 seconds later the band come back on stage, say something like "Gee, you're such a great audience. Thanks so much for having us back" and proceed to play another four of their greatest hits as if they hadn't expected any of it and were deciding what to play on the spot.

What a load of nonsense.

I don't know about you, but the crushingly predictable encore ritual is the bane of my gig life. Very few of them are spontaneous. If you stand next to the mixing desk you can usually see that the band have their entire set list written out, including the songs they'll play as an encore. It doesn't matter whether the audience screams loudly for them to come back. Or even if everybody stands in total silence. They'll come back on and play those songs, exactly like they planned it. What's worse is that the audience knows this too.

It wasn't always like this. When I started going to gigs, you get to really scream and shout to make a band come back onstage.... and then, you had no idea what you would get. The kings of the unusual encore were New Order. Initially they loathed encores altogether. Typically blunt, Peter Hook compared the encore ritual to having sex and then being forced to have another go after you'd had an orgasm. But then they realised they could make them fun. So they'd come back onstage with fellow Manchester band Happy Mondays, or they'd play unexpected Joy Division songs. Once, they even waited until long after the gig, the house lights were up and they did a blistering 20-minute rendition of the Velvet Underground's Sister Ray for the few remaining die-hards. Fabulous. However, in recent years even New Order succumbed to the dull curse of trotting on to play the inevitable Blue Monday.

Some bands - notably the Wedding Present and recently Arctic Monkeys - have decided the encore ritual is such a pile of tosh they won't do one at all. One of my favourite stories has Shed Seven responding to the lack of audience noise in York - where they are so loved the audience clearly viewed an encore as a given - by sneaking out of the back exit and actually going home.

At a larger level, there is a reason why encores are planned with military precision. They are tailored to things like the curfew, contractually required set-list lengths and the fact that the encore has to be tied in with the lightning and computer visuals. But lower down, there's no excuse for coming back on when you're not really wanted, or not making an encore something special.

At least you still get genuine encores from bands who are just starting out and are genuinely honoured to be asked back on stage and rustle up something off the cuff. At its best, an encore will consist of genuine responses to audience requests or something off the wall. The Waterboys capped a brilliant set at York Opera House the other night by coming on and doing an acoustic version of the Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting For The Man complete with an interesting explanation of the lyrics. I hope they don't do it every night. A mate swears Arctic Monkeys recently came back on with departed bassist Andy Nicholson for a run through 505. But there aren't many oddities, and there really should be more.

The encore ritual is in our hands. Applaud bands back on by all means, but if they come back and trot out an obviously scripted three songs and feign amazement, boo the blighters off.

Has anyone else got any favourite or unexpected encores?